Wen 丨 Western fungus
Is the ideal car really coming to Chongqing?
According to Chongqing Daily, on December 15, Chongqing officials met with Ideal Automobile's founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang and his party, and witnessed the signing of a strategic cooperation framework agreement between the municipal government and Ideal Automobile.
At present, the new energy automobile industry has become a fragrant feast for many cities to compete. For Chongqing, an important town of traditional automobile industry, if it can successfully introduce the ideal car, one of the three new car-making forces, it will undoubtedly bring new hope for the transformation of the automobile industry in the entire city.
In this context, the signing of a strategic cooperation framework agreement between Chongqing and Ideal Automobile naturally makes all parties full of expectations.
So, what is the possibility of the ideal car with deep roots in Chongqing entering Chongqing?
01
Although Ideal Auto currently has no automobile production line in Chongqing, it is said that Chongqing is one of the cities with the most affinity with Ideal Car, or that Chongqing is the blessed land of Ideal Car, I believe that no one can deny it.
The reason is very simple, it is precisely because in December 2018, the predecessor of Ideal Auto and home 650 million yuan to buy Lifan Automobile, in order to officially get the car license, obtain the car manufacturing qualification, there is the ideal car that everyone sees today.
One detail that may be overlooked is that every ideal one now has the word "Chongqing" on the factory nameplate. It can be said that Chongqing is originally part of the ideal car gene.
Under such circumstances, it is naturally very normal for the future ideal car to lay out the production line in Chongqing.
Of course, if Chongqing wins the favor of the ideal car, it is definitely not just because of the fate of a car license plate.
On the one hand, in the traditional automobile era, Chongqing is an important automobile city in the country, and the related automobile industry chain is very complete. Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Auto, also bluntly said that Chongqing has a solid foundation in the automobile industry.
In addition, in recent years, Chongqing has focused on promoting industrial intelligence and new energy transformation, and has also provided considerable policy support for representative new energy vehicle companies.
For example, as early as 2018, Chongqing issued the "Several Policies and Measures to Accelerate the Development of the New Energy and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry (2018-2022)", which put forward clear support policies in platforms, research and development, cost reduction, talents and other aspects.
On the other hand, the current ideal automobile set up a production line in Chongqing, which also has the advantage of "time and time".
In October this year, ideal automobile Beijing green intelligent factory (formerly Beijing Hyundai Shunyi base factory), officially started construction. Recently, it has been rumored that it may continue to acquire the fifth factory of Beijing Hyundai in Chongqing.
Public information shows that Beijing Hyundai, which was in full swing at that time, has been in decline in recent years. For example, its fifth factory in Chongqing was revealed as early as 2018 that the actual production capacity was only 30%, and even this year, the news that production had been suspended was reported.
In this context, Ideal Auto once again won the Beijing Hyundai Chongqing plant, which seems to be a good time at present.
02
The content of the agreement between the two sides has not been made public for the time being. However, judging from the content of the open dialogue, it should be said that the possibility of setting up a production line in Chongqing in the next step is not small.
For example, Chongqing has these key statements:
It is hoped that this signing will be taken as an opportunity to actively participate in the development of Chongqing's automobile industry, focus on scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation in the automotive field, and create an ecological development ecology for the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent and connected vehicles in Chongqing.
Chongqing will make every effort to provide service guarantee for Ideal Automobile and actively support ideal automobile to develop and grow in Chongqing.
Ideally, there is a corresponding response:
We are full of confidence in the further deepening of cooperation between the two sides, and will actively give full play to their own advantages, increase the investment layout in Chongqing, continue to deepen strategic cooperation with Chongqing, make cooperation projects in Chongqing bigger and stronger, and contribute more to the high-quality development of Chongqing's automobile industry.
Of course, before the cooperation lands, everything is possible.
It should be known that as early as August 2018, Chehejia has officially signed a contract with Liangjiang New Area to invest 11 billion yuan to build a "smart car manufacturing base" in the region.
