After three years, Geely Automobile's revenue has broken through the 100 billion yuan mark, and its cash flow has hit a record high, but it is still difficult to stop the continuous decline in net profit. From 2019 to 2021, Geely's net profit was 8.190 billion yuan, 5.534 billion yuan and 4.847 billion yuan, down 34.76%, 32.43% and 12.41% respectively year-on-year.
In recent years, Geely has flourished in the field of fuel vehicles, ranking first in the sales of its own brands for 5 consecutive years, but in the field of new energy, it is gradually lost in the crowd of deer, and it is considered to be "getting up early and catching up with a late set". In the future, with the rise of the domestic new energy vehicle market, can Geely New Energy take advantage of the momentum to break through, and can its net profit return to the rising range?
After three years, Geely Automobile's revenue has broken through the 100 billion yuan mark, and its cash flow has hit a record high, but it is still difficult to stop the continuous decline in net profit.
On March 23, Geely released its 2021 financial report. According to the data, last year, Geely achieved operating income of 101.6 billion yuan, an increase of 10.3% year-on-year, and exceeded 100 billion yuan again since 2018; At the same time, its cash flow management is stable, with total cash reaching 28 billion yuan and net cash reaching 20.8 billion yuan.
It is worth noting that Geely's net profit last year was 4.847 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 12.41%, the third consecutive year of decline. Previously, in 2019 and 2020, Geely's net profit was 8.190 billion yuan and 5.534 billion yuan, down 34.76% and 32.43% respectively.
Geely Automobile's 2021 business highlights (Photo taken from Geely Automobile's 2021 performance announcement)
At the performance conference, Geely did not specify this situation, but also admitted that due to the shortage of global chip supply and the impact of rising raw material prices, the company's financial performance last year was lower than the original expectations of management.
Last year, Geely Automobile sold a total of 1.328 million vehicles (including the 50% joint venture Company Lynk & Co), a slight increase of 1% year-on-year, and won the first place in its own brand sales for the fifth consecutive year, and its market share rose to 6.4%. However, its domestic sales fell 3% year-on-year to 1.213 million units.
In recent years, Geely has continuously tried on the road of brand upwards and actively laid out the high-end market. Among them, the total sales of the "China Star" series products exceeded 200,000 vehicles last year; On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the brand, the cumulative sales volume exceeded 650,000 units, and the average weighted transaction price of the product reached 165,000 yuan. According to the data, the average price of Geely's bicycle sales last year reached 88,000 yuan, up 8% from the same period last year.
However, compared with the boom in fuel vehicles, Geely's development in the field of new energy is quite unsmooth, and it is considered by the industry to be "getting up early and catching up late". As early as 2015, Geely released the "Blue Geely Action" in a high profile, taking the lead in announcing the electrification transformation among its own brands, and at the same time proposing the sales target of "by 2020, new energy vehicles will account for more than 90%".
As soon as the strategy came out, geely Emgrand EV was immediately introduced to the market. In 2016, the car sold 17,181 units throughout the year, becoming the absolute "dark horse" of the pure electric vehicle market that year. In the following years, with the advent of brands such as Polar Star, Geometry, maple leaf, etc., Geely has gradually formed a multi-brand, full-coverage new energy layout. Geely's new energy vehicle sales also reached a high of 113,100 units in 2019.
What people did not expect is that the "early" Geely is gradually lost in the domestic new energy vehicle market. In 2020, Tesla after domestic production has accelerated its pace, the new forces in the head are taking off, traditional brands have also stepped up their layout, and the new energy vehicle market is a prosperous scene. Geely, on the other hand, saw its new energy vehicle sales fall 49% year-on-year to 68,000 units, accounting for only 5.2% of the group's total sales, a far cry from the plan five years ago.
Extreme Krypton 001 (China Economic Network Infographic Chen Mengyu /Photo)
In April last year, in order to reverse the decline, Geely launched the Extreme Krypton brand to lay out the high-end intelligent electric vehicle market. However, the first model, the kryptonian 001, was once listed, and it was deeply involved in the whirlpool of public opinion due to disguised price increases and delayed delivery...
In the past year, the domestic new energy vehicle market has ushered in an outbreak, with production and sales exceeding 3.5 million units, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year. In the context, although Geely's new energy vehicle sales have rebounded, they are only in the early 100,000 units, accounting for 7.5% of its total sales.
Although last year's performance was less than expected, Geely is still full of confidence this year and set a target of 1.65 million vehicles per year at the beginning of the year. In terms of new energy, Geely Automobile Group CEO Gan Jiayue said that this year will continue to make full efforts in pure electricity, super electric hybrid, alcohol-electric hybrid, power exchange and other tracks. Among them, Extreme Kr will hit the annual sales target of 70,000 vehicles and plans to launch 6 new products in the next three years.
In the future, with the rise of the domestic new energy vehicle market, can Geely New Energy take advantage of the opportunity to achieve a breakthrough, and even achieve the grand goal of "90%"? At that time, can Geely's net profit return to the rising range? Let's wait and see. (China Economic Network reporter Guo Tao)