Ideal Automobile CEO Li Xiang, in the middle of this month, issued an article attacking the group car network to build a car, questioning the other party is borrowing the name of car manufacturing to circle money. There are millets in the front and calves in the back, and there are so many new forces entering the automobile circle, why can't Li think he can't help but openly shell the car network of the regiment? Probably because Li Xiang is the founder of Autohome, he used his network to find out the bottom of the group car network.
Although Tuanche.com is named as the first stock of automobile new retail, the actual main business is automobile exhibitions - cooperating with automobile manufacturers to build offline car purchase scenarios to earn service fees. In other words, Tuanche.com is like a sheep in wolf's clothing: hanging on the name of an Internet manufacturer and doing the work of a convention and exhibition company. The traditional business model and the lack of Internet genes are not a big deal. The biggest problem with Tuanche.com is that the company has been in a state of loss since 2016, and its market value has also suffered a cliff-like decline.
According to the financial report data of Tuanche Network, the company's cumulative loss since 2016 has exceeded 700 million yuan. In the third quarter of 2021, the total assets of Tuanche.com were only 396 million yuan (including 115 million goodwill assets), and the total deposits were 134 million yuan. Its market value has fallen from $618 million at the beginning of the listing to about $40 million today. From the financial report alone, the group car network seems to have no financial resources to build cars. Of course, financing can also be obtained through other channels, but it is still inevitable to trigger speculation from the outside world - perhaps to boost stock prices, to tell a car-making story
Wen Wei, CEO of Tuanche Network, countered Li Xiang through social media, saying that car building is not a joke, and Tuanche was invited to attend the first product release.
Judging from the previous Wenwei small-scale media interview information, there are three points to support the group car network to build cars: first, the foreign team of more than 100 people, with more than 20 years of experience in car manufacturing, can undertake all new energy vehicle-related projects such as chassis, three electricity and design; second, the foreign team comes with semi-finished products, the company can use mature solutions to quickly build cars, the shortest in the third quarter of this year to open pre-sale; third, the Chinese market has great potential, the next 2 years is the final window period, the company can ride the wind and waves.
As for the car-making funds, Wen Wei said that there is no need to worry too much: "At present, there are many investors who are interested in it, and cooperation with local governments is also one of the solutions." The most important thing is to use the funds used for a mass production, and we estimate that there are only a few fractions of other new car-making forces. Niuchuang (the maverick car project) got 500 million US dollars, and we may be 1/10 of him. "The all-round team of 100 people, the prototype of the semi-finished car, the capital only needs 50 million US dollars, coupled with the mature new energy supply chain, the group car network car manufacturing does not seem to be a problem."
But even so, Che Shao, like Li Xiang, was skeptical about the construction of cars on the tuanche network.
Wen Wei said that the team of 100 people can do more than 20 million yuan of cars, but also can do cars below 50,000 yuan, including commercial vehicles, logistics vehicles. Up to the Bugatti Veyron, down to the Macro Mini EV, is there really a team that plays with all the cars? "Our current team can do 18-24 months", which is what Wen Wei said about the car-building cycle. Depending on factors such as semi-finished products and supply chains, it is possible to build mass production vehicles in such a short period of time. But even if you take the "oil to electricity" rapid car manufacturing model, traditional manufacturers have to go through a lot of time to verify the quality of the car. As a layman, Tuanche Network dares to pat his chest and say "my car is no problem" in a short period of time, and it is also a mainstream car built above 100,000 yuan, and the authenticity is debatable.
The most important thing is, does Tuanche Network have the ability to get the intelligent system? After Xiaomi announced the car manufacturing in March last year, the company has been wandering the supply chain sector and recruiting relevant talents, and there has been no actual manufacturing plan so far. Xiaomi, which has an investment of 10 billion yuan in the first phase and has Internet genes, does not dare to act rashly, most likely because of the core intelligent system of new energy vehicles, which is a very test of kung fu technology. What kind of function to achieve is not to say, whether it can operate normally is a problem.
In 2021, The mainland recalled a total of 8.73 million vehicles in question, of which 2.92 million were involved in OTA defects. It is worth mentioning that the vast majority of products meet the standards at the factory, but after use, it is found that there is still a risk of endangering the safety of driving and riding. In addition, from the structural level of the recalled components, more than 80% of the recalled vehicles have electrical system and engine defects. In other words, the related technology of electronic software and hardware has not reached a relatively stable stage at present. Lack of money and no Internet gene of the tuanche network, relying on a team of 100 people can get the electronic software and hardware?
The masters have different tricks in the cultivation process, and in the end they have to speak with the results. I hope wen wei does not become the group of people he hates the most.