On March 25, NIO (09866. HK;NIO.US) released its fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results and held an earnings conference call.
In 2021, Wei's operating income was 36.14 billion yuan, an increase of 122% year-on-year, and the vehicle revenue reached 33.17 billion yuan; the net loss narrowed to 4.02 billion yuan, a year-on-year narrowing of 24.3%; the annual gross profit margin of vehicle sales was 20.1%.
Among them, NIO's revenue in the fourth quarter was 9.9 billion yuan, an increase of 49.1% year-on-year, an increase of 1.0% month-on-month, of which the automobile sales revenue was 9.2 billion yuan, an increase of 49.3% year-on-year, an increase of 6.7% month-on-month; the net loss was 2.143 billion yuan, an increase of 54.4% year-on-year, an increase of 156.6% month-on-month; and the gross profit margin of vehicle sales was 20.9%.
April 27, 2021, 2021 Shanghai International Auto Show, NIO ET7 sedan. Image according to Visual China
On March 10 this year, NIO completed its secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through introduction. As of December 31, 2021, NIO had a total of $55.4 billion in cash and equivalents, restricted monetary funds and short-term investments.
For the current state of continuous loss, Li Bin, founder of WEI, pointed out that the strategy of gross profit covering sales and management expenses is currently implemented, and the loss mainly comes from long-term research and development and investment in the European market. By the end of this year, the number of R&D personnel is expected to reach 9,000. He expects to break even in the fourth quarter of 2023 and hopes to be profitable in 2024.
For the recent price increase in new energy vehicles caused by the continuous price increase of raw materials, Li Bin said that at present, Weilai has no price increase, and there is no idea of price increase for the time being. The gross profit target for vehicles in 2022 is still set at 18%-20%.
Et7 deliveries will begin on the 28th
The first batch of sub-brand products entered key research and development
In 2021, NIO delivered a total of 91,429 vehicles, an increase of 109.1% year-on-year. From January to February this year, NIO delivered a total of 15,783 units. Due to the impact of the epidemic and the large fluctuations in supply chain capacity, NIO's total deliveries in the first quarter of 2022 are expected to be 25,000-26,000 units, up 24.6% to 29.6% year-on-year. Based on this calculation, NIO expects to deliver about 10,000 vehicles in March this year.
The first quarter is nearing its end, and whether the three new models that WEILAI will deliver this year can boost sales is the focus of attention. In 2022, NIO plans to deliver three new models, the ET7, ET5 and ES7, based on the second-generation technology platform NT2.
Li Bin said at the conference call that the mass production of the smart electric flagship car ET7 is currently progressing smoothly, leading the development trend of the industry in many aspects such as automatic driving computing power. Et7 deliveries will begin on March 28. In the national test drive campaign that began in March, ET7's test drive order conversion rate exceeded expectations.
On March 24, Weilai's official Weibo released the news that the first batch of ET7 mass production cars was officially rolled off the production line on the same day. Screenshot based on Weibo
At NIO Day last year, NIO released the mid-size smart electric coupe ET5, and the order performance exceeded expectations. On March 16, the first ET5 prototype car was rolled off the production center. Et5 is expected to start deliveries in September this year.
In the near future, NIO will release the ES7, the first SUV model based on the NT2. The car is positioned in the medium and large high-end five-seat SUV market, focusing on the high-end market, the current market capacity is expected to be about 200,000 units, and it is planned to start delivery in the third quarter of this year.
NIO hopes to open a NAD (NIO Autonomous Driving System) subscription service within this year, and in the fourth quarter of this year, it can open a NAD subscription service for some users in some regions.
Li Bin said: "It is expected that the production capacity of the whole vehicle will be fundamentally improved in the fourth quarter of this year, and the power battery can also match the demand." The main challenge is in the supply of chips, WEIlai needs about 1,000 chips per car, of which 10% will have tight supply problems, mainly some basic chips. Companies will solve this problem by replacing materials or going to the spot market to buy them. ”
It is worth mentioning that Li Bin revealed that the business work for mass market brands is progressing smoothly, the core team has been built, the strategic direction and development strategy have been clarified, and the first batch of products have entered key research and development, "The price range of 30,000-50,000 US dollars still has a very large market, and can achieve a reasonable gross profit margin." "In the middle of last year, NIO was exposed to launch a sub-brand independent of NIO, which is expected to be priced at 150,000-250,000 yuan.
R&D expenses soared, and gross margin returned to 20%
Li Bin said that he would not raise prices for the time being
In 2021, under the condition of cost pressure and sharp increase in research and development expenses, the gross profit margin returned to more than 20%, becoming the biggest highlight of the financial report.
In 2021, NIO has accelerated the pace of new product research and development, and has also begun to increase investment in full-stack autonomous driving and other core technology fields. NIO invested 4.59 billion yuan in R&D for the whole year, an increase of 84.6% year-on-year; of which R&D expenses in the fourth quarter were 1.8285 billion yuan, an increase of 120.5% year-on-year and 53.3% month-on-month. The increase in R&D expenses was mainly due to the increase in the cost of personnel in the R&D function and the increase in the design and development cost of new products and technologies.
NIO plans to more than double its R&D investment in 2022 compared with 2021. In the next few years, NIO will continue to increase investment in research and development of key technologies, especially in key areas related to full-stack autonomous driving technology and power batteries.
In 2021, THE GROSS PROFIT MARGIN OF NIO's vehicle sales for the whole year was 20.1% and the comprehensive gross profit margin was 18.9%; of which the gross profit margin of vehicle sales in the fourth quarter was 20.9%, and the comprehensive gross profit margin was 17.2%. This figure was 17.2% in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 18% in the third quarter of 2021.
The increase in WEILAI's gross profit margin is due to the increase in bicycle sales revenue, which is superimposed on the cost optimization of ternary iron lithium batteries.
As of January 2021, the average transaction price of NIO brand vehicles exceeded 430,000 yuan, higher than BMW and Audi.
In September last year, WEILAI released a 75kWh ternary iron lithium battery pack. Li Bin said that Weilai began to use 75-degree ternary iron lithium batteries from the fourth quarter of last year, which is lower than the cost of the original 70-degree ternary batteries, which is very helpful for the improvement of gross profit in the fourth quarter.
Weilai said that the comprehensive gross profit margin in the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased from the third quarter because the comprehensive revenue in the third quarter included the income of new energy integration, and the vigorous construction of the charging and replacing energy replenishment system in the fourth quarter of the year.
At present, NIO has built 866 substations, covering 190 cities in China, and has deployed more than 711 supercharging stations and 3786 destination charging piles.
In 2022, NIO will deploy 30 power Up Plan destination power-up routes, and will build more than 1,300 substations, 6,000 supercharged piles, and 10,000 destination charging piles in the Chinese market.
For the current price of lithium carbonate "Feitian", Li Bin believes that "the price increase of lithium carbonate this year is very exaggerated, through the detailed investigation of various links in the upstream, we do not think that it is a problem of production capacity and supply, which has more speculative factors." ”
Li Bin also said: "At present, Weilai has not raised prices, there is no current idea of raising prices, and then it will be based on market conditions to see whether the pricing policy is adjusted." Nio began to use ternary iron lithium batteries in the fourth quarter of last year, which helped to improve the gross profit of automobiles due to cost advantages, and sales increases also played a role in cost sharing, but the rise in power batteries and bulk products had a negative impact on gross profit. Considering the factors of raw material price increases, the annual gross profit target for the whole year is still set at 18%-20%. ”
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
Responsible editor Ren Zhijiang
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