A few years ago, there was a map of the new forces of car manufacturing circulating on the Internet, and at that time, 49 car company logos gathered here. Now, very few are still active in the public eye. However, in this short period of time, "Wei Xiaoli" has become the head enterprise of the new domestic car-making forces. In addition, a large number of cross-border forces such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Didi, and Midea are constantly pouring into the new energy vehicle track.
Figure 1: The logo of the new forces of car manufacturing that was previously circulated
Source: Public information, compiled by Gelonghui
The new energy automobile industry has entered the second half of the competition of many players, how to achieve curve overtaking in the environment where opportunities and challenges coexist? Only by continuous practice and exploration can domestic car companies solve this doubt.
The author noted that Xiaokang Shares, which held hands with Huawei to build cars, issued an announcement on the evening of January 26 to increase capital, and the company planned to raise no more than 7.13 billion yuan in order to further expand the new energy vehicle business, which will be used for the development of electrified models and product platform technology upgrade projects, factory intelligent upgrades and electric drive production line construction projects, user center construction projects and supplementary working capital. So, what kind of signal does the fixed increase of Xiaokang shares release to the market?
Figure 2: The purpose of raising funds for Xiaokang shares (unit: 10,000 yuan)
Source: Company Announcement, Compiled by Grandway
Grasp the dividends of the new energy automobile industry
In recent years, under the background of the severe situation of global energy and environmental problems and the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the traditional automobile industry has been greatly impacted, promoting the global energy low-carbon transformation. New energy vehicles are not only an important direction for the transformation and upgrading of the global automobile industry, but also the main starting point for coping with the energy crisis and alleviating environmental pollution.
Driven by the dual-carbon policy, new industries such as energy storage, green electricity, and fuel cells represented by new energy vehicles will usher in great industrial changes and investment opportunities. In the medium and long term, the new energy automobile industry is one of the most deterministic tracks in the domestic automobile market and even in China's economic development.
From the perspective of the market, according to the data of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the new energy automobile industry in the mainland is in a stage of rapid development. In 2021, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in mainland China has reached 3.521 million units, accounting for more than 50% of the global share, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years, with a market share of 13.4%. Sales are expected to reach 5 million units in 2022, up 47% year-on-year and a market share of approximately 20%.
However, as the prosperity of the new energy vehicle market continues to increase, orders from power battery companies have soared. Under a series of chain reactions, the supply and demand of upstream raw materials are tight, and full production scheduling, price increases due to shortages, and stepping up investment and expansion have become the keywords of upstream materials for lithium batteries, and the new energy automobile industry is facing fierce competition for raw materials.
This phenomenon will be even worse at the end of 2021. For example, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate rose by more than 200% throughout last year, mainly due to the shortage of upstream lithium resources. Although the mainland has the fourth largest reserve of lithium resources in the world, it mainly exists in the form of salt lakes, which is more difficult to mine and more dependent on imports.
In addition, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the tight capacity of global semiconductor manufacturing production lines, the surge in chip demand from consumer electronics companies, and the panic hoarding of goods in the automotive industry, the global chip shortage has led to a slowdown in the growth rate of new energy vehicle production and sales.
However, according to JPMorgan Chase, it is still very optimistic about the prospects of China's new energy vehicle market. From the perspective of penetration rate, the growth rate of the mainland new energy vehicle market in the next few years is still very impressive, and it is expected to show explosive growth from 2022 to 2025. JPMorgan Expects that by 2025, 35% of mainland vehicle sales will come from new energy vehicles, more than 10 million, bringing the cumulative number of new energy vehicles on the mainland to 37 million.
Under the trend of policy support and guidance + domestic substitution, the differentiated advantages of xiaokang are significant
Looking at the domestic new energy vehicle market, the mainland has taken the development of new energy vehicles as a national strategy. In recent years, the introduction of a series of support policies such as the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" and "2022 New Energy Vehicle Promotion and Application Financial Subsidy Policy" has vigorously promoted the development of the mainland's new energy industry. With the gradual rise of domestic car-making forces, the domestic substitution of new energy vehicles is also in progress.
Because of this, under the support and guidance of policies, the recognition of domestic consumers in the new energy market has been greatly improved, and more and more players have poured into the new energy automobile industry, which has shown a competitive pattern of "a hundred schools of thought". The future of the industry is led by 5G, artificial intelligence and other technologies, and the development trend of automobile electrification, intelligence and networking has become inevitable.
Huaxin Securities also said that the current new energy automobile industry is in the era of electrification 3.0 and intelligent 1.0. In the era of intelligent electric power, its industrial chain has gradually realized a new stage from the traditional manufacturing attribute to the consumption and technology attribute.
The strong combination of Xiaokang and Huawei has obvious competitive advantages in the context of intelligent and networked new energy vehicles. Xiaokang shares quickly launched a variety of models. For example, the Xilix Huawei Smart SF5 has received widespread attention from the market since its listing, and the newly launched AITO Q&A M5 also has considerable potential market demand.
In the current market, Huawei and Xiaokang have reached a strategic cooperation in both directions to jointly develop new energy vehicles, which is an opportunity that other new energy vehicles cannot seek. As an important partner selected by a world-class enterprise such as Huawei, Xiaokang Co., Ltd. has strong innovation strength, rich research and development achievements, and core technologies for electrification.
