2021 is a year of peak circuit for most of the car companies in the first and second echelons of the new car-making forces.
Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal have all achieved cumulative annual sales of 90,000 vehicles in the voice of doubt, just one step away from the mark of 100,000 vehicles per year; Weima, which slipped from the first camp, stood firm in the position of the second echelon with the same Nezha and Zero Run.
However, the development of the new forces at the head is getting better, and the opportunities and time left for other new forces at the waist and tail are not much, and capital investment, product promotion, and market performance have put forward higher requirements for the new forces.
Aiways, a new car-making force at the waist, recently received another multi-hundred-million dollar round of financing again, less than a year after Aichi completed its last round of financing in May last year. Funds are obviously very important for a new waist force like Aichi who cannot make their own blood. However, along with this financing, there are also unexpected management changes.
The latest information on the official website of Aiways Automobile shows that the current chairman of Aiways Automobile has changed from the original founder Fu Qiang to Chen Xuanlin, the CEO of the company is Zhang Yang, and Fu Qiang continues to serve as the president of the company. Gu Feng, another co-founder and vice chairman of Aiways, has now disappeared from AIWAYS' official website. Chen Xuanlin and Zhang Yang are two unfamiliar names, so that we seem to be able to smell a hint of change in behavior from this subtle management change.
The change of management is not unrelated to the market performance of Aichi Automobile. According to the data, the cumulative sales volume of AIWAYS in 2020 is only 2600 vehicles. From January to November 2021, the cumulative sales volume was 2992 vehicles, compared with the big stride growth of the new forces in the head, the sales performance of AIWAYS Automobile can be described as stagnant. In addition, the AIWAYS U6, which was originally scheduled to be released in September 2021, is not expected to be delivered until the end of the first quarter of 2022 at the earliest. Such a performance will obviously not satisfy Aichi's management and investors, and "substitution" is obviously a straightforward way to improve.
Fu Qiang and Gu Feng are both traditional auto people, Fu Qiang has previously worked in Audi, Skoda, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Gu Feng was the CFO of SAIC Group, they all have a bright background. The combination of Fu Qiang + Gu Feng is also considered to be the representative of the senior executives of traditional car companies. However, the new energy vehicle track seems to be from the seniority, look at the head of Wei Xiaoli, the founder does not have a traditional automotive industry background, the zero-run founder in the second echelon is not from the traditional automotive industry, Nezha is also in the introduction of Zhou Hongyi and 360 Internet genes after the sudden rise.
In this new energy vehicle track that competes to build a user-oriented enterprise, the background of the traditional automotive industry makes Aichi more engineer-minded, but it lacks the Internet thinking of product operation and user operation. Fu Qiang's words in the face of the media may reflect his helplessness more: "None of the people in our traditional automotive industry will sell cars, and everyone always says that I have been fighting in the front line of marketing for a long time, but in fact, I am fighting in the command behind the marketing, not the first line, so what consumers look like and how to communicate is actually unclear." On the contrary, Weilai, Xiaopeng, and Ideal are aware, and there is a group of determined iron fans who can help, and indeed have a first-mover advantage. ”
From this point of view, it is not difficult to understand the difficulty of AICHI. The change of management also pushed a mysterious rich man from behind the scenes to the front of the stage.
The new chairman Chen Xuanlin participated in several rounds of financing of Aichi Automobile, and is also an investor in this financing, it can be said that Chen Xuanlin himself is very familiar with Aichi Automobile. Moreover, Chen Xuanlin's background is also quite legendary.
As a post-80s Chen Xuanlin, he is low-key, has a mysterious background, and has few media reports. According to unconfirmed articles, Chen Xuanlin went to the United Kingdom to study accounting in his early years and began to explore the world independently before the age of 18. In 2006, during his study abroad in the United Kingdom, he persuaded his parents to borrow considerable funds and plunge into the stock market, "In just one year, he created a huge wealth that many entrepreneurs could not reach in a lifetime." Subsequently, he used this huge amount of money to set up a professional investment company, Guangwei Holdings, and let the military industry of Guangwei Holdings rise rapidly, which sounds more like a super inspirational wealth story, but it is impossible to verify.
If you look at the verifiable industrial and commercial records, the companies that Chen Xuanlin participated in as a founder or founding shareholder in his early years were basically automobile sales companies, such as Taizhou Wansente Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., which was established in June 2007, Taizhou Senxi Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., which was established in November 2002, and Taizhou Zhongtong Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., which was established in November 2010.
