In 2010, eCar was listed on the NASDAQ in the United States with great fanfare, and its market value exceeded 10 billion yuan in one fell swoop, becoming the leader of the automotive website industry.
At the peak of such an unprecedented and unprecedented person, founder Li Bin did not show ecstasy, after all, in the darkest moment at the end of 2001, he desperately sent the bottom-to-the-sky Easy Car Network to today's location, and only he himself understood the taste.
With mature investment experience such as Dangdang.com, Mobike, and Yiche.com, Li Bin began to seriously consider the future of China's automotive industry. And every time he looked up and saw the smog days in Beijing, his thoughts were even stronger.
"Bring the blue sky back!"
So, in November 2014, Weilai was born!
1. WeiLai, which flies on the air outlet
The concept of new energy vehicles was planned by the state as early as 2009. However, because of the lack of experience and the lack of investigation of the prospects of the consumer market, few dare to enter the industry.
In this way, China's new energy vehicle planning has not been hurried to 2014. In April 2014, a historic moment, Musk personally came to China to deliver the keys of the first Batch of Tesla electric vehicles in China to the owners, causing a sensation.
Since then, the concept of new energy vehicles has caught fire in China. In November of the same year, Li Bin, who longed for the "blue sky", announced the establishment of Weilai to build new energy vehicles in China.
As a mature and successful entrepreneur and investor, Li Bin has a clear idea of how to attack the city on the battlefield of new energy vehicles.
After the establishment of the company, the most important thing is to find capital investment. To this end, Li Bin has found Jingdong Liu Qiangdong, Tencent Ma Huateng, Xiaomi Lei Jun and other bigwigs to talk about his ideas about China's new energy vehicles.
Sure enough, Li Bin and the big guys coincided with each other's ideas, they all said that they wanted to join the company, and Liu Qiangdong even only listened to Li Bin for 15 seconds before finalizing the intention of cooperation.
In this way, Weilai Automobile has become a company endorsed by well-known domestic giant enterprises, although it is a new generation, its capital strength is even stronger than some old car companies.
When the funds are drawn, it is necessary to find a technical team and form a production line.
In order to have a shape comparable to that of famous cars and a technical team that can stand the test, Li Bin has spent a lot of money to recruit soldiers from all over the world.
Former Maserati Global President, Mazda COO Martin. Ritchie and former Motorola CTO Wu Sili were all under the command of Weilai, and Shanghai Alter Automobile Company was wholly acquired, along with more than 200 automotive engineers from the company.
With funds, talents, what to do with the automobile production line, Li Bin is a person who plays capital, and he tends to get the greatest benefits at the smallest cost.
In April 2016, WEILAI signed an OEM contract with JAC Automobile to use JAC's complete production line to help NIO produce cars.
It is said that standing on the wind outlet, even pigs can fly, and Weilai Automobile is the representative of the qingyun that looks at the wind outlet. Combining national policies, the pace of automobile market development, and the consumption tendency of human society, Li Bin drew a big pie and easily attracted funds and talents.
Next, NIO is about to start its wonderful performance in the new energy vehicle market.
2. Peak to abyss
Everything was ready, and Weilai Car soon came with a wave of big moves.
In October 2016, the NIO Concept EP9 debuted at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany, setting a record for 7 minutes and 05 seconds of electric vehicle lap, and a few months later it set a record of 257 km/h at the Americas Circuit in Austin, Texas, becoming the fastest electric car in the world.
If it doesn't sound, it is already a blockbuster, and Weilai Automobile has made a name for itself. In order to create gimmicks, the first batch of EP9s produced only 6 units, the owners are Li Bin, Hillhouse Capital Zhang Lei, Tencent Ma Huateng, JD.com Liu Qiangdong, Xiaomi Lei Jun and Autohome founder Li Xiang.
Li Bin announced to the outside world that Weilai Automobile will do the world's most outstanding electric vehicle, and it will be outstanding to the business tycoons to try it.
Immediately after, Li Bin made another big move.
At the end of 2017, Niolai's first pure electric vehicle ES8 was listed, and Li Bin held a press conference that can be called an international event. 8 planes, 60 subway cars, 19 five-star hotels, 160 buses, all of which are rented to meet NIO's investors, interested customers and major media.
Not only that, Weilai Auto chartered the Wukesong Stadium and invited a well-known American rock band to perform live to cheer up, pushing the atmosphere to a climax. According to statistics, this conference cost 80 million. Of course, everything is invested for the next return.
In addition, the sales model of Weilai Automobile is also a must. It pioneered a club of the most high-end cars within the brand, called . The purpose of the club is to serve those users and friends who have made outstanding contributions to NIO.
The threshold for joining the club is very simple, either you can spend about 10 million yuan to buy an EP9, or by buying or recommending relatives and friends to buy Nio cars to get "Nio value", accumulate a certain score to get membership, on average, help NIO sell 25 cars to qualify.
Entering the club is not yet finished, and you have to pay more than 10,000 yuan in maintenance fees every year. What is the attraction of this club that will make people flock to it, it is very simple, people only tell you that it is full of high-end people such as Liu Qiangdong, Ma Huateng, Lei Jun, etc., and when you enter the EP club, you can enjoy the driving experience, FE viewing, overseas study tours, big coffee sharing and other rights.
That is to say, when you enter this circle, you are surrounded by high-quality human beings, and they can talk to you not only about the car driving experience, but also more opportunities for you to explore your own imagination.
This trick really worked, car owners rushed to help Weilai sell cars, per capita is 25, and some people sold 96 cars, it is no exaggeration to say that a Weilai owner is equivalent to a 4s shop.
Moreover, the Group of Weilai car owners has become synonymous with tall, even if you are sitting on a BMW Mercedes-Benz Maserati Porsche, there is no Weilai car that is not tall enough.
