Following Ali and JD.com, the global intelligent electric vehicle company WEILAI-SW (09866) went public for the second time on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and was officially listed for trading on March 10.
In fact, NIO has received positive responses from funds in the capital market, both the equity market and the debt market, such as the issuance of the first carbon-neutral new energy vehicle leasing ABS on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in October last year, and the successful issuance of the first green directional asset-backed note of 2022 in the interbank market in early March this year. The listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has further expanded financing channels and achieved a multi-market capital layout.
The green light in the financing market fully demonstrates the recognition of the value of NIO by the market and investors at home and abroad. Nio's new car deliveries in 2021 increased by 109.1% year-on-year, doubling for two consecutive years. As of the end of February 2022, 182853 vehicles have been delivered. The company's gross profit began to turn positive in Q2 2020, and the gross profit margin increased to 20.33% in Q3 2021, and economies of scale and brand value are gradually being released.
Referring to the performance of Ali and JD.com in the first year of listing, the stock price increase is not low, as a leading car company in the field of high-end electric vehicles in the world, Weilai is far ahead in the market share of the high-end price band, with high investment value, and is expected to gain long-term financial pursuit under the blessing of policy + industry + performance.
Stand firm in the high-end market and promote the layout of the global market
Founded by Li Bin in 2014 and after nearly four years of preparation, the first six-/seven flagship advanced intelligent SUV ES8 was successfully delivered in June 2018 and landed on the New York Stock Exchange in September of the same year. At the beginning of the listing, it was questioned by investors, "burning money", "loss" and so on are common modifiers, but the company has proved its value with time and performance.
The company's first brand ES8 is positioned as a high-end luxury medium and large SUV, the price band is anchored in the range of 400,000-600,000 yuan, in the price band, the domestic participants are countable, and the fierce rivals are Tesla and BBA. However, NIO successfully opened the market with its product and service capabilities, and then launched the ES6 intermediate car in June 2019 and the EC6 coupe in September of the following year. According to the data of the world's third-party authoritative institutions, in the global high-end electric vehicle (MSRP more than 50,000 US dollars) sales ranking in 2021, Weilai ranked second.
In 2021, the company's overall delivery volume was 91,429 vehicles, a compound growth of 100% in four years, of which the ES8 was listed on the market for four years with a compound growth rate of 20.9%, the ES6 was listed for three years with a compound growth of 90.5%, becoming the core sales pillar, while the EC6 was listed for two years and increased by 5.08 times year-on-year. Thanks to the growth of sales, from 2018 to 2020, the company's revenue increased by 81.2%, and in the first three quarters of 2021, the revenue scale was 26.236 billion yuan, an increase of 172.81% year-on-year.
It is not difficult to find that the core source of Weilai's sales growth is: one is the continuous penetration of the market of the launched products; the other is to create a multi-product matrix. The former requires market development and product innovation iteration, for example, for example, the ES8 configuration upgrade of the April 2020 model has reached more than 180 to meet the needs of users, while the latter requires a lot of investment in technology research and development to develop a model with market competitiveness, and the products, services and markets are in place, which is very difficult.
It is worth noting that unlike domestic new energy vehicle brands, the company has fully laid out the global market, and is currently setting up R&D, production, sales and service agencies in Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, Oxford and Oslo, and will enter Norway in 2021 and start delivery. In 2022, the company plans to officially land in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark, and is expected to provide services to users in more than 25 countries and regions around the world by 2025.
Europe and China are the two core markets for new energy vehicles, the data show that The sales of new energy vehicles in Europe are 2.27 million units, an increase of 66.4% year-on-year, while China is 3.521 million units, an increase of 157.5% year-on-year, and the two major markets have shown a doubling trend of new energy passenger vehicles, and the two major markets together account for nearly 90% of the global market share. WEILAI's forward-looking global layout is at the forefront of state-owned brands, bringing greater market space to its brand matrix.
In 2022, NIO will enter a new product cycle and will deliver three new models based on the NT2.0 technology platform, namely the smart electric flagship sedan ET7 (delivered in March), the electric coupe ET5 (delivered in September) and the medium and large SUV ES7. In the past, the company produced one model a year, and this year's results accelerated the release, and the product layout of the three models was launched to continue to improve. Although there is a global market blessing, to create a blockbuster model, product performance and service quality are indispensable.
