"People are not too many", it is not too much to describe Tesla. As Tesla's global vice president and Tesla's spokesperson in China, Tao Lin also assumed the role of "anti-counterfeiting professional household".
On March 13, in response to netizens' questions about "Tesla's acquisition of Zotye", Tao Lin rebuked on Weibo that this was "naked fake news".
A letter of commitment signed by the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision administration and Zhejiang Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd. quoted on Weibo shows that it did not engage in relevant business activities before obtaining approval procedures, and the stamp on the payment was stamped with the seal of Tesla (China) Co., Ltd., and the signatory was Zhu Xiaotong, president of Tesla Greater China.
Tao Lin said bluntly in her comments, "The content of this document is not true, the signature and official seal are also forgeries, and they have been suspected of committing crimes." This kind of rumor-mongering behavior is a deception to the majority of netizens, and we will report the case to the public security organs in a timely manner. ”
Rumors of Tesla's intention to buy Zotye Began around March 2021. At that time, some netizens analyzed that Musk had the willingness to acquire traditional Chinese car companies, and the three major bases of Zotye Automobile Yongkang, Jinhua and Hangzhou were very close to Tesla's headquarters, and the state had relaxed the restrictions on foreign acquisition and control of Chinese car companies, and Zotye Automobile revised the charter of the president who could not recognize legal persons... The industry has reported from time to time tesla's acquisition of Zotye Automobile.
With Tao Lin's unceremonious denial, this rumor was snuffed out in the cradle. However, as the old saying goes, there is no wind or waves. On the one hand, there are electric pioneer forces that are booming and urgently need to expand production capacity, and on the other hand are the traditional marginal car companies that are precarious and hovering on the brink of bankruptcy. The two protagonists are in very different situations, but together they deduce the increasingly fierce and polarized competition situation in the automobile market.
For Tesla at present, the lack of production capacity is its most "sweet annoyance".
According to data released by the National Passenger Car Market Information Association recently, tesla's wholesale volume in China reached 56,000 units in February 2022, with sales exceeding 50,000 units for the sixth consecutive month, and the cumulative annual sales volume reached 116,300 units. Among them, domestic retail sales in February were 23,000 units, and exports were 33,000 units, accounting for more than 66%, an increase of 339% year-on-year. According to other data, Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory has shown a full load, with a monthly output of more than 50,000 vehicles for 6 consecutive months.
However, on the one hand, the production and sales of the coin are in full swing, and on the other hand, the delivery time of its models is getting longer and longer. According to the information on Tesla's official website in China, the current expected delivery time of the Model 3 series and the Model Y long-endurance version has been extended to 20 weeks, and the maximum waiting time for the Model Y rear-wheel drive version and the high-performance version has reached 16 weeks.
Faced with a rapidly growing order volume and anxious consumers, Tesla has to find ways to increase production capacity. According to Tesla's 2021 annual report, at present, Tesla is planning to increase production capacity as soon as possible, and it is expected that the average annual growth rate of vehicle delivery will reach 50% in the next few years, while the Shanghai Gigafactory will become Tesla's main export center.
In February 2022, Tesla wrote in the EIA report of the first phase of the Shanghai Gigafactory Project (Phase I) - Parts Production Process Improvement Project (Capacity Adjustment) that in order to meet export demand, Tesla intends to increase the production capacity of parts by increasing the production workshop, increasing the number of workers, and increasing the equipment start-up rate.
In addition to the expansion of existing production capacity, the news that Tesla will invest in a second factory in China is also very popular. In 2021 alone, Qingdao, Jinan, Hefei, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Chongqing and other cities have been rumored to be the settlement place of Tesla's second factory; in February this year, the "Liaoning Release" public account sponsored by the General Office of the People's Government of Liaoning Province revealed that Tesla's second factory will be settled in Shenyang; not long ago, during the two sessions of the National People's Congress, a number of CPPCC members submitted to the Fifth Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference "On Supporting the Wuhan City Circle to Play a Radiating and Leading Role." In the joint proposal to build the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River into an important growth pole in the central region of the mainland, it is also specifically mentioned that it is necessary to "promote the second Tesla factory to settle in the Wuhan city circle". However, they were all debunked by Tesla officials one by one.