The base covers an area of 1800 acres, with a total production capacity of 400,000 units per year, will be built in two phases, the first phase of the project 200,000 production capacity, planned to be completed in 2021, will be used to put into production at least two intelligent electric vehicle products, after mass production of the annual output value or more than 40 billion yuan.
But now more than 3 years later, all this is still on paper.
In the final analysis, whether to add factories or not depends on the ideal development trend.
At present, the annual production capacity of the ideal Jiangsu Changzhou plant is about 100,000 vehicles. However, Ideal has publicly stated that the Changzhou plant will add a new plant with an annual production capacity of 100,000 units and is expected to be completed in 2022. In other words, the annual production capacity of the Changzhou plant will reach 200,000 units.
The Beijing plant is expected to be completed and put into operation in September 2023. After the start of production, the first phase will achieve an annual production capacity of 100,000 pure electric vehicles.
According to this, by 2023, the production capacity of the ideal Beijing and Changzhou plants will reach about 300,000 vehicles.
According to the latest published data, from January to November 2021, the total delivery volume of ideal cars was 76,404 units. According to this scale, with the beijing plant put into operation, the short-term production capacity of the ideal car should not be a big problem.
In addition, in terms of capital, the Beijing plant, which started construction not long ago, has a total investment of 6 billion yuan. If new factories are acquired and renovated one after another, the test of funds can be imagined.
Of course, according to the ideal's previous ambition, it is indeed necessary to achieve the sales target of 1.6 million vehicles by 2025, and it is indeed necessary to add a new production line as soon as possible.
03
So, what is the current state of the ideal car?
According to the three quarterly reports released not long ago, the third quarter revenue of Ideal Automobile was 7.775 billion yuan, an increase of 209.7% year-on-year. The total revenue is higher than Xiaopeng Automobile's 5.712 billion yuan, but it is also significantly lower than WEILAI Automobile's 9.805 billion yuan.
In the third quarter, the ideal net loss was 21.5 million yuan, the least among "Wei Xiaoli". This was also a decrease of 79.9% from RMB107 million in the third quarter of 2020 and a decrease of 90.9% sequentially.
In addition, the gross profit margin of 23.3% is the highest among "Wei Xiaoli".
However, in "Wei Xiaoli", the ideal has two major weaknesses that are more prominent.
First, R&D investment has been relatively low.
For example, in the first three quarters of 2020, the ideal research and development expenses were 726 million yuan, and Xiaopeng and WEILAI were 1.266 billion yuan and 1.656 billion yuan respectively.
In the first three quarters of this year, the ideal R&D expenditure was 889 million yuan, which was still significantly lower than Xiaopeng's 1.264 billion yuan and Weilai's 1.193 billion yuan, respectively.
To a certain extent, the relative "good look" of the current ideal financial report data is based on the sacrifice of research and development investment. So, can this situation continue in the future?
As we all know, as a product that is not yet fully finalized in technology, the R&D investment of car companies is closely related to the long-term development potential. If research and development cannot keep up, the ideal future will inevitably face greater tests.
In fact, it is worth playing, the current market value of the three new car-making forces of "Wei Xiaoli" is also the lowest. This may also reflect the expectations of the capital market.
Another major weakness is that so far, the ideal is still to rely on one product to fight the world, which is in stark contrast to the diversified product lines that Weilai and Xiaopeng have formed.
It is said that in 2022, ideal will launch a new SUV, but it is still an extended range electric vehicle. Pure electric vehicles will not be available until at least 2023.
At that time, it is bound to face a more crowded track, and whether the ideal of being a "latecomer" can maintain sufficient competitiveness is undoubtedly still unknown at present.
Therefore, on the whole, there is still considerable uncertainty about whether Ideal Auto will set up a third plant in Chongqing after Changzhou and Beijing, and when it will be established.
Of course, we're happy to see it happen.