In 2014, when P2P was the hottest, Chen Xuanlin also set up a P2P financial service platform positioning the whole automotive industry chain - Chain Car Financial Services, and its product "Chain Car Treasure" claimed to be a lending investment product with real collateral from vehicle dealers, and the expected annualized yield was between 5-10%. However, then in 2017, when the P2P platform encountered thunder and strong supervision, chain car financial services were not spared from borrowing overdue, but Chen Xuanlin luckily withdrew, and also made Guangwei Holdings bigger and bigger.
In February 2019, Guangwei Holdings took a stake in Shanghai Zhongtong Ruide Investment Group Co., Ltd., which was established by Chen Xuanlin in 2013, which is introduced to be a comprehensive group focusing on pan-transportation industry investment and industrial operation, and has become the main platform for Guangwei Holdings to carry out a series of capital operations since then, including investment in AIWAYS Automobile.
According to public information, Chen Xuanlin is currently the chairman of Shanghai Zhongtong Ruide Investment Group Co., Ltd. (Guangwei Holdings), and also the chairman of Shanghai Wanxiang Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd., he is also a member of the 13th Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the executive vice president of the Shanghai Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, and the executive vice president of the Shanghai Taizhou Chamber of Commerce. Up to now, Chen Xuanlin is a shareholder of 14 companies, serving as a legal person of 17 companies, an executive of 35 companies, and more than 300 holding companies.
On May 12, 2020, the Chen Xuanlin family ranked 173rd in the "2020 New Fortune 500 Rich List" with a wealth of 17.20 billion yuan, and the first place in front of him was Su Hua, the founder of Kuaishou, and behind him was Cao Dewang, the king of glass. Such an investment experience and story, no one will believe that it can be done from scratch. Rather than saying that Chen Xuanlin is young and promising, I would rather believe that he has a stronger backing behind him.
It can be said that although Chen Xuanlin has always been involved in the automotive field, he is not a professional in the true sense, and Chen Xuanlin himself and the actual controller behind Guangwei Holdings are more like a capital player. As aiways officially said: "Chen Xuanlin has rich experience in investment and operation in the automotive industry, and he has always been optimistic about the new energy automobile industry, especially the technology and brand of AIWAYS, and Aiways Automobile and its founder team have repeatedly invited Chen Xuanlin to deeply participate in the company's equity investment and daily operations." This round of new financing and the arrival of the team will empower AICHI with new development momentum and business prospects, and effectively enhance the company's market channels, capital operations, user experience and digital development capabilities. In other words, Chen Xuanlin's entry into the ownership is more for the capital operation of Aiways Automobile.
The company's newly appointed CEO Zhang Yang, who served as vice president of WEILAI industry development and other positions, has rich industry experience and resources. It can be said that it helps AICHI to build the ability of user operation and market channels.
However, can AIWAYS Auto quickly adjust its strategy and catch up with the new forces with a "blood change" of management? The author is not optimistic.
At present, AIWAYS Auto lacks not only funds, but also lacks brand labels with their own personality. And this brand label can come from technology, like Xiaopeng has always taken intelligence as the brand label; it can also come from service, like Weilai, the ultimate user operation experience. Nezha Automobile also set up a flag to build cars for the people after Zhou Hongyi took a stake. But Aichi has not established its own unique label in any way. And this is not the strength of Chen Xuanlin and Zhang Yang. Chen and Zhang are both good at the capital and industrial operation and development behind the enterprise, rather than leaders like Li Bin, He Xiaopeng, Zhou Hongyi and even Zhu Jiangming, who can rush to the front of the stage and make a big fuss.
Secondly, from the ranking of Chen Xuanlin, Zhang Yang and Fu Qiang, it can be seen that the focus of the next AIWAYS Automobile will be to put capital operation in the first place, rather than the product production and manufacturing level. Judging from Chen Xuanlin's past investment experience, it is difficult to say whether Aichi will become a pawn for Chen Xuanlin and Guangwei Holdings to complete the operation of industrial capital in the future. In other words, Chen Xuanlin may not make long-term effective measures for the development and sales of Aichi, but will only focus on how to quickly package and monetize Aichi.
Of course, with the fierce competition in the new energy arena and the current situation of Aichi, no matter how the new management will plan, it is enough for Aichi to retain the hope of survival in the competition. As for what kind of variables will be in the future, time will give the answer. (Text/UVIS Auto Old Cannon)
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