China New energy vehicleThe current situation is not optimistic. In August, the delivery volume of Weilai rose slightly month on month,
while that of Xiaopeng and Ideals dropped by about 17% and 56% respectively. In terms of the monthly total amount, Weixiaoli was
suppressed by Nezha and Zero Run, while in terms of the monthly increment, Weixiaoli was gradually thrown away by Interrogation, Polar Krypton and Lan Tu.
Only half a year ago, the race track pattern of New Force cars has changed greatly. Nezha and Zero Runner strongly jump in
the queue by relying on middle and lowend models, and Weixiaoli feels unprecedented pressure by relying on Huawei and Geely.
Of course, Weixiaoli has not fallen behind for the time being, but its advantages are becoming less and less obvious.
The Q2 financial report is also full of bad news. In terms of revenue, Weilai grew 3.9% month on month, Xiaopeng was basically flat
month on month, and the ideal month on month decline was 8.7%; In terms of gross profit margin, Weilai decreased by 1.6 percentage
points month on month, Xiaopeng decreased by 1.3 percentage points month on month, and ideal decreased by 1.1 percentage points
month on month; In terms of profit, Weilai Q2 has an adjusted net loss of 2.27 billion, a year-on-year increase of more than 5 times.
Xiaopeng 2022H1 has an adjusted net loss of 3.99 billion, and the ideal 2022H1 has an adjusted operating loss of 450 million.
By raising prices, pushing highend models and reducing rights and interests, the problem of selling cars at a loss has not been
solved, which is Weixiaoli's biggest anxiety in the short term. However, looking around the new power track, Nezha, Zero Run,
Weima, Wenjie, Jihu and Jikrypton are also in a similar situation, and they all choose the latter by coincidence between money loss and share.
Under such circumstances, the great changes in the pattern are also strongly stimulating Weixiaoli's nerves, forcing them to
make some necessary choices. For example, Ideals is considering stopping production of Ideals ONE, Weilai is considering
launching a sinking brand and even entering smartphones, and Xiaopeng has jointly built an automatic driving intelligent
computing center with Alibaba Cloud.There is not much time left for Wei Xiaoli
Before 2021, Weixiaoli is basically enjoying a blue ocean period of the development of the intelligent new energy
automobile industry. On the one hand, traditional car companies and Internet giants are still in the initial stage of finding
capital and establishing brands, and there are not many new power brands on the track.
Since this year, as more new brands have entered the commercial mass production delivery period, Huawei and other
technology giants have entered in disguised form, and traditional leading car companies such as BYD, GAC and Geely
have extended their battle lines, the market has suddenly become crowded, and Weixiaoli needs to face more powerful enemies.
From the comparison of the delivery volume of the whole track, the time left for Weixiaoli is really short. In other words,
there are fewer and fewer opportunities for Weixiaoli to consolidate the foundation and build the city wall to defend against foreign enemies.
First, new cars from BYD and AITO are coming into the market faster than Weixiaoli.
In 2022, traditional auto companies have significantly accelerated the pace of pushing new cars, especially BYD,
Wall Motors, etc. The cycle of new car launch has been shortened to quarterly or even monthly; In terms of new forces
, AITO's new car cycle is set at about half a year. Nezha has launched three new cars this year.
On the other hand, Weixiaoli still maintains a new car launch cycle of one year or even longer. Although Weixiaoli intends to
accelerate the launch of new cars, there is still a big gap compared with strong traditional car companies or new forces.
For Weixiaoli, although there is a market for old cars, there is no more target market without new cars because the product
matrix is relatively thin. More importantly, other car companies are catching up with the market ahead of time by releasing
new cars on the track segment more quickly, especially in the highend car market. BYD, AITO, Krypton and Chang'an are
all eyeing this. Weixiaoli, which has no more new cars, no longer has the first mover advantage to some extent and has become a latecomer.
