In 2021, although China's auto market still has not been able to get rid of the impact of the epidemic and lack of cores, sales have picked up and some sectors have grown. Especially in the new energy segment, the cumulative sales of 2.446 million vehicles, an increase of 168% year-on-year, is definitely a big outbreak. But for China's new and old car-making forces, it seems that there are also sorrows and joys. While the car companies in the head camp are happy to welcome the rise in sales, there are also many new forces on the verge of exiting. Weak sales performance even makes these car companies seem to have no sense of existence, such as Aiways.
Sales plummeted
AICHI has been squeezed out of the Chinese market?
When bydd, Wuling and other traditional car companies have achieved good results in the new energy market, some of the new car-making forces that were once popular can not even write a sales briefing. In 2021, the annual sales of Aiways Automobile was only 3011 units, a year-on-year plunge of 96.74%. In December 2021, the only product in the aiways U5 sold a pitiful 19 units.
Others rose against the trend, and Aichi fell against the trend, and the average monthly sales volume did not even reach 300 vehicles. It is not difficult to see that the half-dead Aichi car has been seriously left behind. In fact, from the development process of Aiways Automobile, it can be seen that this car company has never entered the mainstream ranks.
As early as 2015, Foxconn, Tencent and Harmony Automobile jointly built Harmony Mobility Corp (FMC) and car companies that focus on the high-end electric vehicle market. But with the withdrawal of Foxconn and Tencent, Dai Lei and Bi Fukang had to change the name of FMC to Byton Automobile to continue to seek development.
After that, we are very familiar with the story, a car has not yet been mass-produced Byton car has become a typical case of the new car-making force thunderstorm. So Fu Qiang, as the founder of Aiways, turned to Tencent investment with the car project, established AIWAYS Yiwei at the end of 2016, and changed its name to Aiways Automobile in February 2017.
After that, the development trajectory of Aiways Automobile was quite smooth, and after the acquisition of Jiangling Holdings to obtain car-making qualifications, the launch of AIWAYS U5 also put Aiways Automobile on the right track. But what AIWAYS did not expect was that the degree of involvement in the new energy market was far more intense than they thought. The reason for the decline in sales in 2020 and 2021 is that the Mediot product power of Aichi U5 is unremarkable, whether it is endurance or intelligent technology configuration, it seems to be somewhat outdated. Coupled with the low brand recognition, unclear product positioning, and few offline sales channels, AIWAYS Auto has to focus on overseas markets in the face of a severe situation. At this point, AIWAYS automobile has basically been completely squeezed out of the Chinese market.
E-NCAP only takes Samsung
No wonder no one buys it!
However, in order to be recognized in overseas markets, it is necessary to first pass the test of safety testing institutes. Among the test results given by E-NCAP, one of the most stringent testing institutions in the world, aiways U5 only received a three-star evaluation. Among them, the safety score rate for adults is 73% and the safety score rate for children is 70%. In terms of specific projects, the worst performance of the AIWAYS U5 was the column bump test, the driver's seat dummy was severely injured in the head, and the side score was 16 points, only 7.5 points.
In terms of autonomous driving, which is the most proud of new energy vehicles, the final scoring rate of AIWAYS U5 is only 55%, of which the speed assist test scored 3 points, only 0.3 points, which was disappointing.
Such a poor safety crash test result has also made many consumers understand the reason why Aichi U5 is difficult to survive in China. Especially for a new car company, if the only model that has been fully produced cannot meet the five-star standard of European collision, it is a bit of a "death before the master".
And the domestic sales performance of the poor Ai chi watched its peers issue an annual sales report, although it was extremely envious, but it could only come up with its own overseas sales to make up the number. According to the official data given by AIWAYS, a total of 1676 vehicles were exported in 2021, an increase of about 62.9% compared with 2020.
While the year-over-year growth data looks good, the reason for the fast progress is the low starting point. In the past two years, Aichi has exported a total of 2780 cars. As for the "top three in the Israeli electric vehicle market" that AIWAYS Automobile focuses on, Uncle Che feels that it is like a person saying that he has won the "Silver Medal of the Amateur Group of the Children's Latin Dance Competition in mandou Village, Mandou Village, Horqin Left-wing Rear Banner Ganqika Town, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region", which is not worth mentioning at all. This kind of self-deceptive sales success is really a bit unhandled.
Capital settled, Aichi and tomorrow?
In the face of the current difficulties, what AIWAYS auto needs most is financing. In January this year, AIWAYS Auto received a new round of financing from Chen Xuanlin and its Dongbai Group. But with the injection of new financing, AIWAYS also ushered in a major change of management.
From the official website of Aiways Automobile, it can be seen that although the founder of Aiways Automobile still serves as the president, the investor Chen Xuanlin has begun to serve as the chairman of Aiways Automobile. After the completion of the personnel change, the industry also generally believes that Fu Qiang, the founder of Aiways Automobile, may be marginalized, and there are even rumors that Fu Qiang will be transferred away, or transferred to the factory to manage the production and manufacturing of Aiways. At this point, AIWAYS Automobile has essentially been controlled by the capital represented by Chen Xuanlin.
The fate of the capital side also confirms the dilemma faced by Aichi Automobile. In addition to dismal sales, AIWAYS Automobile also has a lot of negative news such as arrears in employee salaries and supplier payments. Aiways Auto, which is in internal and external difficulties, seems to have reached an unsustainable situation, and aiways cars that lack funds can only make its second mass-produced model, the Aiways U6, skip the tickets non-stop.
Now the only thing left in front of AIWAYS is to seek the opportunity to go public and raise funds. But, is there really anyone willing to be this wave of leeks?
Uncle Che summed up
Sales in the domestic market have fallen seriously, and AIWAYS Automobile, which has no living space, has invested its main energy in overseas markets. However, in the end, due to the lack of its own strength, AIWAYS Automobile also failed to achieve a breakthrough in overseas markets. For a new car-making force that relies heavily on consumer reputation, Aiways Automobile, which has been established for 5 years, has not yet established enough brand recognition. Coupled with the blind impact on overseas markets is infinitely magnified by the vehicle safety issues, aiways car is really difficult to "ride" up!