Invested 2 billion yuan to set up a new company Tuopu Group "bet" on the skateboard chassis track

This newspaper intern reporter Yu Dian reported from Shanghai by Zhang Jiazhen

After laying out a series of lightweight chassis expansion actions, Ningbo Top Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Top Group", 601689.SH) once again entered the skateboard chassis track in a high profile.

According to the announcement of Tuopu Group, it is proposed to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Tuopu Skateboard Chassis (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. (tentative name) in Hangzhou Bay New Area, Ningbo City, with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan. For the purpose of setting up the company and investing abroad, Tuopu Group said: "The use of skateboard chassis can quickly create differentiated models, thereby reducing the development costs of car companies and shortening the development cycle." ”

It is understood that as one of the few companies that master the lightweight technology of the automobile chassis, Tuopu Group has gained a lot in the rapid development of the automobile industry market dividend, but it is also facing a bottleneck in production capacity, and it is urgent to expand the production capacity reserve of the lightweight chassis to ensure the ability to undertake orders.

On February 18, Tuopu Group said in response to the feedback of the China Securities Regulatory Commission that at present, the company's lightweight chassis system module (including subframe, suspension system, steering knuckle) has a production capacity of about 1.8 million sets in 2020, with a capacity utilization rate of about 92.75%; from January to September 2021, the production capacity is about 1.85 million sets, and the capacity utilization rate is about 95.49%.

In addition, as a "Tesla concept stock", Tuopu Group has attracted much attention for taking new energy vehicles, especially the "Dongfeng" of Tesla's rapid development. Relevant data show that in 2021, Tuopu Group's revenue from Tesla is expected to be 2.6 billion yuan, contributing 30% of revenue.

For issues such as the layout plan of the production capacity of the skateboard chassis, the reporter of China Business Daily wrote to the Tuopu Group, and the relevant person in charge said that it is not convenient to accept interviews at present, and the relevant information is subject to the annual report and announcement.

Heavy money into the game

Headquartered in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, Tuopu Group has been committed to the research and development, production and sales of automotive shock absorbers, interior functional parts, chassis systems and intelligent brake systems, and is a well-known auto parts manufacturer in China. In recent years, the company has continuously improved the lightweight chassis system module products, and the lightweight chassis business is becoming an important engine for the company's performance to maintain rapid growth.

At present, Tuopu Group is actively promoting the "2+3" industrial layout, namely automotive NVH shock absorption system, vehicle acoustic set, lightweight chassis system, thermal management system, and intelligent driving system. In terms of production capacity layout, the company proposes to accelerate the construction of Xiangtan Base, Ningbo Hangzhou Bay New Area Base and Ningbo Yinzhou District Production Base to meet the rapid growth of orders.

The skateboard chassis field of Tuopu Group's heavy investment this time also has good market prospects. It is understood that the skateboard chassis can integrate components such as batteries, electric drivetrains, suspensions and brakes on the chassis to achieve the separation of the body and the chassis, so as to help car companies quickly create differentiated models.

This also means that the skateboard chassis can be turned into a fully functional integrated module, while the OEM only needs to customize the body to further accelerate the launch of products. In addition, compared with the traditional car construction architecture, the skateboard chassis can achieve the purpose of reducing the threshold of car construction and improving efficiency.

According to the announcement, Tuopu Group has a wealth of product lines and chassis tuning capabilities such as suspension systems, brake-by-wire and steer-by-wire, as well as cooperation experience with RIVIAN in skateboard chassis, and has the necessary elements to integrate skateboard chassis and wire-controlled chassis. Tuopu Group set up a new factory in Hangzhou Bay New Area, integrating the above modules on the same platform, and in the future, it can provide customers with the best performance, quality and cost of skateboard chassis products for peripheral and overseas customers.

In fact, Tuopu Group has previously established cooperation with RIVIAN in the field of skateboard chassis, providing it with lightweight chassis systems, including subframes, control arms, steering knuckles and other products, with a total bicycle value of about 11,000 yuan.

According to the relevant person in charge of Tuopu Group, it is expected that the skateboard chassis project can be officially put into production after two years, and the project implementation site may be in Hangzhou Bay New Area, or it may be other production bases in China.

It is understood that as early as 2002, GM proposed the concept of a skateboard chassis, but did not achieve mass production. With the landing of RIVIAN on the NASDAQ market in the United States, the concept of skateboard chassis has stood on the cusp, and RIVIAN has also been sought after by various capitals.

Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, pointed out that with the development of skateboard chassis technology, car companies can even completely outsource chassis research and development, and build new cars with less capital and shorter cycles. "For car companies, skateboard chassis technology can not only be used by themselves, but also shared with other car companies to increase the purchase of parts and reduce production costs."

Raise capital to expand production

In addition to betting on the skateboard chassis track, Tuopu Group has also vigorously laid out lightweight chassis technology, and has hitched a ride on Tesla's rapid development.

In August 2016, Tuopu Group announced that Tuopu Group officially became a supplier of Tesla and was recognized to provide Tesla with lightweight aluminum alloy chassis structural parts. Since then, Tuopu Group's lightweight business can be described as a leap forward.

According to the annual report data of Tuopu Group, the company achieved revenue of 5.09 billion yuan in 2017, of which the shock absorption parts business was 2.22 billion yuan, accounting for 45.8%; the interior functional parts business achieved revenue of 2.3 billion yuan, accounting for 45.2%: the chassis system business was 364 million yuan, accounting for 7.2%; the intelligent brake system business was 110 million yuan, accounting for 1.9%.