Second, BBA's reform of new energy and intelligence has been significantly accelerated.BBA has always been the core
competitor of Weixiaoli. Although BBA has lagged behind in the aspects of intelligence, electrification and networking,
and even the domestic market has been snatched away by Weixiaoli, at present, BBA and other high-end brands have
accelerated their reform to adapt to the rapidly changing market.
On the one hand, BBAs are accelerating the launch of new energy vehicles and the application of intelligent technology.
On the other hand, BBAs are making a transformation layout of global overweight production, batteries and technology
platform. At present, judging from the new energy models launched by BBAs, some models have already had a certain
market effect, such as Mercedes Benz EQC and Porsche Taycan.
As BBAs release more new energy intelligent models, Weixiaoli, which is in the construction period of brand strength,
may be robbed of the market by BBA if it does not have more innovative competitors, and will be in a more passive position in the high-end market.
Third, Baidu and Xiaomi have accelerated their commercialization.From the existing news, Baidu and Xiaomi's auto businesses
are speeding up strategically, and the first new cars they launch waiting to enter the market are likely to have very
direct competition with Weilai and Xiaopeng. Based on the brand effects Baidu and Xiaomi have established in the field
of mobile intelligent devices, consumers will have more choices at this time. If Baidu Xiaomi releases brand dividends
like Huawei, Wei Xiaoli will be more difficult to move forward.The high-end market is no longer attractive
In the past six months, Weixiaoli has learned one of the biggest lessons. I'm afraid that the high-end market is
no longer as beautiful as before.In an era when there were not so many new forces, Weixiaoli started the road of
car building directly from the middle and highend market. Although there were twists and turns along the way,
after the mass production and delivery, it also had a relatively bright day. For example, Xiaopeng P7, Weilai ES8,
and Ideal ONE models, they all had very good delivery results.However, the current highend new energy vehicle
market has not only become more crowded, but also more difficult to grasp. Weixiaoli is like being trapped in a
besieged city, in a dilemma.The persistence of traditional car enterprises to the high-end dream is a long-term
threat to Weixiao's ideal to stand firm in the middle and high-end market.
Recently, it was reported that GAC E'an would upgrade its brand and launch a new high-end series of products,
with a price of 250000 to 400000 yuan. At the same time, it may also release a super million
pure electric supercar. Not long ago, BYD also revealed that it would release its first super luxury brand, with
the highest price of models exceeding one million.In addition, Beiqi Jihu, Chang'an Avita, SAIC Zhiji, well-off AITO
and Geely Jikrypton all carry the high-end dream of traditional car enterprises.From the perspective of
brand potential, although traditional car enterprises are not the dominant players in the high-end market,
they have shown considerable breakthrough ability thanks to two favorable factors. First, the injection
of scientific and technological blood, such as Avita jointly built by Chang'an and Huawei, and AITO jointly
built by Xiaokang and Huawei in Ningde Times. Second, the reform of smart electric is relatively smooth,
and the brand effect has been extended upward, such as BYD and GAC.
Therefore, what Weixiaoli is facing is not only the new high-end brands and models of traditional car enterprises,
but also the determination of traditional car enterprises to centralize industrial resources and realize high-end
dreams. It is a fact that we have to admit that, from the perspective of the delivered models, the traditional
car companies have indeed caused considerable pressure on Weixiaoli, and even robbed their customers.
The increasing proportion of the value of the intelligent capability of high-end models is a significant threat to
Weixiaoli's implementation of the intelligent strategy.From the perspective of consumer demand, automatic
driving and super intelligent central control will be the two core intelligent capabilities that are gradually
standard and dominant in high-end models. Especially in the aspect of automatic driving, the gradual
liberalization of laws and regulations is making the popularity of L4 and above high-level automatic driving
continuously improve.Auto enterprises will pay more and more attention to intelligent technology.