In terms of innovation ability, Xiaokang co., Ltd. has not only set up a Xiaokang Science and Technology Center in China, but also established an independent research and innovation center in the United States, and the company's design capabilities have reached the mainstream level of domestic independent research and development. The company can implement the whole process of modeling design from forward-looking design to full-size vehicle model production, with the annual design and production capabilities of 4 complete vehicles, 5 modified models, 3 hard verification models, and has a complete vehicle development process SVDP, which is divided into 5 stages, 22 nodes, 553 first-level deliverables, including the whole process of product and platform pre-planning, concept design, engineering design, design verification, and small batch trial production.
In terms of core technology, Xiaokang co., Ltd. has more than 3,000 technical research and development personnel, and has formed core technologies such as electronic control and electric drive with independent intellectual property rights, as well as intelligent range extended range technology that is differentiated in line with China's national conditions. The company has a strong core competitiveness in electrification, with more than 1,000 global patents in this field. At the same time, the company has also independently designed and developed an industry-leading electronic architecture based on a central Ethernet gateway, which can make vehicles better adapt to the era of intelligent electric vehicles and support the development of a variety of models. In addition, the company has designed, developed, tested and built an advanced automotive OTA management platform.
In the context of policy support and guidance and domestic substitution, the company relies on the "hard power" of technology to cooperate with Huawei to develop new energy vehicles, and is expected to gain greater development prospects in the future.
Frequent financing actions will strengthen the construction of independent brands
New energy vehicle manufacturing is a systematic and complex project, involving all aspects of the industrial chain, in which there are many advantages in order to gain a firm foothold. In the current situation of intensified competition in the new energy automobile industry, all players in the industry are constantly upgrading and updating equipment, and Xiaokang shares are no exception, and the company has been moving frequently since holding hands with Huawei to build cars.
At the end of June last year, Xiaokang completed a fixed increase of 2.59 billion yuan for the development of Cyrus models and product technology upgrade projects, marketing channel construction projects and supplementary working capital. The fixed increase in capital will not exceed 7.13 billion yuan, which will once again strengthen its layout in the field of new energy.
Specifically, the focus of Xiaokang's capital increase will focus on the development of electrified models and the technical upgrading of product platforms, including the development of 6 electric vehicle models and the upgrading of DE-i platforms and a series of product technology research and development upgrades, with a total investment of 4.75 billion yuan and a proposed investment of 4.31 billion yuan.
The new energy automobile industry is developing in the direction of diversification, and mutual integration and synergy such as electrification, networking, and intelligence are the keys to future development. The company's fixed increase investment is the embodiment of keeping up with market changes and technological development trends. Under the background of the continuous updating and reshaping of the competitive landscape of the new energy industry, the company actively adopts the corresponding strategic layout to upgrade and transform the electric vehicle platform to tap its compatibility, scalability and more potential economic value.
At the same time, the project will also strengthen the company's core innovation capabilities, on the basis of Cyrus Huawei Smart Selection SF5 and AITO Q&A M5, the company will further improve the SUV product sequence and expand the coverage of consumer groups. Next, Xiaokang is also expected to develop more creative and cost-effective explosive new energy vehicles, thus seizing the market share of high-end intelligent electric passenger cars.
It is worth mentioning that the funds raised by the company will also be used for the intelligent upgrading of the factory and the construction of electric drive production lines. In the future, with the continuous advancement of the project, the company's "intelligent" car manufacturing ability will be further strengthened, thereby improving the company's production efficiency and product quality. Such a strategic arrangement is also Xiaokang Co., Ltd. In response to the policy requirements of the national development of industry 4.0, the company takes digitalization and intelligence as the core, combined with new technologies such as big data and Internet of Things, and will create a passenger car manufacturing plant that is "China's leading and world-class".
In addition, the company will raise funds for the construction of user centers and to supplement working capital. The user center built by Xiaokang Co., Ltd. in the future will greatly enhance the consumer's purchase experience, improve the after-sales service of products, enhance the company's boutique service capabilities, maintain a good brand image and spread out and build a smooth sales channel. The additional liquidity can effectively alleviate the financial pressure, improve the financial situation, and ensure the normal operation of the company.
Overall, the fixed increase of Xiaokang shares will improve the core competitiveness of the company, which will be of great benefit to the company's future development, and is also an important step taken by the company in the process of becoming a world-renowned new energy vehicle brand. At the same time, the construction of fundraising projects is also in line with the theme of the era of high-quality development of the manufacturing industry, which is highly in line with the policy requirements of the "14th Five-Year Plan for Intelligent Manufacturing Development" to vigorously develop the manufacturing industry and achieve digital transformation, network collaboration, and intelligent transformation.
brief summary
At present, Xiaokang co., Ltd. has the advantages of the whole industry chain in the field of new energy vehicles, and its core competitiveness lies in the company's strong research and development strength. Last year, the company and Huawei joined hands to develop new energy vehicles, which showed the market's recognition of the company's own strength.
In the process of adapting to the development trend of new energy vehicles, Xiaokang Shares has once again raised capital in a large-scale manner after half a year, which will further strengthen the company's position in the field of new energy vehicles and develop towards high-end intelligence, demonstrating the company's determination to implement the development strategy of new energy vehicle business. Previously, the company's cooperation with Huawei to launch the Xilis Huawei Smart SF5 has received hot attention, and it is believed that the recently launched AITO Q&A M5 is also expected to be sought after by the market again.
In the long run, under the background of the gradual increase in the penetration rate and sales volume of new energy vehicles, Xiaokang shares are worthy of attention.
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