Relying on the manufacturing gimmick and circle culture, and the huge subsidies of the state to the new energy automobile industry, Weilai Automobile has grown rapidly, like a dark horse in the new energy automobile industry.
In September 2018, WEILAI Automobile was high-profile listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Li Bin specially invited 12 car owners to the exchange to ring the bell together to witness the glorious moment with NIO. Weilai has become the "Tesla" in China that everyone calls, and many people are even convinced that Weilai Automobile will definitely surpass Tesla.
Some people say that the most important thing in the automotive industry is that reverence for life and respect for technology are indispensable. Although Weilai Automobile has unlimited scenery, it is a new thing after all, and quality and safety issues need to be tested.
The good times didn't last long, and the nightmare soon came.
In April 2019, a Weilai ES8 in Xi'an spontaneously combusted, followed by an ES8 spontaneous combustion incident in Jiading, Shanghai, in May. In addition, Wuhan, Shijiazhuang and other places have also occurred in Weilai car spontaneous combustion.
After the accident, Weilai Automobile Company and Li Bin responded at the first time and announced the recall of 4803 ES8 vehicles. Although sincere enough, the security problems have to be ignored.
Just like the owners of Weilai said, Weilai has a good attitude, but we are disappointed!
One stone stirred up thousands of waves, and the impression of WEILAI Automobile in the minds of consumers was greatly reduced, and it also indirectly affected the enthusiasm of the investment market. In March 2019, the state announced that it would gradually reduce subsidies for new energy vehicles, which invisibly increased Weilai's production costs.
How bad the market is, the data will speak. In the first quarter of 2019, NIO sold 3989 vehicles, a far cry from 7980 units in the first quarter, while in the second quarter, the sales market was extremely dismal in the next two quarters, which were 1123, 1089 and 1340 vehicles respectively.
Even worse, rival Tesla announced in January 2019 that it would enter Shanghai to build a factory, which made the WEILAI plan that was originally ready to move in thwart.
A series of negative news caused WEIO to move hard, and even the release of the third vehicle ET7 was delayed. In the stock market, investors' expectations for Weilai fell to a freezing point, and the stock price fell all the way down, almost delisting.
So there is that sentence, Li Bin in 2019 is the most miserable person.
Everyone is questioning, Weilai, is there a future?
3. The comeback of Weilai, there is no future
Coming back to life and making a comeback, Li Bin has already had experience.
In 2000, the Internet industry bubble burst, the cold winter struck, and a large wave of companies closed their doors. Li Bin's easy car network also suffered a disaster.
At the end of 2001, the 28-year-old Li Bin owed a huge amount of foreign debt of 4 million yuan, and eCar was on the verge of extinction. But Li Bin has a cattle temper, hard to carry through the cold winter, to 2003 China's Internet websites appeared to turn around, investors came to the door again, in 2004 Yiche network came back to life.
For Weilai Automobile in 2019, Li Bin still chooses to resist hard, and there is a chance to carry it over.
First of all, Li Bin himself subscribed to the company's $100 million convertible bond and transfused blood to Weilai through his own efforts.
Second, Tesla has once again brought a turnaround to China's new energy vehicle market. In early 2020, Musk came to Shanghai to personally attend the delivery ceremony of the Model 3 and announced a price reduction.
The enthusiasm of the Chinese market for new energy vehicles has been ignited again, and the dismal Weilai Automobile has ushered in new opportunities.
First, the investment fund with confidence in the new energy vehicle market invested more than 200 million US dollars, and then the Hefei municipal government injected 7 billion yuan into Weilai Automobile.
What is more gratifying is that in order to alleviate the impact of the epidemic on the economy, the state announced the suspension of the withdrawal system of the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, which means that WEILAI Automobile can continue to enjoy subsidies.
The morale of Weilai Automobile, which ushered in a turnaround, soared, delivering 7,225 cars in the first month of 2021, a spurt of growth over the previous year.
There is also that sentence, Li Bin from the most miserable person in 2019 to the most proud person in 2020.
With the help of Dongfeng, Weilai can be regarded as a resurrection, but some people are still questioning whether Weilai Automobile has a future?
In July 2021, an EC6 spontaneously combusted on Lingang Avenue in Shanghai, and a month later, the WEILAI ES8 driven by Meiyihao founder Lin Wenqin had an accident on the Shenhai Expressway.
According to statistics, from 2018 to 2021, There were a total of 13 accidents in Weilai Automobile, the main types of which were collisions, spontaneous combustion and inability to drive.
It can be seen that safety and the specification of the automatic driving function of electric vehicles are still an urgent problem for Weilai Automobile.
Moreover, Li Bin repeatedly issued thunderous words in order to sensationalize the public, which was criticized by others.
"How nostalgic is a person to buy a gas truck!" Except for the gasoline smell of gasoline now, I really can't think of anything good! ”
"I didn't know Tesla when I founded NIO!" (In fact, Not long after Tesla announced the patent, Weilai Automobile was founded.)
These arrogant words have aroused the disgust of many netizens, making Weilai Automobile and even new energy vehicles reprimanded by oil truck users.
Therefore, some people began to question that Weilai Automobile is just relying on the trend outlet of new energy vehicles and relying on capital to stir up bubble accumulation and develop, what is worth showing off.
To be fair, WEILAI represents the development direction of China's new energy vehicles, but this does not mean that it can stand firm by following the trend.
Leaving aside the advantages and disadvantages of China's new energy vehicles and Tesla, as far as we are concerned, if we want to develop for a long time, build a long-term foundation, and refresh the new era of the automotive industry, we must not rely on the capital momentum of sensationalism and rhetoric, but on trustworthy products and services!
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Author: Heart to Wu Tong