"Weilai version of Model 3" is coming? Can et5 be Tesla's strongest rival?

"The ET5 became the most ordered model of the day among the new cars released by Wei over the past few years." On December 19, Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of Weilai, said in an interview with the Beijing News Shell Finance and other media.

Previously, at the NIO 2021 NIO Day held on the evening of December 18, NIO officially released its fifth mass production model and second sedan model - NIO ET5. Li Bin introduced that the starting price before the ET5 subsidy is 328,000 yuan, and the starting price before the BaaS program subsidy is 258,000 yuan. Deliveries of the new car will begin in September 2022.

As the brand's first model focusing on the price range of 300,000 yuan, this means that WEILAI ET5 will enter the most competitive market segment, not only directly benchmarking Tesla Model 3, Extreme Kr 001, Xiaopeng P7 and other pure electric models, but also competing with BBA entry-level fuel vehicles such as Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series.

"Weilai is now taking the same route as Tesla, first high-end and then mid-range." On December 19, Zhang Xiang, an automotive industry analyst and researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of the North China University of Technology, said in an interview with the Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter that although Weilai is positioned as a luxury brand, its strategy will be similar to that of traditional fuel brands such as BBA, and will be laid out in each market segment; at the same time, new technologies such as solid-state batteries and lidar will be used to improve product competitiveness and open up the market.

Weilai officially released Weilai ET5 Beijing News shell financial reporter Ji Zhe photo

Entered the 300,000 yuan price range

"After reading it, I placed an order, and I had to come to one." After seeing the parameters of ET5 released by NIO, Mr. Li, who is already the owner of NIO ES8 and ES6 and has already booked the first version of ET7 models, did not hesitate to pay the ET5 reservation fee.

On the Weilai APP, Weilai fans who post pictures of Weilai's "family bucket" (that is, buy all the existing models of Weilai) abound. As of press time, there are nearly 1,500 members of the ET5 intended owner community in the NIO APP, of which more than 600 car owners in the NIO owner re-purchase ET5 car friend group have exceeded 600 people.

"The ET5 became the most ordered model of the day among the new cars released by Wei over the past few years." On December 19, Li Bin said in an interview with the Beijing News Shell Finance and other media.

A Weilai consultant revealed to reporters that less than a minute after the ET5 opened the booking, he had received orders for 8 ET5 models.

"Last night, many users rushed into the Weilai APP, causing the APP to be paralyzed for ten minutes." On December 19, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of WEILAI Automobile, revealed. Li Bin said that one change in ET5 orders is that the vast majority of booking users are new users who have never bought WEILAI.

Compared with the previous models, the ET5 offers nine body colors, and equipped with NIO Autonomous Driving,000, NIO's latest autonomous driving technology, will gradually realize scenarios such as high-speed, urban area, parking, and power exchange, providing a safe and relaxed point-to-point autonomous driving experience throughout the whole process. "The COMPUTING POWER OF THE NAD system is 7 times that of tesla's FSD system." Li Bin once stressed.

In addition, a more immersive digital experience is the highlight of the new model ET5. According to the information released by NIO, the ET5 is equipped with THE NIO PanoCinema, a NIO panorama digital cockpit using AR/VR technology, and is equipped with AR and VR glasses as standard.

At the press conference, Li Bin revealed that THE ET5 equipped with the standard battery pack (75kWh), clTC has a range of more than 550km, a long battery pack (100kWh) with a range of more than 700km, and a super long battery pack (150kWh), with a maximum endurance of more than 1000km.

Among them, the PRICE of the ET5 75kWh version of the vehicle before the purchase subsidy is 328,000 yuan, the price of the battery rental scheme (BaaS) is 258,000 yuan, and the monthly battery fee is 980 yuan; the starting price of the vehicle equipped with the 100kWh battery version is 386,000 yuan, the battery rental scheme (BaaS) is priced at 258,000 yuan, and the monthly battery fee is 1,480 yuan.

From the price point of view, the starting price of the VEHICLE purchase before the ET5 subsidy is similar to the Tesla domestic Model 3 dual-wheel drive high-speed version sold from 339,900 yuan, and the Model Y dual motor all-wheel drive long-endurance version sold from 347,900 yuan; if purchased according to the battery rental plan, the price of 258,000 yuan is similar to the price of the domestic Model 3 rear-wheel drive version of 255,600 yuan.

"The dual-motor configuration of the ET5 and Model 3 and Model Y is basically the same." On the evening of December 18, Li Bin said in an interview with the Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter that from the price point of view, although the pricing of ET5 is high, the cost-effective advantage is stronger than model 3.

However, Tesla's sales staff may not agree with the statement that "Weilai is more cost-effective".

"Our battery life (mileage) is still stronger than Weilai to be honest", the reporter called the Beijing Tesla store as a consumer on December 19 to consult related matters, in the face of the reporter's hesitation, the sales staff said that many Weilai car owners have feedback on the Internet, the actual use of Weilai car's battery mileage and official data do not match, and Tesla Model 3 in the winter mileage of 350 km to 400 km, the appearance of Tesla is also very good, "you still need to consider it comprehensively."

