Weilai subsidiary deregistered on the hot search, self-rubbing heat to push new cars

Source/Upstream Journalist Yan Wei

Editor/Xiang Jiaqing

On February 15, the Tianyancha App showed that Weilai Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. has recently been cancelled, and the reason for the cancellation is the resolution to dissolve. Soon, the topic of "Weilai Automobile Technology Company Cancellation" caused heated discussion, and even landed on the first hot search of Douyin. Subsequently, Weilai's official Weibo said that in addition to the delivery of ET7 and ET5, the ES7, one of the largest SUVs this year, will be released in mid-April.

The deregistration of NIO's subsidiary has raised suspicions

In January 2022, NIO delivered 9,652 new cars, falling out of the top three of the sales list and declining for three consecutive months. In October last year, Weilai saw a cliff sales of just over 3,000 vehicles. Therefore, when the news of the cancellation of Weilai Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. was released, it immediately aroused the attention of all parties.

According to the Tianyancha APP, the company was established in July 2019 with a registered capital of 7 billion yuan, and its business scope includes wholesale of auto parts; the technical development of new energy vehicles and related parts, etc., and Li Bin serves as the company's legal representative and chairman. Shareholder information shows that the company is jointly owned by NEXTEV LIMITILED and NEXTEV USER ENTERPRISE LIMITED.

The company's establishment in 2019 was the most difficult year for Weilai Automobile, when it was on the verge of a break in the capital chain, and Li Bin was also rated as the "most miserable person in 2019" by the outside world in that year.

Through the equity penetration of Tianyancha, NEXTEV LIMITILED invested in a total of 3 companies, namely NIO Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., which was deregistered this time, and NIO Holding Co., Ltd. and Shanghai NIO Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., which are still operating.

In this regard, Ma Lin, senior director of corporate communications at Shanghai NIO Automobile Co., Ltd., responded to the upstream news reporter that NIO Auto Technology Co., Ltd. has not actually operated and has no impact on NIO's business.

Some industry insiders told upstream news reporters that the background of the establishment of Weilai Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. is that in May 2019, WEILAI signed a framework agreement with Beijing Yizhuang International Investment and Development Co., Ltd.

According to the agreement, NIO will set up a new entity "NIO China" in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone and inject specific business and assets into NIO China, and Yizhuang SDIC will invest 10 billion yuan in "NIO China" to obtain the interests of non-controlling shareholders holding "NIO China". However, nearly a year after signing the framework agreement with Yizhuang SDIC, the cooperation projects between the two sides have not made substantial progress. Some media have reported that an insider of Yizhuang State Investment said: "We are not voting."

"Whether the cancellation of the company means that its cooperation with Yizhuang State Investment has 'failed'?" Industry insiders speculate.

Self-rubbing heat push new car ES7

Subsequently, Weilai Guanbo said that it cancelled a sub-branch that had not actually operated, and it was the first hot search on Douyin, taking the opportunity to advertise to the company, thanking everyone for their concern.

NIO said that this year's NIO products, ES8 ES6 EC6 will have smart cockpit hardware upgrades. The self-driving flagship sedan ET7 will be delivered on March 28, the ES7 medium and large SUV will be released in mid-April, and the HOT ORDER ET5 after the launch will be delivered at the end of September. The second production base of Xinqiao was put into operation in September. NIO will enter the four European countries to provide services.

At the same time, although WEILAI ranked at the bottom of the January delivery volume in the head enterprise "Wei Xiaoli", the head of the new car-making force, the total delivery volume is still the first. Ma Lin, senior director of corporate communications at WEILAI, also said, "We deliver every month with production volume. ”

Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of Weilai, also said at the opening of the Niuwu Park Tianjie store on the cliff sales in October last year that Weilai did not do missing material deliveries, and must wait until all chips and accessories were complete before starting production and delivery.

He also revealed that it is expected that before the 2022 Beijing Auto Show, hardware upgrades will be carried out on the models that have been sold, so that the cars that customers have already arrived will continue to grow, which is rare in the world, so Weilai has made a long preparation for this.

It can be seen that the "Weilai crisis" that some netizens are worried about is unfounded.

After the increase in production capacity, it is still under pressure

However, in 2021, the new NIO ET5 was officially launched and listed, not only did it change the power, but also launched a battery rental, and the hot booking single degree caused the WEILAI APP to "collapse", and now it is still the order queue. NIO ET7 has been listed for a year, but it is also in the "futures" stage, from the original delivery in 2021, it has not been delivered to this day.

What limits NIO's delivery volume is capacity. In this regard, Qin Lihong said, "Our delivery target this year is decided by the supply chain, and this year's production capacity will be improved, and how much can be produced will be delivered." In 2022, with the commissioning of the new plant in Hefei Xinqiao, the delivery volume of NIO will rise to a large level. He also said that the supply of spare parts will still be the ceiling for the delivery of WEILAI automobiles.

As a foundry of NIO, on February 12, Jianghuai Automobile released production and sales data for the first month of 2022. In January, JAC produced 51,361 vehicles of various types, down 10.17% year-on-year, and sold 51,558 vehicles, down 10.64% year-on-year. In recent years, Jacco Automobile's commercial vehicle sales have continued to be weak, while the performance in the passenger car market has also been flat. The financial report shows that since 2017, the main business has accumulated losses of more than 5 billion yuan.

According to the manufacturing contract renewed with NIO, JAC Automobile can continue to produce ES8, EC6, ET7 and other possible models in the future until 2024. "But its foundry business may be further under pressure with changes in WEIlai's sales volume and its own production capacity layout." Industry insiders said.