From the collective price increase of dozens of new energy models after the year, to the recent exposure of Euler black cats and white cats to "suspend orders", the rapidly developing new energy vehicle market, although the scenery is the same, it also seems to be full of reefs.
Last night, in response to speculation about the suspension of black and white cats, Euler issued an official statement, saying that the main reason for the "suspension of orders" was the serious loss - "Although there are advantages in the industrial chain behind the Euler brand, this fashionable and people-friendly car still brings huge losses to the company." Taking black cats as an example, after the sharp rise in raw material prices in 2022, the loss of a single unit exceeded 10,000 yuan. ”
The statement said: "It is a helpless move to stop taking orders, in the absence of core and less electricity, the total number of orders waiting for black and white cats to be delivered to users has exceeded 20,000 units, according to the current production volume, if orders continue to be received, the delivery of new orders will wait until the second half of 2022." ”
Euler insiders also revealed that black cats and white cats have been losing money since their listing, but the previous losses were not large and could bear it, and in 2022, due to problems such as subsidies and chip prices, the losses have further increased, which has reached an unbearable weight.
This is the first new energy brand to blow itself up in public. Although, losses have always been an unspeakable pain for many new energy vehicle companies.
In April last year, Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said in an exclusive interview with Huashan On Sword V that the new energy market driven by double integration and policies alone has no business model. At that time, the penetration rate of new energy was still relatively low, and many people questioned that the pace of development of Changan in the new energy market was too slow, but Zhu Huarong frankly said that the new energy model sold a loss, and Changan, as a central enterprise, also had to consider the loss of state-owned assets. "It's okay to lose a little, you can't lose too much."
No one expected that with the soaring prices of raw materials, the shortage of spare parts such as chips and other supply chain problems, In 2021, China's new energy vehicles "soared", with production and sales reaching 3.545 million and 3.521 million units respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, and the annual retail penetration rate reached 14.8%, of which the penetration rate in December was as high as 22.6%.
If you can't sell it, you can't worry about it, and if you sell well, you are also worried. This is the current situation and truth of the new energy vehicle market.
Brands that sell poorly, on the one hand, are worried that the electrification transformation is not successful enough and will become a constraint on future development; on the other hand, they are also facing the pain of spending huge sums of money to buy "double points". For a brand like Euler, which sells well, it is also necessary to face the dilemma of "losing money and making money", "making sales and losing profits".
Cruelly, at present, only a very few brands represented by Tesla can make money from selling the car itself. Tesla also ushered in the "spring blossom" after more than ten consecutive years of losses, and the gross profit margin of bicycles last year was as high as 30.6%. Up to now, including new power brands such as Wei Xiaoli, and high-end new energy brands independent from traditional car companies represented by Ji Kr and LanTu, they are also taking the road of development through capital financing.
However, for traditional car companies and new energy brands, including Euler, Changan New Energy, Geometric Automobile, BYD and BAIC Jihu, the loss can only be digested by itself, and the pressure is greater. Not long ago, Beiqi Blue Valley released the announcement of the pre-loss of 2021 annual performance, and it is expected that the net profit in 2021 will be -4.8 billion yuan to -5.3 billion yuan, and the highest loss may reach 5.3 billion yuan, which is a staggering data.
According to Euler insiders, the direct cost of new energy vehicles is relatively transparent, from the current product status and cost analysis on the market, more than 300km standard passenger cars (not counting hongguang MINI class of low-speed car upgrade replacement products) most of the losses, there may be enterprises by adjusting the financial model, the cost of assetization, part of the cost transfer and other means to reduce the book loss, but most of the models of straight material costs are about equal to the price plus subsidies, so the loss is certain.
This year, this problem has become more prominent.
"The rise in the price of various raw materials this year, coupled with the decline in subsidies, has indeed put a lot of pressure on costs." Li Yunfei, general manager of BYD's brand and public relations business department, said. On January 21 this year, BYD officially released news that BYD Automobile will adjust the official guidance price of new energy models related to Dynasty Network and Ocean Network, ranging from 1000-7000 yuan, and the price adjustment will take effect on February 1, and customers who have paid a deposit before signing a deposit will not be affected by this price adjustment.
