(Yicai Global) Dec. 7 -- Niutron will offer buyers of the Niutron NV a full refund within the next 48 hours as the Chinese electric car manufacturer is unable, for reasons of its own, to deliver any vehicles for the time being.

The 24,376 potential buyers who have placed pre-orders for Niutron’s first car model since its debut on Oct. 8 have been very understanding, the Beijing-based company said on its Twitter-like Weibo account today. Each customer will also be gifted a toy-sized model of the Niutron NV and a Starbucks’ gift card worth CNY200 (USD28.60) by way of apology.

Automaker Dorcen, which is the only manufacturer of Niutron’s vehicles, is on the verge of bankruptcy as it has racked up huge debts, Autohome, a car sales and data platform, reported. It is not qualified to make vehicles and it will take some time for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to check its qualifications, it added.

Rumor has it that employees at Dorcen’s plant in Changzhou, eastern Jiangsu province have been asked to resign in groups and all of them will be dismissed in the near future.

The Niutron NV series has three models priced between CNY278,800 (USD39,927) and CNY318,800. The pure electric version has a range of up to 560 kilometers. Deliveries were supposed to start next September.

Niutron was set up last year by Li Yinan, founder of e-scooter maker Niu Technologies, which has been very successful in China. It is the third company established by 51-year-old Li, who used to work at telecoms giant Huawei Technologies.

Editor: Kim Taylor