1. Jidu Automobile, a new car-making force, announced the completion of nearly $400 million A round of financing, which was jointly completed by Baidu and Geely. Jidu is committed to building automotive robots, rather than intelligent electric vehicles in the traditional sense. For the first time, it proposes an intelligent electronic and electrical architecture JET for the L4 level. In July last year, Jidu completed the modeling design and entered the engineering development stage. On January 18 this year, Jidu officially released the brand logo "Pixel-J". The proceeds will be used to develop automotive robots, which will be released at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, and the mass-produced models are expected to be released in 2023.
Independent car review: Jidu car was born with a golden key, with the double blessing of self-driving leader Baidu and private car giant Geely, although Jidu car started late, but the prospect is bright.
2. Jiangling Motors and Ford Motor co-invested in the establishment of Jiangling Ford Technology Company today, opening a new chapter of Jiangling Ford Technology passenger cars with a "challenger" attitude. The new joint venture has a registered capital of RMB 200 million. Among them, Jiangling Motors invested 102 million yuan, holding 51% of the shares, and Ford Motor invested 0.98 billion yuan, holding 49% of the shares. The new joint venture will make full use of Ford's global superior resources, meet the needs of the Chinese market, and deepen the integration of Ford and Jiangling in technology, products, marketing, services and other aspects.
Autonomous Vehicle Review: Ford's market capitalization has reached a record high, and along with the strong performance of the parent company, Ford has also begun to increase investment in China. In addition to accelerating the introduction of electric Mustangs at home and abroad, Ford is also innovating Lincoln's marketing methods in China to boost sales.
3. The BMW Group announced that it will produce the last 12 limited edition V12 models in June this year, which will be sold only in the US market, and the model name is "Final 12", which is the unique song of bmw 7 series models and the entire BMW brand. On the 750i in 1987, BMW used the V12 engine for the first time, representing BMW's flagship technology in the field of internal combustion engines. 35 years later, in the context of the transformation of the world's energy structure and the development of new energy vehicle technology, the era of V12 has ushered in the end.
Autonomous car review: BMW, as the representative of the control system, has a well-received N-series engine. However, with Europe and North America accelerating the ban on fuel vehicles, the era of V12 is over.
4. Nezha Automobile, a new car-making force, is seeking to raise $500 million before listing in Hong Kong this year. The current round of financing is valued at $7.1 billion for Nezha Automobile, and Nezha Automobile will IPO as early as the second half of this year. However, this is not the first time that Nezha Automobile has been rumored to have been IPO news. In 2021, it was reported that Nezha Automobile considered a $1 billion Hong Kong IPO, but in the end it was fruitless. In 2021, Nezha Automobile delivered a total of 69,674 new cars, an increase of 362% year-on-year. Among them, Nezha Automobile delivered 10,127 vehicles in December, an increase of 236% year-on-year, and sold more than 10,000 vehicles for two consecutive months.
Autonomous car review: The reason why Nezha Automobile did not choose an IPO last year may be because it has received strong support from 360 Group. However, with the increase in delivery, Nezha can already squeeze into the first echelon of new car-making forces, and at this time, Nezha Automobile can also raise more funds and obtain a higher valuation.
5. NIO Automobile announced that it has invested 50 million yuan to establish NIO Insurance Brokerage Company, which is 100% owned by NIO and its business scope includes insurance brokers and insurance agents. As early as last December, the Insurance Association issued the "New Energy Vehicle Commercial Insurance Exclusive Clauses (Trial)", and in the same month, the new energy exclusive car insurance was officially launched nationwide, and the first batch of new energy vehicle exclusive insurance products were launched. NIO has previously cooperated with a number of insurance brokerage companies and third parties to provide service packages for NIO car owners to provide worry-free services and insurance worry-free services, and NIO said that it plans to launch the 2022 version of Service Worry-free in March 2022.
Independent car review: As a haidilao in the car industry, Weilai Automobile's service worry-free protection plan has attracted a large number of potential car buyers, but with the expansion of consumer groups and the circulation of second-hand cars, it has become more and more difficult for Weilai to continue to protect the interests of all car owners, and I hope that Weilai will not use insurance agents to cut leeks.