(Yicai) June 13 -- GAC Aion clarified that the new energy vehicle marque under Chinese carmaker GAC Group only terminated contracts it had signed with eight fresh university graduates.

GAC Aion hired 118 fresh graduates, but eight of them were influenced by adjustments in recruitment policies, so their contracts were terminated, and they will receive compensations according to regulations, the firm told ifeng.Com.

According to the screenshot of an email recently circulating online, GAC Aion plans to rescind its contracts with fresh graduates because of adjustments in related recruitment policies. The company would pay each of them CNY5,000 (USD690) in compensation for breach of contract.

GAC Aion does not exclude the possibility of turning to legal means to deal with the online rumors, the carmaker noted.

The rapid growth in the popularity of NEVs has created many jobs. Among recruitment posts for fresh graduates in China last year, those from the NEV sector ranked second after those from the artificial intelligence and large language model sectors, according to statistics from recruitment platform Liepin.

However, the fierce competition made layoff rounds and termination of fresh graduate contracts a recurring practice among carmakers. For example, alleged university graduates claimed on social media in April that Tesla withdrew their job offer letters. In May 2022, Chinese NEV startup Li Auto ended the contracts of some fresh graduates, attracting great market attention.

GAC Toyota and GAC Honda, two joint ventures between GAC Aion’s parent company GAC Group and Toyota and Honda, recently carried out several layoffs.

During its interview with ifeng.Com, GAC Aion also refuted rumors about a large-scale layoff, saying that the company will launch new products under its GAC Aion and GAC Hyper brands. In fact, GAC Aion still needs talents and plans to hire over 2,000 employees in the second half of the year.

Next month, GAC Aion’s plants in Thailand and Changsha in central China’s Hunan province will complete construction and officially kick off operations.

GAC Aion sold 30,400 NEVs in May, down 32 percent from a year earlier, with its total sales in the first five months of the year plunging 38 percent to 100,600 units from the same period last year.

Editor: Futura Costaglione