According to the semi-annual report of 2021, Tuopu Group achieved revenue of 4.92 billion yuan, of which the revenue of shock absorption parts business, interior functional parts business and chassis system business was 1.7 billion yuan, 1.53 billion yuan and 890 million yuan, respectively. In other words, the chassis business based on lightweight products has increased to 18% of revenue, and the company's product structure has been further optimized.

On the other hand, due to the increasingly stringent carbon emission standards, the pursuit of automobile lightweight has become a consistent goal of the global automotive industry. Relevant data show that for every 10% reduction in the weight of the car, its fuel consumption can be reduced by 6% to 8%, if the traditional steel parts of the car are replaced by lightweight materials, the weight of the car body and chassis can be reduced to 50%, and the corresponding carbon emissions will also be reduced.

Qi Haiyan, president of Beijing Teyi Sunshine New Energy, pointed out: "The acceleration of new energy vehicles, the weight of power batteries accounted for too large will have higher requirements for the lightweight of the whole vehicle, and the demand for lightweight body, frame and other products is also increasing." With the improvement of the process level, the chassis lightweight system market is very promising, especially can help improve the cruising range of new energy vehicles. ”

In the face of expanding market demand, Tuopu Group is also continuing to increase its weight in the field of lightweight chassis. In February 2021, the company raised a net amount of 1.978 billion yuan through a fixed increase to increase the lightweight chassis system business. As of the end of September 2021, the company has invested a total of 1.024 billion yuan in the investment project "Automotive Lightweight Chassis System Project", and temporarily supplemented the working capital by 400 million yuan.

In November 2021, Tuopu Group once again made efforts to publicly issue 2.5 billion yuan of convertible bonds, and the funds raised will be invested in the construction project of 1.5 million sets of lightweight chassis system and the construction project of 3.3 million sets of lightweight chassis system with an annual output of 3.3 million sets.

This is also closely related to the capacity bottleneck faced by Tepp Group. According to the company's announcement in response to the feedback from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, from January to September 2021, the company's lightweight chassis system module production capacity is about 1.85 million sets, and the capacity utilization rate is about 95.49%. "At present, the production capacity is basically saturated, and the existing production line can no longer meet the rapidly growing market demand, and it is urgent to break through the bottleneck of production capacity and keep up with the development trend of the industry."

Tuopu Group believes that under the global "carbon neutral" trend, automobile lightweight has become a certain development goal in the industry. "In order to enable the company to have sufficient production capacity, support the automakers, and smoothly land new orders, the company urgently needs to continue to expand production in the field of lightweight chassis for capacity reserves to meet the strong demand of the future market."

Get rid of dependencies

According to the performance forecast recently disclosed by Tuopu Group, the company expects a net profit of 1.05 billion yuan to 1.15 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 67% to 83% year-on-year.

For the main reasons for the pre-increase in performance, the company said: "Thanks to the company's forward-looking grasp of the market opportunities in the new energy automobile industry, continuously expanding the intelligent electric related product line, actively expanding the international and domestic intelligent electric customer base, relying on system research and development and modular supply and other capabilities to innovate business models, the amount of bicycle supply has increased significantly, therefore, the company's new energy vehicle business has grown rapidly." ”

However, while enjoying the dividends of the development of the new energy vehicle market, the performance of Tuopu Group in terms of gross profit margin and the previous involvement in Tesla have also aroused market concern.

On the one hand, while the revenue of Tuopu Group has increased significantly, the gross profit margin has generally shown a downward trend year by year. From 2017 to 2020, the gross profit margin of Tuopu Group was 29.03%, 26.89%, 26.29% and 22.69% respectively. Among them, while the chassis system business accounted for an increasing proportion of revenue, the gross profit margin decreased from 22.21% in 2017 to 15.27% in 2020.

On the other hand, the problem of the high concentration of customers in Tuopu Group has also aroused the attention of regulators. According to the inquiry letter, during the reporting period (2018-2020 and January-September 2021), the sales revenue of the top five customers of Tuopu Group accounted for 65.71%, 58.45%, 62.18% and 68.60% of the company's operating income in the current period, respectively, and the customer concentration was high, and the company was required to explain whether the high customer concentration was an industry practice, whether there was a significant dependence on major customers, and whether there was a risk of being replaced at any time.

In response to the CSRC's feedback on February 18, Tuopu Group said that the company's high concentration of customers is in line with industry practices, there is no major dependence on customers, there is no special interest arrangement or related relationship with the top five customers, and there is no risk of being replaced at any time.

According to the information disclosed by Tuopu Group, the main customers of Tuopu Group include A customers, Geely Automobile, SAIC-GM, Chrysler, BYD and other well-known vehicle manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad. And "A customer" may be Tesla, the main partner of Tuopu Group.

According to the data of Tianfeng Securities Research Report, in 2020, the revenue of Tuopu Group from Tesla will be 1.1 billion yuan, contributing 18% of revenue; in 2021, Tuopu Group's revenue from Tesla is expected to be 2.6 billion yuan, accounting for about 30% of the contribution revenue.

Previously, affected by the Tesla recall, the stock price of Tuopu Group continued to decline, and the deviation of the closing price decline in 3 consecutive trading days reached 20%. For the specific reasons involving Tesla's recall of products, Tuopu Group said that it was mainly due to the insufficient water level of the quenching tank in a heat treatment production line, so that individual products were not completely immersed in the quenching liquid, resulting in the strength of the steering knuckle may not meet the design requirements.

In this regard, some market participants believe that Tuopu Group's heavy investment in the skateboard chassis track, or in order to further strengthen cooperation with RIVIAN in the field of skateboard chassis, open up new business areas and customers, in order to reduce the excessive dependence on Tesla.

(Editor: Zhang Jiazhen Proofreader: Yan Jingning)