Car Prophet: Xiaopeng (09868) overtaking, a miracle that is not a miracle

Xiaopeng Motors (09868) wrote a footnote to an NBA event for the courageous exploration of 2021.

Zhitong Finance APP learned that on the evening of December 30, Xiaopeng Automobile (09868) launched a live broadcast of the Love Exploration Night, and nearly 200 Xiaopeng owners who love basketball and Xiaopeng executives, NBA executives and a number of well-known basketball KOLs held a basketball-themed New Year's Eve party with the theme of "Love, Courage to Explore". This "love" and "exploration" is the underlying logic of the vigorous development of the new energy vehicle market and Xiaopeng's continuous surpassing of itself and catching up with competitors in 2021.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November this year, China's new energy vehicle sales reached 1.049 million units; in November, sales of new energy vehicles reached 200,000 units, an increase of 104.9% year-on-year.

As a member of the new car-making force, Xiaopeng Automobile (09868, XPEV. US) also set its own record for delivery and surpassed NIO in one fell swoop. US), ideal car (LI.US).

According to the recent announcement of Xiaopeng Motors, the company broke through the monthly sales record under the continuous challenges of the global supply chain, and delivered 15,613 smart electric vehicles in November, an increase of 270% year-on-year. The Xiaopeng Intelligent Coupe P7 delivered 7,839 units in November, an increase of 187% year-on-year. In addition, Xiaopeng Automobile launched the third mass-produced smart home car P5 launched in September this year, and the G3 compact smart SUV mid-term revamp version of the G3i launched in July this year, both of which won the favor of the market, with a single month delivery volume of 2154 and 5546 vehicles respectively.

In the first 11 months of this year, Xiaopeng delivered 82,155 vehicles, an increase of 285% year-on-year, including 53,110 smart coupe P7 deliveries.

In contrast, NIO and Ideal delivered 10,878 new cars in a single month in November, and 80,940 new cars in the first 11 months; Ideal delivered 13,485 Ideal ONE in November, and the total delivery volume of Ideal ONE in the first 11 months was 76,404.

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Xiaopeng's surpassing has long been expected by the industry. Since Xiaopeng announced his commitment to new energy vehicles, there are many industry people holding a magnifying glass to observe Xiaopeng, after years of observation, we have found that Xiaopeng's road is getting more and more stable, clearer and clearer, more and more wide, for this reason, some people have long predicted that Xiaopeng or the biggest winner of new energy vehicles.

In He Xiaopeng's view, the most feared thing in the world is the word serious, and Xiaopeng's success is not accidental, but the process of landing strategic ideas step by step, which is a miracle that is not a miracle. Xiaopeng is one of the earliest forces in China to devote itself to new energy vehicles, grasp the future development trend, follow the trend and plunge into the blue ocean market, laying an undefeated foundation.

From another aspect, Xiaopeng's participation in the new energy vehicle market is also against the trend. Because the automobile is the jewel in the crown of industry, a large collection of all industrial sectors. Traditional car companies have been grinding a sword for ten years to build a competitive barrier, making it difficult for new entrants to compete head-on, and they have chosen to build AD cars, which is considered a shortcut.

Xiaopeng chose to go against the trend, adhere to independent scientific and technological research and development, clarify the intelligent track, and establish a moat with full-stack self-research. Not only that, Xiaopeng also took the lead in building a self-built factory for the purpose of mass production of automobiles, and realized all the flags that had been erected before.

As of June 30, 2020, 43% of Xiaopeng Automobile's 3676 employees were R&D personnel, that is, 1580 people. By the middle of 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile's R&D team will exceed 3,000 people, directly doubling year-on-year. According to the information revealed by Xiaopeng in the conference call after the 2021Q2 financial report, by the end of 2021, the number of Xiaopeng R & D team will exceed 4500 people, of which the automatic driving technology research and development personnel will account for about one-third of the total. This means that the number of R&D personnel of Xiaopeng Automobile will increase by 200% in one and a half years.