After that, the reporter called another Tesla store, and the other party did not agree with the statement that "Weilai is more cost-effective". Sales staff said that the current price of Tesla Model Y is about 280,000, and if you want to buy the same model as Tesla in Weilai, you need to spend about 400,000, and if you buy Tesla Model 3, you only need to spend 255,000, "Weilai's long-endurance version of the mileage, should correspond to Tesla's normal endurance version of the model, Tesla's cost performance is still relatively high."

It is worth noting that on December 19, the reporter called three Tesla stores successively, and the sales staff knew something about the WEILAI ET5. A salesman euphemistically told reporters, "When the model is just listed, it will be better publicized, but how to wait for the car to be listed for a period of time can not be understood." Some salespeople said that they maintained a long-term concern for friendly businessmen and hoped to jointly help the development of the domestic new energy market.

Weilai needs to take a volume of models?

"Weilai needs a car that can run a lot." A Weilai car owner posted in the Weilai APP.

All along, among the three new car-making forces in the head, Weilai's sales are at the forefront. However, since July this year, WEILAI missed the new power sales champion for the first time, and was surpassed by Xiaopeng and Ideal. Although Weilai regained the new power sales championship by a slight margin in September, whether it can continue to consolidate its lead has attracted much attention.

"Sales ranking is very important for car companies." Zhang Xiang said, "Compared with other car companies, Weilai's sales growth this year is slower. ”

Not only that, in the third quarter of this year, although Weilai's revenue achieved growth, its net profit performance was not satisfactory.

According to the financial report data, NIO's total revenue in the third quarter of this year was 9.805 billion yuan, an increase of 116.6% year-on-year; the net loss was 835 million yuan, narrowing by 20.2% compared with the same period last year, but expanding by 42.3% month-on-month; and the net loss attributable to the company's common shareholders was 2.859 billion yuan, an increase of 140.7% compared with the same period last year, and an increase of 333.6% compared with the previous quarter.

At the same time, the gross profit margin of Weilai vehicles has declined to a certain extent. According to the data disclosed in the financial report, in the third quarter of this year, the sales revenue of NIO Automobile was 8.637 billion yuan, an increase of 102.4% year-on-year; but the gross profit margin of vehicle sales fell by 2.3 percentage points to 18% month-on-month. Unlike Tesla, which held high the "price butcher knife" but still achieved a gross profit margin of 30.5% in the third quarter, since the beginning of this year, the gross profit margin of Weilai vehicles with "average sales price higher than BMW and Audi" has been declining month-on-month.

Weilai analysis believes that the reason for the fluctuation of the gross profit margin ring of the whole vehicle is that the increase in the financial subsidy for the purchase of cars by users has led to the deduction of automobile sales revenue, and the company has accelerated the iteration speed of existing products, resulting in a shorter amortization and depreciation cycle of existing products than originally planned, resulting in an increase in the amortization and depreciation cost of bicycles.

In the third quarterly report conference call, Li Bin once said that NIO set its vehicle gross margin target for next year at 20%; at the same time, with the launch of NT2.0 products, NIO's long-term vehicle gross margin target is 25%.

All along, the label of WEILAI's positioning is "luxury" and "service", focusing on research and development and model expansion in the early stage, and focusing on the luxury pattern of the NIO brand and the service experience of customers in the later stage. At the same time, a lot of layout has been made in terms of model layout, around consumer services, digitalization of vehicles, and the lifestyle of car owners. However, from the current point of time, Weilai may need a volume model.

"The more high-end the automotive product market capacity, the smaller the capacity." Zhang Xiang believes that if Weilai wants to maintain the first echelon or the first leading position of the new car-making forces for a long time, the product must sink, that is, it must fully grab the market share of the mid-market market.

In Zhang Xiang's view, "Weilai is now taking the same route as Tesla, first high-end and then mid-range." ”

By combing the market rhythm of NIO's products, in 2015-2016, NIO built an image and brand with high-performance supercars, released two luxury SUVs in 2017-2018 - medium and large SUVES8 and medium-sized SUV ES6, and in December 2019, WEILAI launched a medium-sized coupe SUV EC6.

In terms of sedan layout, Li Bin announced at Weilai 2021 NIO Day that the medium and large intelligent electric flagship sedan ET7 released in January this year will be delivered on March 28, 2022; the delivery time of the more cost-effective medium-sized intelligent electric coupe ET5 is September 2022.

"Weilai's strategy is actually to seize the market with the BBA." Zhang Xiang said that compared with traditional fuel vehicles such as BBA, pure electric vehicles have license advantages; at the same time, Weilai's products have the advantage of difference, and the power exchange and good service experience it has are not available to BBA brands.

Written | Beijing News shell financial reporter Zhang Bing Linzi

Edit | Bai Huabing