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Introduction
"After going through the ups and downs, how big a wave can this ill-fated new force make when it comes back?" Perhaps, not so many people care anymore. ”
Author 丨 Cui Liwen
Responsible editor 丨 Li Sijia
Editor 丨Zhu Jinbin
Although I don't want to admit it, the real situation is that this is the second article this year to discuss Jia Yueting and FF.
Previously, in response to the "shorting" of the bears, its officials deliberately set up a special committee of independent directors to investigate the relevant allegations. From the final result, there are certain inconsistencies in the company's investor statements, as well as certain weaknesses in the company's control and culture.
In simple terms, the "inconsistency" refers to the falsification of the number of orders for the first product, FF 91. FF officials have announced that the number of new car orders has reached 14,000 units. After the investigation, it was found that only a few hundred users actually chose to pay, which was seriously reduced.
Such results also indirectly prove that after many "ticket jumps", the FF 91, which is scheduled to be officially mass-produced and delivered in July this year, has not been warmly sought after by the ultra-luxury car market like Jia Yueting's "shouting".
And just when the outside world believes that Jia Yueting's old problem has been committed again, the story plot is still reversed. A few days after the results of the investigation were announced, FF officials responded again.
"The reservation form issued by the company contains two types of paid reservation form and free reservation form. Among them, the company collected more than 14,000 FF 91 bookings, with information on all booking users, and this part is free booking data. The company announced the global 300-vehicle invitation system limited edition FF 91, which is a fee reservation form. ”
At the same time, he also stressed: "At present, after investigation by a special committee of independent directors, it is believed that the 14,000 bookings previously announced by the company may be misleading. In other words, free orders are indeed part of the total order volume, but there may be certain flaws in the language, which is not a deception.
In addition to responding, FF officially announced that it has officially signed an agreement with South Korean automaker Myoung Shin. The latter will begin in 2024 with OEM work for the second production model, the FF 81.
At this point, the wind and waves that have just been raised seem to be gradually calming down.
However, as a bystander, the memory of Jia Yueting's repeated untrustworthiness is too deep, and he inevitably still has deep doubts about the next trend of this new force car.
And just yesterday, FF ushered in another key "node" of its own.
Late FF 91
On January 23, Beijing time, the latest B-class pure electric coupe NIO ET5 released on the 2021 NIO Day, the first batch of production line verification prototypes, was officially launched in Hefei.
Judging from the official introduction, this is an important part of the engineering verification and car-making stage. At this stage, ET5 has embarked on a full range of testing and verification work, which will mainly complete the three tasks of optimizing the production line process, verifying the functional integrity of the vehicle, and verifying the attributes and performance of the whole vehicle.
It is gratifying that in the message area below the official public account tweet, more positive comments such as "Weilai, have come" and "Weilai, power up" are seen.
In contrast, on February 24, Eastern Time, the first quasi-production car of the FF 91 in the Hanford plant in California was also officially rolled off the production line.
In the one-and-a-half-hour live broadcast of its official video number, more bullet screens were seen, filled with a lot of jokes like "Boss Jia, he has come out to cut leeks again" and "once again suffocated by dreams".
For a moment, I felt a strong sense of irony.
However, it must still be admitted that with the official rollout of the FF 91 quasi-production vehicle, that is, the production line verification prototype similar to ET5, it is still a step closer to the final delivery of the former.
At the scene of the event, Jia Yueting and Bi Fukang also personally drove the vehicle, which was located in the factory workshop for a week. From the smiles on their faces, it is obvious that you can feel the emotions of joy.
Subsequently, in the speech session, Bi Fukang said: "The arrival of the first FF 91 quasi-production car is an important milestone for the entire FF, which is currently progressing smoothly and will be put into production in the third quarter of this year as planned, and the company is expected to achieve profitability in 2025." ”
Jia Yueting mainly emphasized the ultra-luxury tone at the product level of FF 91, "Our acceleration time from zero to 100 kilometers will far exceed that of Maybach and most Ferrari models." "In the coming months, the Hanford, Calif., plant will continue to produce and manufacture more quasi-production vehicles for final engineering verification and certification work."
