(Yicai) Oct. 10 -- WM Motor, once one of China’s most promising electric car startups, has filed for bankruptcy, a victim of fierce competition in the world’s biggest auto market.

A Shanghai court is handling the bankruptcy case, according to a notice posted on the National Enterprise Bankruptcy Information Disclosure Platform yesterday. The Shanghai-based company said today that the court has accepted its pre-restructuring application.

WM Motor, which has not delivered a single vehicle this year, was one of the first electric car startups in China to achieve mass production and deliveries, and ranked second in the country behind Nio in 2019, with shipments of 16,900.

It is the latest in a long list of carmakers that over the past three years have either gone bankrupt, suspended operations or shut down entirely, merged with peers, or switched business focus as a shakeout of the country’s auto industry gathers pace.

WM Motor fell behind competitors due to poor management and falling sales. Last year, the firm delivered fewer than 30,000 vehicles, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. Since the second half of 2022 it has cut salaries, shut assembly lines, gone into rent arrears on its headquarter’s building, and seen many dealers walk away.

Founder Shen Hui said on social media last month that he was going on business trips to Munich and New York. It is unclear whether he has returned to China.

WM Motor’s plans to raise financing through a stock market flotation did not materialize. It had planned to go public in Hong Kong next January via a reverse merger with a unit of Apollo Future Mobility Group. But the latter pulled out on Sept. 8, citing a number of reasons such as global stock market turbulence, geopolitical conflicts, and financial market uncertainty. WM Motor also failed to list in 2022.

Last month, US-listed used car dealer Kaixin Auto Holdings signed a non-binding agreement to acquire privately held WM Motor through a new share issue.

Editor: Kim Taylor