Prior to this, a number of new energy vehicle brands, including Tesla, Xiaopeng Automobile, Nezha Automobile, GAC Ean, Weilai, Zero Run and SAIC-GM-Wuling, have officially announced the price increase of some of their models. Among them, the price of Tesla Model 3 rear-wheel drive version was raised by 10,000 yuan compared with before; the price of model Y rear-wheel drive version was raised by 21,000 yuan compared with the previous price. Other brand models rose by 2,000 to tens of thousands of yuan.
According to this year's new energy subsidy decline policy: after the national subsidy of 30%, the subsidy for pure electric vehicle models with a pure electric mileage of 300-400 kilometers was adjusted to 0.91 million yuan, a decrease of 3,900 yuan compared with last year; the subsidy for pure electric vehicle models with a pure electric mileage greater than or equal to 400 kilometers and priced at less than 300,000 yuan was adjusted to 12,600 yuan, a decrease of 5,400 yuan compared with last year.
At the same time, since October last year, the price of lithium carbonate has increased by more than 110%, and it is still fluctuating and growing, and the price of power batteries may also rise in the second half of the year, and the price of copper and aluminum is also rising. The increase in oil prices will also bring about the price increase of plastics, rubber and chemical fibers, and the cost pressure of the entire new energy industry can be imagined.
"In the car market within 100,000 yuan, a small price increase will not solve the problem and will cause users to complain, but the sharp price increase deviates from the user's cognitive range, and suicide is not much different." Industry insiders revealed that taking zero running as an example, the impact on sales after the price increase is very large, and the order decline of zero running T03 is as high as more than 50%.
In Zhu Huarong's view, only by making efforts to the high-end, through high-end and intelligence, can we solve the problem that electric vehicles have no business model.
Judging from the financial report of "Wei Xiaoli" in the first three quarters of last year, although the three car companies still lost money, revenue and gross profit achieved substantial growth. At the communication meeting at the end of last year, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of WEILAI Automobile, said that from the third quarter of 2021, the gross profit created by Weilai's car sales has been able to fully cover the two expenses of marketing and management, and the loss part is mainly used for research and development.
This is also the reason why geely, Great Wall, BYD and Changan and other enterprises have launched independent high-end new energy brands.
Back to the problem of Euler black cat and white cat stopping taking orders, the courage to admit that the loss is a great sincerity, but also a manifestation of honesty to users. Because only extreme honesty can be indestructible. The problems facing Euler are also the problems that the entire industry must face at present, but Euler has ripped off this "fig leaf" and put the topic on the table.
Judging from the financial report of Great Wall Motor, in 2021, Great Wall Motor's annual revenue was 136.317 billion yuan, an increase of 31.95% year-on-year. Among them, the net profit was 6.781 billion yuan, an increase of 26.45% year-on-year. Despite both growths, revenue growth was much larger than net profit. Some people also lamented that as a star enterprise in the automotive industry, Great Wall Motor's revenue exceeds 130 billion yuan and its net profit is only more than 6.7 billion, which is really "thin profit"!
This is also achieved on the basis of the cumulative sales of Great Wall Motor exceeding 1.28 million units last year, an increase of 15.2% year-on-year; and the average selling price of bicycles increased to 106,400 yuan, an increase of 14.50% year-on-year. In this sense, it is urgent to achieve brand and product upwards.
It is reported that this year,the Euler brand also has new cars such as ballet cats, lightning cats, punk cats and cherry cats, and the price of these new cars will be more than 150,000 yuan, driving the Euler brand to continue to rise. Of course, delivering new cars as soon as possible to the 20,000 black and white cat order users who have already placed orders is also the attitude that a responsible enterprise should have.
"In the time that follows, we will actively seek raw materials, strive for the maximum resources, and quickly realize the delivery of existing orders." And to all car owners promised: black and white cat all after-sales service will continue to maintain, will not be affected by the stop to take orders, we will be responsible for the user to the end. Euler wrote in the statement.