Admittedly, combined with the above signs, looking back at the sentence of J Capital Research, a short-selling agency in the Us, in its short-selling report, "FF will never be able to sell a car." So far, it's nothing more than a barrel of money raised from American investors and then poured money into a debt black hole created by its founder, Jia Yueting, China's best-known securities fraudster. ”
Perhaps a little determined and extreme, FF 91 after many years of lateness, not surprisingly, the final mass production model will be delivered to end users in the second half of the year to undergo more stringent tests.
Whether you come or not, it doesn't matter anymore
Careful readers may have found that an unforgiving evaluation appeared at the end of the relevant video at the beginning of the article, and this is exactly what I personally saw after seeing the FF 91 quasi-production car off the line, Jia Yueting stood in the spotlight and shouted again, the most real feeling.
As for the reason, it is very simple.
Once upon a time, from Volkswagen, BMW and other traditional car companies to dig executives, research and development of three electric systems, to create core technology for the manufacture of electric vehicles; acquisition of easy to, layout of the field of travel; into the charging service App, join the charging business; cooperation with BAIC BJEV, BYD, cooperation in the Internet of Vehicles; from Baidu to excavate autonomous driving technicians, build LeTV intelligent territory and LeTV car connection; the entertainment, film and television and other resources, put them into the Car Networking system.
During Jia Yueting's "management" of LeTV Automobile, many things he did were really very forward-looking, and they also coincided with the "new four modernizations" proposed later.
But for an entrepreneur, no matter how many ideas there are, when the ever-expanding ambition does not match the real ability, it will still lose miserably. The rapid collapse of the entire commercial landscape has been able to prove everything.
Therefore, after many years, it is inevitable to wonder whether the comprehensive strength of this famous speaker who shouted the phrase "Let's suffocate together and suffocate for dreams" has improved. If not, how can we continue to help the "once dead" FF continue to move forward? Who can guarantee that the "man-made disaster" will not be gradually revealed again on the body of this new force?
In fact, on the same day that the event was held, according to relevant information, Jia Yueting added three new pieces of resumption of enforcement information, with a total of more than 2.5 billion yuan in enforcement targets, involving disputes between the former and Ping An Securities, Huarong Securities and other companies. So far, located in China, the total amount of Jia Yueting's execution has exceeded 5.2 billion yuan.
At the same time, it is very surprising that whenever the FF 91 mass production progress is promoted, there are always people who make a big boast about its product itself, and the central idea is focused on: as a model designed a long time ago, it is still fully competitive and still plays the image of a "subversive".
But the truth, is that really the case? Comparing several new cars that have been listed or will be launched in the new energy ultra-luxury market this year, it can only be said that the FF 91 has no technological leadership to speak of.
Especially located in the United States, such a piece has formed a Tesla monopoly, the rest of the local new forces to build cars, traditional car companies to fight each other more and more fierce plate, the opportunity is even more rare.
Corresponding to the vehicle details, texture and quality control valued by the target customer group, how can FF 91, as a latecomer without any mass production experience, ensure that it does a better job than the first entrant who is eyeing the tiger? If not, why should consumers pay for it?
The more stringent test is also concentrated at the capital level. At this moment, whether from the US stock market or the feedback of investors, the patience for FF itself seems to be very little. The loss holes shown in its financial report itself are still expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
According to the target disclosed by Bi Fukang, the company as a whole will achieve a turnaround by 2025.
But the question is, according to the new plan and marketing strategy that FF continues to hold high, can it really continue to "burn money" to support until then? If the capital chain is broken, what measures will be taken to deal with it?
Inside and out, very difficult questions are clearly laid out there. And I, I prefer to classify it as a "natural disaster", in this extreme stress test that doubles the difficulty, the slightest carelessness will fall into the abyss again and shatter my bones.
After all, many times, "money is the beginning and the end of everything." ”
At the end of the article, I would like to emphasize that when the wave of electrification becomes more and more intense, the global new energy market can already be described by the undercurrent. Thus the timeline will be lengthened, and soon, it will inevitably usher in an era that belongs only to the strong, the resources are gradually concentrated, and the winners are few.
At that time, for the weak like FF 91, it can be said: "Instead of acting as cannon fodder, don't come." ”
| Cui Liwen |
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