(Yicai) March 26 -- Hycan Automobile Group, a new energy vehicle brand backed by Chinese auto giant GAC Group, has required all its staff members to become salespersons.

Hycan will add employees’ sales performance to their salary assessment criteria, as they will receive bonuses and other benefits according to their achievements, Yicai learned from a staffer.

A member of Hycan’s research and development team told Yicai that even though his department specializes in developing products and debugging new vehicles, the company now requires him to sell a car to receive the full performance-related pay for the year.

Hycan will give a bonus of 3 percent of the guide price, but no more than CNY12,000 (USD1,660), to employees who manage to sell cars and deduct merit pay from the salaries of those not achieving the sales goals.

Hycan introduced a new wage assessment regime last year. Since then, many employees have left the company. Wu Yu, a former Hycan staffer, explained to Yicai that he and many of his colleagues left because some of their salaries were cut every month for unknown reasons.

Wu left Hycan last July, when the performance assessment accounted for only 5 percent to 10 percent of salaries. Now the figure rose to 20 percent.

Wang Qian, who worked for Hycan as a technical manager, was paid 20 percent less than before in January due to falling sales. She left the firm as soon as she got the January salary.

On top of Hycan’s staff, also employees of property developer Guangdong Pearl River Investment, the carmaker’s largest shareholder, will have to sell vehicles from last July until the end of 2028.

Hycan was established in 2018 as a 50:50 joint venture between GAC and Chinese new energy vehicle startup Nio. Back then, it was named GAC Nio. In 2021, Nio withdrew, and Pearl River Investment spent CNY1.9 billion (USD263.2 million) to buy a 68.6 percent stake in the JV via its subsidiary. The JV was renamed Hycan that year.

Hycan has four vehicle models -- sedan A06, sports utility vehicles Z03 and 007, and multi-purpose vehicle V09 -- on sale at the moment. The firm sold 18,559 vehicles last year.

Editor: Futura Costaglione