In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Xiaopeng Automobile's R&D expenses were RMB1.051 billion, RMB2.070 billion (the expenses related to the development of P7 were higher in that year) and RMB1.726 billion, respectively. However, Xiaopeng's research and development expenses for 2021Q2 were 864 million yuan, an increase of 60% month-on-month, which is close to the research and development expenses of Weilai in the same period.

According to Gu Hongdi, vice chairman and president of Xiaopeng Motors, Xiaopeng Motors' annual R&D expenses will reach 4 billion yuan in 2021, mainly due to a significant increase in the number of R&D personnel for software, hardware, big data and maps facing globalized autonomous driving.

What is the concept of 4 billion yuan of R&D expenses? This figure is equivalent to 68% of Xiaopeng's revenue of 5.844 billion yuan in 2020, exceeding the company's research and development combined in the two years from 2019 to 2020. In horizontal comparison, the 4 billion yuan of R&D investment is no less than the R&D expenses of car companies such as Beijing Automobile and Jiangzun Automobile in 2020, and even directly catches up with domestic leading car companies such as Changan Automobile and Geely Automobile.

The rise in Xiaopeng's utility-oriented R&D expenditure for the end market has finally brought about the explosion of patent volume and the soaring sales of automobiles.

According to public data, in 2019, the number of patents disclosed by Xiaopeng Automobile reached 742, which is the top 20 in the number of patent disclosures of Automobile in China. At the same time, its patented inventions accounted for 76.28% of the national automobile patent disclosure, ranking first. By 2020, Xiaopeng's cumulative patent applications throughout the year soared to 1574.

High-intensity research and development has also boosted the growth of Xiaopeng Automobile's sales. In 2021Q2, Xiaopeng Automobile's delivery volume hit a new single-quarter high, reaching 17,398 units, an increase of 439% year-on-year; As of the end of June this year, the cumulative delivery volume of Xiaopeng Automobile in the first half of the year reached 30,738 units, exceeding the delivery volume of the whole year of 2020.

With the delivery of the new G3i in the third quarter and the P5 delivery in the fourth quarter, Xiaopeng has achieved the delivery target of 15,000 vehicles in a single month, and is expected to achieve the maximum peak of quarterly delivery of 45,000 vehicles, an increase of 50% over the first half of the year. If this goal can finally be achieved, Xiaopeng Automobile's annual car delivery will reach 97,000-98,000 units, which is nearly four times the 27,041 units in 2020, and it will likely hit the historic sales mark of 100,000 vehicles.

Looking to the longer term, 100,000 sales may just be a new starting point for Xiaopeng Motors. It is understood that the new smart flagship SUV Xiaopeng G9 based on the international market made its global debut in November. Developed in accordance with international safety certifications and vehicle environmental standards, the Xiaopeng G9 is also the first mass-produced model to use a series of breakthrough technologies, including the X-EEA 3.0 electrical and electronic architecture, the latest XPILOT 4.0 advanced driver assistance system, and the new generation of XPower 3.0 powertrain and supercharge system. The company plans to begin delivering the Xiaopeng G9 in the third quarter of 2022.

From the perspective of the macro environment of automobiles, the penetration rate of pure electric vehicles in China has exceeded 10%. He Xiaopeng believes that the inflection point of the smart electric vehicle market has arrived. At present, Xiaopeng Automobile has made corresponding preparations, on the one hand, to increase investment in research and development, from 2023, 2-3 new cars will be launched every year to support the international market simultaneously. On the other hand, Xiaopeng Automobile has also built a production line with an annual output of 400,000 vehicles to ensure future product sales growth. In addition, Xiaopeng Automobile will continue to expand the number of stores and service network, as of the end of October, Xiaopeng has 550 brands of supercharging stations on the line, providing users with the ultimate supercharging service, while providing users with convenient supercharging and fast charging services through the layout of 1734 high-quality free charging stations across the country.

Today, Xiaopeng, like Huawei, has the most core competitiveness and initiative. Quality and intelligence have also become the most significant labels of Xiaopeng. In the eyes of consumers, Xiaopeng has become a fashion choice with Tesla. Doing what no one does is successful, not called a miracle; doing what others dare not do is it called a miracle. Seriously building cars and realizing the leap forward like a prediction may give the industry a lot of inspiration.