Multi-brand matrix power, ET7 delivery opened a new layout
The rapid development of the new energy automobile industry, the increasingly fierce competition, the power system and the degree of intelligence determine the product performance, which is also the hard core of major car companies to obtain market share. Since its inception, WEILAI has always attached importance to the investment of these two dimensions, creating high-end and highly intelligent models, and its products have been continuously upgraded.
Zhitong Finance APP learned that the three models that will be listed in 2022 are priced in the range of 300,000-500,000 yuan, and the maximum cruising range is more than 1,000 kilometers, and the degree of intelligence is in the industry. For example, ET7 is NIO's first car, but also the first intelligent electric car with automatic driving capabilities, the highest 150kWh range of more than 1000 kilometers, equipped with Qualcomm's third-generation digital cockpit computing platform, the world's first in-vehicle artificial intelligence system NOMI continues to evolve.
In fact, Wei has adhered to the independent research and development of core technologies since its inception, and has published more than 4,500 patent applications (including authorization). In terms of power system, the self-developed high-performance electric drive system has obtained and is applying for 215 patents, including 81 invention patents, and the self-developed application of a new generation of CTP technology is applied to the battery pack, which realizes excellent low-temperature endurance performance and accurate power estimation ability, and reduces low-temperature endurance loss by 25%.
In the field of intelligent driving, the company has established a full-stack autonomous driving technology capability including perception algorithm, map positioning, control strategy and underlying system, and the super sensing system Aquila is equipped with 33 high-performance perception hardware to meet the current level of high-level automatic driving, and the complete function of NAD adopts the service subscription model of "monthly opening and monthly payment". In addition, the company's panoramic digital cockpit PanoCinema and in-car voice assistant NOMI and other intelligent equipment create an immersive experience for users.
Product sales is the first step, and after-sales service is the key to gaining customer trust. Weilai's user service system includes almost all-use car scenarios such as warranty, charging, annual inspection, maintenance, rescue, etc., and launches three highly cost-effective value-added services of "worry-free service", "worry-free insurance" and "worry-free energy".
Users are more concerned about the energy supply problem, the company through self-built or cooperation with petroChina and other giants have built a wide range of charging and replacement coverage network, as of March 10, the national layout of 851 power stations, including 227 highway power stations; 685 supercharge stations, 3844 supercharge piles, access to third-party charging piles 480000 + . It is planned that in 2022, the Chinese market will build a total of 1300+ substations, 6000+ supercharged piles, and 10000+ destination charging piles.
It is worth mentioning that Weilai's production capacity is enough to meet the huge needs of future users, and the overall upgrade of the production line of JacHuai OEM will be completed in the first half of 2022, with a production capacity of 240,000 vehicles. In November 2021, the first batch of process equipment of NeoPark's first factory and the second production base of NIO entered the site and started to install, and the first car will complete the trial production line of the whole process production line in Q2 2022, and the Q3 will be officially mass-produced.
Under the capacity model of combining light and heavy assets, it not only grasps the core manufacturing assets, reduces the dependence on the production capacity of the foundry enterprises, but also allocates the capital expenditure to a certain extent. In Q2 2020, the company achieved a positive gross profit and has been continuous for 6 quarters, and the gross profit margin has continued to increase, and the economy of scale is prominent.
Recognized by institutions with long-term investment value
NIO's strong sales and performance have been recognized by major investment banks, such as citic Lyon released a research report in February, saying that NIO is more prominent than other start-up electric vehicle peers in terms of large-scale production, and its "innovative" battery replacement model makes it different from other electric vehicle manufacturers, giving a buy rating.
The company is listed for the second time in Hong Kong stocks, CITIC Securities believes that the listing does not involve new stock issuance or financing, providing investors with more trading venues to choose, and the company's three new models in 2022 are listed, driven by new models, it is expected that the company's sales in 2022 are expected to reach 180,000 vehicles, an increase of about 100% year-on-year, and give a buy rating. Citibank is optimistic about NIO and believes that the stock market will respond positively to the company's Hong Kong stocks in the next 1-2 days.
On the whole, WEILAI has strong fundamentals, products, services and markets three major strategies to drive sales continued to grow high, and 2022 into a number of new product production cycle, the three major product power systems and degree of intelligence better than peers, in the price band market competitors less, will continue to obtain high-end market share under consumption upgrades. The company has achieved a positive gross profit, and with the further expansion of revenue scale, it is expected to achieve a turnaround in the future.
In the financing market unimpeded, access to investor recognition, investment banks have also been optimistic, but also fully supported the company's investment value, the listing in Hong Kong, will bring more opportunities for value investors.