The mystery of who tesla's second factory in China spent is yet to be solved, but there is no doubt that Tesla has long begun to plan to build a second factory in China. According to people familiar with the matter, Tesla will start the site selection work of the new factory within this year, and finally finalize the location city in 2023.
To some extent, the acquisition of Zotye Automobile can indeed help Tesla avoid the cumbersome of building a new factory and quickly alleviate the production capacity problem, but most people in the industry are not optimistic about this. In the words of netizens, "One is the world-famous workmanship difference, one is the famous domestic small problems, the two big rough guys add up to a negative negative, maybe Tesla's workmanship can really get better?" ”
In sharp contrast to Tesla's situation, Zotye Automobile is eager to revitalize its idle production capacity.
Once, with the famous "leather ruler" and an average price of about 100,000 yuan, Zotye Automobile was unique in the fledgling Chinese auto market, and created a sales performance of 333,100 units in 2016, squeezing into the top ten sales of its own brand cars. However, the good times were not long, due to the lack of core technology, product quality problems continued, and only one year of maintenance entered a downward channel.
In 2017, Zotye Automobile sold 317,000 units, down 4.8% year-on-year; in 2018, sales were 230,000 units, not yet half of the annual sales target of 480,000 units; and sales in 2019 were 153,000 units, almost waist-high. At the same time, with the increasing number of new energy vehicle companies, the state's limited financial subsidies are getting thinner and thinner, and Zotye Automobile has also been greatly affected. In 2019, Zotye Automobile lost 11.2 billion yuan, with a valuation of only 2.8 billion yuan, evaporating more than 10 billion yuan. In 2020, the situation deteriorated again, and the Iron Bull Group, the controlling shareholder of Zotye Automobile, declared bankruptcy, which directly led to the rupture of Zotye Automobile's capital chain and falling into a debt crisis.
On June 9, 2021, because Zotye Automobile could not pay off its debts as they fell due, the court ruled to accept the reorganization in accordance with the law. After a long period of negotiation, on October 9, 2021, the restructuring investor of Zotye Automobile was identified as Jiangsu Shenzhen Business. The new operation plan for the reorganization released mentions that the company will take the policy of "vigorously developing new energy vehicles and intelligent vehicles" as the guideline: short-term plans to restore and optimize the traditional automobile business, layout of the online car and micro-electric vehicle market; long-term plan to build a brand matrix in the form of acquisitions and joint ventures, and layout the high-end new energy vehicle market.
Although Zotye Automobile once fell into the quagmire of suspension of production, "the skinny camel is bigger than the horse", in the manufacturing field, its family foundation accumulated over the years is still not to be underestimated. According to the data, Zotye Automobile has dual production qualifications for fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles, and has laid out production bases in Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Shandong, Chongqing and Guangxi, with an annual production capacity of 1 million vehicles (half of which can directly produce pure electric vehicles), with total assets of more than 19 billion yuan.
It is precisely because of this that after the reorganization plan was established, there were repeated rumors in the industry that Zotye Automobile would be acquired by other car companies, and the "gossip objects" included Xiaomi, Weilai, Baoneng, Ningde Times, etc. Not long ago, there was news that Great Wall Motors was about to acquire Zotye's Linyi factory, and Zotye Automobile had already debunked rumors.
It is worth noting that under the wrapping of "scandal", in 2021, *ST Zotye's stock price has gone all the way up, and has set a record of 27 up and down in 42 trading days. According to the financial forecast, it is expected to achieve operating income of 800 million to 900 million yuan in 2021, net profit attributable to the mother of 400 million to 600 million yuan, and loss reduction of 96.3-94.45%. In this regard, Zotye Automobile said that the company will apply to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to revoke the delisting risk warning after the release of the annual report, and the shell is expected.
With a rich "dowry", Zotye Automobile may not be "worried about marriage", but the early use of idle production capacity and production qualifications to create benefits for the company has become a life and death test that it must face. However, after many twists and turns, I don't know who will become the real "receiver" in the future.