On March 13, a screenshot of a document stamped with the official seal of Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. went viral on the Internet. The contents of the document show that Tesla is going through the process and formalities of acquiring Zotye Automobile.
In this regard, Tao Lin, tesla's vice president of external affairs, debunked the rumors through her personal Weibo, saying that this was "naked fake news".
She said that the contents of the document were not true, and that the signature and official seal were forgeries and that she had been suspected of committing a crime. This kind of rumor-mongering behavior is a deception to the vast number of netizens. Welcome to us to prove to us who is the concoctor of this document? What is the purpose? We will report the case to the public security organs in a timely manner. Let's resist online rumors together.
In this regard, *ST Zotye (000980) also responded on the investor interactive platform that the company had not heard of the matter.
Recently, rumors about Tesla's establishment of a second factory in China and expansion of production capacity have been heard; at the same time, *ST Zotye (000980), which is deeply reorganized and rotated, has been repeatedly rumored to be acquired by other vehicle companies.
On the one hand, there are electric vehicle companies with rapid sales and imminent capacity expansion, and on the other hand, traditional car companies that are idle in production capacity and are about to be acquired and reorganized. Two car companies in very different situations show the "cross-section" of China's increasingly fierce auto market competition.
The objects of scandal continue to be scandalous, and the doubtful acquisition of *ST Zotye is still playing out
In 2019, due to the shortage of working capital and the sharp decline in automobile sales, *ST Zotye's financial situation was in crisis. From October 2020 to June 2021, 8 companies of the Zotye department were accepted into bankruptcy by the people's court due to debt crisis.
Subsequently, because *ST Zotye was unable to pay off its debts as they fell due and obviously lost the possibility of solvency, the Intermediate People's Court of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, based on the application of creditors, ruled to accept the reorganization of *ST Zotye in accordance with the law.
Since the establishment of the *ST Zotye reorganization plan, there have been repeated rumors in the industry that the company will be acquired by a certain car company, and the "gossip objects" include Tesla, Xiaomi, Weilai, Baoneng, Ningde Times, etc.
On April 6, 2021, *ST Zotye disclosed that after verifying with Zhejiang Jingheng Law Firm, the company's pre-restructuring administrator, Tesla, Xiaomi, Weilai and Baoneng are not the counterparties to the relevant agreements mentioned in the "Announcement of Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd. on the Progress of The Public Recruitment of Investors".
Subsequently, Shanghai Zhiyang Investment Co., Ltd. and Hunan Zhibo Equity Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., which intend to invest in *ST Zotye, both expressed their decision to terminate the investment.
The "sharp brakes" of many investors have undoubtedly made *ST Zotye, which is already in a high-risk zone, worse.
A few days ago, there was news that Great Wall Motors was about to acquire Zotye's Linyi factory. In this regard, *ST Zotye issued a special announcement on February 19 this year to clarify, saying that the company and its subordinate Jiangnan Linyi Branch and Zhuotai Automobile Sales Company have not signed any strategic agreements with Great Wall Motors.
It is worth noting that under the repeated action of rumors and rumors, in 2021, *ST Zotye's stock price has risen all the way, setting a record of 27 up and down in 42 trading days. *ST Zotye has also been named by the exchange many times due to frequent changes in stock prices, and even suspended trading for verification.
Since the beginning of this year, *ST Zotye's stock price has begun to fall, falling by more than 40% year-to-date. According to the latest performance forecast disclosed by *ST Zotye, in 2021, the company expects operating income of 800 million yuan to 900 million yuan, and the expected net profit loss of 400 million yuan to 600 million yuan.
*ST Zotye announced that the company has completed the reorganization in 2021, the reorganization plan has been implemented, and it is expected to generate restructuring revenue of 2 billion yuan - 2.4 billion yuan. However, due to the fact that the company's subordinate automobile production bases are basically in a state of suspension, the company's main product automobile production and sales are not large, and the total sales revenue is low, so the company's operating performance in 2021 is still a loss. At the same time, the company's main business, the automobile business, is in a state of suspension, and the company intends to make a large amount of asset impairment provisions and bad debt provisions totaling about 1.3 billion yuan to 1.9 billion yuan, so the company's overall performance loss in 2021.
Recently, *ST Zotye said through the investor interactive platform that the company's next focus is to resume work and production.
There is a strong willingness to expand production capacity, and the location of Tesla's second factory is a mystery
Tesla, which is in natural contrast with the situation of *ST Zotye, has recently been mired in various rumors of capacity expansion.
In 2021, Qingdao, Jinan, Hefei, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Zhengzhou and other cities have been rumored to be Tesla's second factory settlement.
In this regard, Tao Lin also clarified through her personal Weibo, saying that "Tesla is very honored to contribute to the development of China's new energy industry and will continue to firmly increase investment in China." Recently, I received a lot of media inquiries about the second factory. I can't reply to them one by one, but I would like to tell you that the information on the current network about the location of Tesla's second factory is not true. ”
In February this year, the "Liaoning Release" public account sponsored by the General Office of the People's Government of Liaoning Province pushed an article entitled "Shenyang Dadong District "Five Grasps" and Strive to Be the Vanguard of Revitalization and Development", in which there was such a sentence: "Combined with the urban renewal of the Wenguan area, open up the space for industrial development, and lay the foundation for the landing of major new energy vehicle projects such as Tesla." ”