Reporter Xu Jie
The group car network listed in the United States released its third-quarter financial report on the evening of January 13. In the third quarter of 2021, the net revenue of Tuanche.com was 61.1 million yuan, a decrease of 38.9% year-on-year; the gross profit in the third quarter was 46.8 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 35.1%. It can be seen that the epidemic is still deeply affecting the auto retail platform with the auto show as its main business, and Tuanche Network urgently needs to find new performance growth points.
In 2021, cross-border car manufacturing has become a major outlet, and the group car network has also decided to run into the game. On January 5, Tuanche.com announced that it would form a new electric vehicle business line by forming a team including design, research and development, production, etc., and enter the field of electric vehicle manufacturing. This means that Tuanche.com will become a car-making company.
On January 16, an insider of Tuanche Network told the Securities Daily reporter, "The first model of Tuanche will be priced in the range of 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan." ”
The track of cross-border car manufacturing has been crowded with competitors of all sizes, why should the group car network cut in at this time? Is it a gimmick or has it been planned? Will this major strategic adjustment change the fate of Tuanche.com?
The field of electric vehicle manufacturing
There is also a 2-year "window period"
In 2021, China's auto market has entered a period of relatively stable growth. Among them, new energy vehicles have maintained a high-speed growth trend. Last year was also a record-breaking year for domestic new car manufacturers. According to the data released by "Wei, Small and Rational", in 2021, WEIO delivered 91,429 new cars, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 98,155 new cars, and Ideal Cars delivered 90,491 vehicles, an increase of 109.1%, 263% and 177.4% year-on-year compared with 2020.
Li Bin, the founder of NIO, founded E-Car in June 2000, and on November 17, 2010, he led E-Car to become the first automotive Internet company in China to be listed overseas. Wen Wei, chairman and CEO of Tuanche.com, founded Tuanche.com in 2009, taking new car group buying as the core entry point, and in 2018, Tuanche.com also landed on NASDAQ, becoming the first new retail stock of automobiles listed in the United States in China.
In Wen Wei's view, his original impulse to build a car comes from "Wei, Small, And Rational", and he will also step on the shoulders of his predecessors and avoid the "pits" encountered when li bin and other artificial vehicles.
Wen Wei told the "Securities Daily" reporter, "When I saw that 'Wei, Small, and Rational' had just started to build cars, I actually had an impulse, but the conditions were not yet ripe at that time." The real determination was in the second half of 2021, after matchmaking, we began to contact the top team in the industry and saw the possibility of successful car building. ”
In fact, after the announcement to build a car, the stock price of the group car network did not rise because of this, but there was a slight downward fluctuation. On the one hand, the current situation of tuanche network is really bad, Wen Wei said, "In the third quarter of 2021, tuanche was once again impacted by the macro environment. The scattered emergence of the epidemic and the shortage of new cars caused by the shortage of chips had a direct impact on our offline auto show business, resulting in a 38.9% year-on-year decrease in net revenue in the third quarter. But at the same time, we further advanced our online business, adjusted our cost structure and narrowed our net loss attributable to shareholders by 10.7% year-on-year. ”
On the other hand, there are still many question marks in investors' minds about where the advantages of tuanche network car manufacturing are.
In this regard, Wen Wei said, "Whether it is through contact with the C-end market or serving B-end customers, we have our own judgment in the field of new energy vehicles." I feel that there are indeed some opportunities, and there is still a 'window period' for the field of electric vehicle manufacturing in the next 2 years or so. Our strategy will no longer be like Li Bin in three years to grind a sword out of a car, more will be a strong combination, with the industry's relatively strong team and resources and the strong reach of the group car network to do the combination, so as to achieve the car strategy. ”
Wen Wei's confidence comes from three aspects, the first is the "top" automobile manufacturing team that cooperates with Tuanche.com. Wen Wei revealed that although the core members of the team are only more than 100 people, they include experts in all aspects of model design, automobile manufacturing, production chain control and so on, which can provide strong technical and production support for the group car network. Secondly, Tuanche.com has inherent advantages in the positioning, marketing and channel fields of new brands; finally, the community operation of users.
"We give priority to the direct sales model, and also have the channel advantage of landing in the sinking market, in fact, whether it is franchise or direct sales, we have a variety of options." Wen Wei said.
The first milestone of the tuanche network
"Sold 100,000 cars"
The reporter learned from the above-mentioned insiders of the group car network that whether it is within the company or at the shareholder level, there is no negative voice for the car manufacturing matter. Wen Wei said that the existing business and car manufacturing business of Tuanche Network will be completely independent, but the existing business will empower the car manufacturing business and provide strong support for its sales.
"I'll be Allin in the car business myself. We are having open discussions with potential strategic partners and will select the best partners to ensure maximum synergy. Our innovative business model, large user base and deep consumer insights, as well as our leading sales network combined with the integration of the industry's top design, R&D and production teams and potential strategic partners, will lay a solid foundation for future success. ”
Wen Wei's plan is: "In the short term, the car will be mass-produced as soon as possible, and our design and manufacturing cycle is about 18 months to 24 months." The first car, which may use a pure electric architecture, will start mass production this year, start pre-sales from September to October, and delivery in 2023. In the long run, it is to play its own differentiation in this market, neither too much pursuit of luxury, nor excessive pursuit of science and technology. ”
In fact, some previous analyses said that the group car network will most likely enter the market with lower prices, because from the current sales of new energy in China, it is mainly concentrated in the high-end and low-end areas. The market that Tuanche.com has been deeply cultivating happens to be the market with the largest demand for low-end new energy vehicles.
For which segment of the group car network to enter, what is the model? Wen Wei said, "It is not convenient to disclose it for the time being." ”
With the top team, with the channel of selling cars, what else does the group car network need? money!
After Xiaopeng Automobile completed the A+ round of financing, founder He Xiaopeng also lamented: "Before watching others make cars, I thought 10 billion yuan was too exaggerated, and now I jumped in to know that 20 billion yuan is not enough to spend." ”
As for how to solve the problem of funds, Wen Wei told reporters, "We will walk on multiple legs." Tuanche itself is a listed company in the United States and has the ability to raise funds in the open market and private equity channels. In addition, both state-owned assets and local governments are very interested in our projects and are currently in progress. In fact, the funds consumed by our research and development stage are only a fraction of the new forces of car manufacturing, which is about hundreds of millions of yuan, so we do not need much money at present. ”
For the transformation of car building, Wen Wei claimed to be ready to die and be born later. "For us, selling 100,000 vehicles will be a milestone in stages," he said. I myself will see building a car as if it were the last venture. ”
Can this milestone ultimately be achieved? We'll see.
![The new energy vehicle track is hot, but car building cannot be a child's play[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)