After three years and six months, WEILAI went public again.
On March 10, NIO successfully completed its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through the introduction method and officially began to be listed for trading, with the stock code "9866". In September 2018, NIO has landed on the US capital market.
According to the announcement documents, NIO landed on hong Kong stocks in the form of an introductory listing, and the original depositary receipts of corporate shareholders in the United States can be listed and traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but do not involve the issuance or sale of new shares.
At present, the sales growth of Weilai products mainly comes from two aspects: 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 to meet the needs of various types of users, while the latter requires a lot of investment in technology research and development to develop models with market competitiveness, and products, services and markets must be in place.
From a positive point of view, WEILAI's landing in Hong Kong stocks this time not only makes the development direction clearer, but also helps to improve corporate governance and ultimately achieve standardized development. In general, the smooth entry into the capital market indicates that the company's growth, market potential and development prospects are generally recognized. From this level, WEILAI's secondary listing is expected to produce a stronger brand communication effect, which will be of great help to the next stage of brand promotion and overall business layout.
Three new cars, how competitive are they?
As of February 28 this year, NIO has delivered a total of 182,853 new cars (ES8, ES6, EC6), according to global third-party authoritative agencies, in 2021, the global high-end electric vehicle (MSRP more than 50,000 US dollars) sales ranking, NIO ranked second. However, in the first two months of this year, NIO's growth curve slowed down, delivering 6131 vehicles in February, an increase of 9.91% year-on-year, although the growth rate slowed down in February, but with the advancement of the new car listing plan, the growth rate of NIO's new car delivery is expected to be boosted.
This year, NIO will deliver three new models based on the NT2.0 technology platform, increase its product line from 3 to 6 models, and join the competition in the sedan field. After the product matrix is more abundant, consumers not only get more choices, but also more conducive to the formation of scale effects for enterprises.
Its first flagship sedan ET7 has been around for a long time, the test drive has been officially opened on March 5, a number of vertical media have given recognition of its excellent mechanical properties, zero to 100 km acceleration of 3.8 seconds of performance is impressive, in addition to the new platform to give a good power performance, its more mature tuning also let the media from all walks of life appreciate it, compared with its generation of models, the progress is obvious. Deliveries of the new car are scheduled to begin on March 28.
NIO ET5 positioning medium-sized intelligent electric coupe, also based on the NT2.0 technology platform, equipped with dual motor four-wheel drive, maximum power 360 kilowatts, peak torque 700 Nm, zero to 100 km acceleration of 4.3 seconds, providing standard 75kWh, long endurance 100kWh and ultra-long endurance 150kWh battery pack for consumers to choose, CLTC cruising range of 550km, 100km and 1000km. Deliveries of new cars are expected to begin in September this year, starting at $328,000 before subsidies.
In addition, NIO plans to launch a medium-sized SUV ES7 that will be released and delivered this year. The NIO ES7 is between the ES8 and the ES6, positioning a medium and large five-seat SUV, benchmarking bmw X5L, and also equipped with NIO's autopilot technology NAD and NIO's panoramic digital cockpit PanoCinema.
The three new cars are indeed commendable in terms of product strength, but there are still more practical problems ahead. Problems such as rising raw material prices and chip shortages are still plaguing new energy and even the entire automotive industry. The sharp rise in costs and the extension of the delivery cycle will also be a new problem facing Weilai.
The battlefield became more and more crowded, and Wei lai strengthened its entrenchment
With the increasing prosperity of the domestic electric vehicle market, the market atmosphere also tends to develop benignly. After several rounds of reshuffling, in addition to strong international opponents such as Tesla, domestic opponents can also be called "numerous". As far as the high-end market that Weilai pays attention to, not only traditional fuel vehicle companies have begun to transform, but many Internet companies are also actively laying out the luxury electric vehicle market. In the context of many capitals and enterprises are targeting this big cake, some people have also questioned the dominant position of Weilai.
However, as a pioneer in the field of domestic electric vehicles, WEILAI naturally will not watch its advantages being eroded away, in addition to the big move of the Hong Kong stock listing, it has always adhered to the independent research and development of core technologies in the future, and has published more than 4500 patent applications (including authorization). Its autopilot technology NAD, supersensory system Aquila, panoramic digital cockpit PanoCinema, and in-vehicle voice assistant NOMI are equipped with advanced equipment and powerful algorithms. Based on the second generation of platform to create THREE products including ET7, ES7, ET5 is also about to be delivered, from the company's disclosed product information, Weilai is using more independent research and development of new technologies to continuously strengthen its own scientific and technological attributes.
On the occasion of the listing in Hong Kong, Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, publicly said: "Nio's successful listing in Hong Kong is inseparable from the trust of users, the efforts of employees and the support of partners. At present, the automotive industry is in an era of rapid change, and we will continue to use technological innovation to continue to bring users products and experiences that exceed expectations, and create long-term returns for investors. ”
At the same time, as the world's first car company to mass-produce ternary iron lithium battery packs, as well as a full-stack self-developed self-made high-performance electric drive system using silicon carbide modules, the completed upgrade of JAC WEILAI Hefei advanced manufacturing base, neoPark's first factory and NIO's second production base have been installed. At the same time, R & D, production, sales and service organizations have been set up in Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, San Jose, Munich, Oxford and Oslo. In 2022, NIO's products and system-wide services will be officially implemented in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. And plans to provide services to users in more than 25 countries and regions around the world in 2025. As of March 10, NIO had 384 stores worldwide. It can be said that Weilai has pulled away from most competitors in terms of hard power in research and development and production.
On the issue of energy replenishment, which is of great concern to electric vehicle owners, NIO has established cooperation with well-known enterprises at home and abroad such as PetroChina, Sinopec, State Grid, Shell Group, etc., to deepen the construction of charging stations and substations. As of March 10, WEILAI has 851 substations nationwide, including 227 expressway substations, 685 supercharge stations with 3,844 supercharging piles, 673 destination charging stations with 3,742 charging piles, and 480,000+ third-party charging piles.
Capital recognition, NIO brews long-term value
Based on its advantages in product quality and comprehensive operating performance, NIO has been widely recognized by capital. CITIC Securities released a research report pointing out that the launch of three new models in 2022 will bring growth highlights to NIO at the sales and technical levels. Give a "Buy" rating.
For the listing in Hong Kong, Citibank analyzed that Weilai went to Hong Kong to list on March 10, and this time it will adopt the introduction method, not issuing new shares, and will not lead to stock dilution. We believe that the stock market will respond positively to NIO Hong Kong stocks in the next 1-2 days.
Deutsche Bank also gave a positive assessment of NIO's future development: NIO's major model development efforts will bear fruit in 2022, which in our view will promote a recovery in equity performance. The bookings for these new models are very impressive. In 2022, we saw several positive performances and driving forces of NIO in terms of products.
At present, the intelligence of electric vehicles has entered the in-depth stage, and Weilai still belongs to the "new force of car manufacturing" in the eyes of many investors, and it is urgent to continue to improve itself in research and development, manufacturing, supply chain management and other aspects. After all, the smart electric vehicle market will face a long-term war.