For high-end brand models, even if the auto enterprises do not have comprehensive intelligent capabilities, they can
completely purchase them from outside, and they can get the top intelligent solutions. For example,
Chang'an and Huawei, BAIC Jihu and Huawei are representative cooperation models. By binding with Huawei,
car companies have already acquired Huawei's automatic driving and intelligent central control capabilities.
Although Weixiaoli has been intelligent for many years, the current fact is that they do not have an advantage.
Either they need to adopt core software and hardware, or their technical strength is not yet mature.
It can be said that if Weixiaoli does not have a unique self-developed intelligent technology in the future,
it will be difficult to take advantage in the high-end market.Diversity needs to be mastered
Faced with the anxiety of production capacity and competition, Weixiaoli is visibly exploring more ways to
make money. Diversification is a necessary stage for an enterprise to go through, especially when its main
business or core products are facing growth difficulties.Weilai is more aggressive in diversification,
including going to sea, changing power and sinking. Xiaopeng and Xiaopeng are relatively conservative,
but they are also trying to introduce new models to meet market demand, such as the ideal L9 and Xiaopeng G9.
Diversification is indeed a good way for Weixiaoli to solve development problems. From the perspective
of main business, Weixiaoli's delivery volume has gradually declined or fluctuated dramatically.
One of the main reasons is that there are fewer models and fewer product lines. Ideal ONE is most affected
by this. Ideal ONE is gradually withdrawn from the stage due to competition. Ideal L9 is in the early stage
of delivery. Without the ideal of other models, it can only deliver poor delivery results.This is also the reason
why Weilai is going to sink and lay out the middle and low-end market. The sales performance of Nezha,
ZeroRun and Wuling Hongguang have proved that the middle and low-end market has great potential.
However, the current and future competition in the low-end market is not necessarily less intense than
that in the high-end market. Nezha, Zero Run and other new forces are still in a high-speed and large-
scale stage. Any new competitors entering the market must face the suffocating pressure.
It is an indisputable fact that the congestion of the new energy vehicle track is getting higher and higher,
and the critical point of player saturation has not been seen. In this case, how to master the degree of
diversification is the key.Xiaopeng and Ideals may suffer from too cautious diversification, while Weilai
may suffer from too radical diversification, but they are all right. Because no matter which option
you choose, it is a strategy that can deal with the current environment. You should look at the good
and the bad in the future.Power the long plate and remove the short plateIf the products of an
enterprise are sold less due to external competition, the probability is that the product power is
insufficient and the product is lost to the product that is more recognized by consumers in the
market. This is the current situation of Weixiaoli. The first thing to do is to sell cars, and then
the service, brand, etc. Do not rush to the doctor in case of illness.Although Weixiaoli has been
struggling for many years, has Weixiaoli established a unique long board today? Brand? Service?
Technology? It seems that they are slightly stained, but they are not.However, there are too many
weak points for Weixiaoli. It is difficult for intelligent technology to compete with Tesla and Huawei.
There is still a gap between its brand strength and BBA, and its production capacity is not as good
as that of most traditional car companies. Even if Weixiaoli is not compared with the superior car
companies, it is still not strong enough due to its development time, team genes and other reasons.
Since 2022, Weixiaoli has deeply felt the pressure of the surrounding environment. Whether
the subsequent models can create an increase will determine Weixiaoli's ranking in 2023.
If the performance is not good, one, two or all of Weixiaoli may be forced to retreat to the second
echelon and go downhill.The top priority is to stabilize the long boards that we think can be
stabilized, and remove the short boards, especially the short boards. It is a good policy to
build cars through cooperation or absorb powerful thirdparty suppliers, and to lower our
attitude like traditional car companies, because once the waves become higher, it is more
reliable for two people or a group of people to sail than for one.
Address:No.15 Xingtai North Road, Hailing District, Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, China
Hotline:0086-17712702588(Beijing time) 9:00-18:00
E-mail:james.zou@ecexspower.com