Reporter 丨 Cui Liwen
Responsible editor 丨 Du Yuxin
Editor 丨Zhu Jinbin
2021 ends in a hustle and bustle. The New Year's Day holiday that just passed, for several new forces to achieve large-scale delivery of cars, ushered in more flowers and applause.
Xiaopeng, Weilai, and Ideal have crossed the 90,000-vehicle mark; Nezha, Weima, and Zero Run have gradually broken through from the second-tier echelon. The six car companies, after climbing out of the dark abyss that is unforgettable enough, finally went to the direction of the bright light.
But what can never be escaped is that car building is far more cruel than imagined. Even if the momentum of development is good, no one can guarantee that they will be the final winners in this new track. For more participants, even whether they can get tickets to enter the "final" is still unresolved.
Struggle, change, overthrow, and comeback, a slightly harsh keyword, or will become the status quo that this group must face in 2022. After all, there is really not much time to squander. Opportunities and outlets are far from the "long-term feelings" imagined.
As everyone knows, with a "huge earthquake" that spread among the senior management team, AIWAYS Auto quickly became a typical representative of it.
"He still has a say."
I would like to ask, what is the biggest pain point that seriously restricts the development of "new forces at the waist" like Aichi? It must be a question of funding.
In particular, the investment attitude of the capital market to the new forces to build cars has long since changed from the frenzy of a few years ago to an increasingly calm one. Several head echelon car companies have made the threshold and examination standards of the entire industry gradually become towering and strict.
Therefore, at this special moment, no matter what kind of way, who can raise more financing for the company and attract more capital to settle in, can grasp the greatest right to speak.
In fact, as early as last May, a similar thing happened to the management of AIWAYS. The departure of co-founder and CEO Gu Feng, and the retirement of SAIC President Chen Zhixin, who joined as an advisor, are considered to be an alternation of central power. Subsequently, he also became a consultant in Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, guiding the development of local automobile companies, including Aichi.
This time, from the latest official news, following the completion of the last round of financing in May this year, AICHI has once again received a new round of financing.
The financing in this round came from Chen Xuanlin and his Dongbai Group, and the amount of financing reached hundreds of millions of DOLLARs. Since the end of 2017, Chen Xuanlin has participated in many rounds of financing of AIWAYS Automobile, as an old shareholder, among the multiple investment intention parties in this round of financing, Chen Xuanlin's further strategic investment has been unanimously selected, recognized and supported by the existing shareholders and the founder team.
It is reported that Chen Xuanlin is currently the chairman of Shanghai Zhongtong Ruide Investment Group Co., Ltd. and the chairman of Shanghai Vientiane Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. He is a member of the 13th Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the executive vice president of Shanghai Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, and the executive vice president of Shanghai Taizhou Chamber of Commerce.
At the same time, Chen Xuanlin's current Zhongtong Ruide Investment Group (Guangwei Holdings) is a comprehensive group focusing on pan-transportation industry investment and industrial operation, the company's industries involve automobile manufacturing and trade, general aviation industry and technology manufacturing, the main industrial companies are Vientiane Automobile, Zhejiang Zhongtong Bus, BAA Business Jets, etc.
According to the latest information on AIWAYS' official website, after the management change, founder Fu Qiang will continue to serve as the president of the company, Chen Xuanlin will serve as the chairman of AIWAYS Automobile, and Zhang Yang will serve as the CEO of the company. The latter is also a senior management expert in the new energy automobile industry, and has served as vice president of WEILAI industry development.
As for rumors, Fu Qiang will be transferred away in the future and responsible for the manufacturing business. In this regard, after asking its insiders, it received a negative answer. "It's not that it's hollow, he still has a say."
As a bystander, in my opinion, after the introduction of a new round of financing, the huge shock of the executive team, and the replacement of discourse power again, AICHI will inevitably usher in a new round of pain. But such an active change, in the final analysis, is still for the company to sweep away the decline and continue to survive.
After understanding, I learned that just today, AIWAYS will hold a general meeting of all employees, and more dimensions of adjustment and personnel appointments will also be announced.
"The lack of labels is the original sin."
Many times, I always think about a question, looking back at the current Chinese new energy industry, why did Li Bin, Li Xiang, and He Xiaopeng gradually become "opinion leaders"? Weilai, Xiaopeng, ideal, whenever a new product, a new strategy or even a new service system is released, will usher in the follow-up catcher rush to imitate?
My answer focuses on: since the beginning of the brand's creation, a clear development path has been built in mind. What kind of product you want to build, who the audience is, and what kind of label to use are determined early. In addition, the three founders themselves have a strong Internet thinking, rapid iteration, everything is efficient, and even they themselves have invested a lot of money and money for the company, and are more willing to do their best.
And they also know that in the new track, for the new forces to build cars, it has long been from the era of "product definition marketing" to "marketing driven products", so before considering how to sell cars, more consideration is through what means, so that more users know their own brands.
At the product level, intelligence and electrification are like the two legs of a runner, one is indispensable. Therefore, in the development process of the members of the three head echelons, as long as the funds are not too scarce, it is more of a state of equal status and going hand in hand.
Taking this as a measure, if you look at Aichi, you will find that the lack of significant "labels" in brand, marketing, team, and product has become the biggest original sin that hinders its further upward mobility.
The chain reaction that followed was that in the past year, as the only model on sale, according to the data of the Association, the cumulative sales of the AIWAYS U5 from January to November were only 2,992 units.
Although exported overseas, Aichi has covered ten European countries. As the number one sales force in the EU market, China's new power has exported a total of 2,705 overseas vehicles from May last year to December 15, 2021, and has landed in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain and other countries, but it still cannot hide its decline in the domestic market.
The aiways U6, the second production model that was supposed to go on sale at the end of last year, was further postponed for various reasons. It is reported that it is currently waiting for the reorganization of the new senior management team of the capital. After all, you have to be more cautious about very limited playing opportunities.
At the end of the article, I want to say that it is not alarmist, in 2022, with the expansion of the entire new energy market, the speed of elimination has been multiplied, leaving time for Aichi to adjust, may really not be much.
Fortunately, with a new round of hundreds of millions of dollars in financing and the injection of fresh blood from the executive team, it can still be seen to hope for it to rise. As for whether you can finally grasp the opportunity and outlet that is not so "long-term", feedback will be given soon...