Written by | Zhao Lingwei
Edit | Yang Guang
Produced | Automotive Sankei
In Shanghai in 2021, for every 5 high-end SUVs sold (more than 350,000 yuan), fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles are counted, and one must be Weilai.
At the recent 2021 financial report communication meeting, Li Bin said that WEI's share in first- and second-tier cities is rising.
In terms of attitude towards the market and sales, Li Bin seems to rarely put Weilai in the dimension of pure trams, and what he wants to do is always a long-term battle with mainstream high-end brands.
Review NIO's operation in 2021 - 91,429 new cars were delivered in the whole year, an increase of 109.1% year-on-year, revenue was 36.1364 billion yuan, and the gross profit margin of the automotive business for the whole year reached 20.1%.
Last year, the monthly sales list of the new forces has gone through several ups and downs, and almost all brand founders are saying that short-term sales do not explain the problem, and everyone is fighting a protracted war.
Li Bin set the profit time of Weilai in 2024, until then, it needs to firmly continue to invest. Looking at the time line longer, Weilai has been working hard to enter the tailwind game in the later stage.
NO.1
[Li Bin responded to Weilai's temporary price increase]
Since the EC6 listing in 2020, WEI HAS NOT UPDATED ITS PRODUCT LINE FOR TWO YEARS. This year's product replacement stall encountered a wave of new energy vehicle price increases, Li Bin said that the current products will not increase prices.
"This year, there are smart hardware upgrades to the 866 (referring to ES8, ES6 and EC6), and there are post-installation upgrades for existing users. Considering this situation, there is no need to adjust the price of existing products, but there will be some adjustments to the annual model of smart hardware. ”
That is to say, the price of the 2022 NIO ES8, ES6 and EC6 may change.
On the other hand, all car companies are facing an uncontrollable cost problem, Li Bin believes that the runaway price of raw materials is a bubble blown by some speculators, and this bubble is being punctured.
"In response to the recent market concern about the soaring price of lithium carbonate leading to the rise in costs, Weilai believes that the price speculation of lithium carbonate is greater after market research, and the supply and demand relationship is not much different at present." At present, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is also coordinating price pricing, and Weilai also calls on upstream raw material manufacturers not to make personal speculative price increases from long-term interests, which is not a good thing for the industry. ”
It is foreseeable that the price increase of some raw materials this time is a short-term fluctuation, and when these prices fall, the models that were completely due to the increase in cost do not know what kind of ending plan will be. Stable prices not only reflect the company's self-control ability, but also allow users who sell cars at any point in time to have a fair experience.
NO.2
[Your "old" Wei Lai,
New experiences can still be had after 16 years]
Speculators in the raw material market are temporary, and the chip shortage is the hard-core challenge that Weilai is currently facing.
Li Bin said on the conference call that the chip is a very big challenge, "We have to use more than a thousand chips per car, 10% of which will have a tight supply problem, and indeed there will be some impact to a large extent." This year, we have taken into account the rise in chip prices in terms of gross profit, so the problem of chip prices is OK, and the main problem is the problem of supply uncertainty."
These 10% of the "difficult chips" are usually some basic chips, the usual price is very cheap, and now not only the price is outrageous but also a core is difficult to find. "We're going to do it in a substitute way, and we're going to buy some on the spot market, and there's no doubt that it's going to be a little more complicated."
The chip with high-up function, such as the NVIDIA Orin chip, Weilai is the world's first mass production and loading, so it directly reached a long-term strategic cooperation at the beginning, and the supply of this part of the chip is generally stable.
The latest technology is not only beneficial to new pit users, for old car owners, you can upgrade the new smart hardware, and some NAD functions that have been opened recently will soon be experienced through subscriptions.
At NIO DAY last year, Li Bin said, "The previous car was over after leaving the factory, but today's car needs to consider a long way."
This is a "refurbishment" method unique to smart electric vehicles. From the founding ES8 in 2017 to EC6 in 2021, consistent feature upgrades can be obtained through FOTA.
Li Bin probably calculated that the car Weilai sold last year may be responsible for it until 2037. Therefore, this batch of Weilai automobiles will be like a parallel universe in the future, and some basic abilities are mutually used, but each forest has its own growth rhythm and appearance.
To be able to stand up to this "central air-conditioning warm man" persona, Weilai needs to establish a long-term system from the beginning. Only when the system provides value to the user can it be said that it is effective for the service of the user's entire life cycle. And this routine accumulates over time and will exert greater brand influence.
NO.3
[About affordable cars: Tesla to the left, Weilai to the right]
NIO will deliver three new cars this year – the ET7, ET5 and ES7.
Based on the current situation that Weilai has not yet delivered car products, and the high intelligence expectation of ES7, these three cars are all new market increments for Weilai now.
Li Bin said in an interview that et7's current order volume is already higher than 15,000, and its positioning is to compete directly with the BMW 5 Series, which sells 12,000-15,000 units per month.
The ES7 planned to be released in the second quarter is priced at more than 400,000, and the current market capacity of the medium and large five-seat SUV market is more than 200,000, and Li Bin is very confident in this market segment.
Compared with previous products, the new cars delivered this year have broadened the coverage of categories and target groups for WEILAI.
However, because ET7 and ES7 are currently arranged to be produced in the Jianghuai plant and 866 collinear, they are facing a slightly complicated situation in the transformation of production lines and the ramp-up of production capacity.
What has attracted more attention is that the team of the new brand has been built.
In Li Bin's view, the price bandwidth of a brand is limited. Tesla's entry into the mass market is to create a very large price spread, which is successful now, but it also makes Tesla Model X sales decline very badly.
In this regard, porsche to Volkswagen, Lexus to Toyota's route seems to be more balanced, so NIO will also choose such a route to enter the mass market.
According to the spindle-shaped end point of the mature automobile market, the market priced at 30,000-50,000 US dollars is very large, but the premise is that the company can control a reasonable gross profit margin before Weilai will enter. Li Bin said, "The new brand planned by Weilai will not seize the market of 3-5w US dollars by sacrificing gross profits."
In order to achieve such results, in the next few years, WEILAI 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. Investment in R&D of core technologies can not only enhance the sustainable competitiveness of technologies and products, but also improve gross profit level and profitability in the long run, and create long-term value.
NO.4
[Let the "bullets" invested in R&D fly a little longer]
Speaking of the earnings report, one of the most questionable figures is the "annual loss of 4 billion yuan", but the auto industry and economy believes that it is more important to see that this is almost equal to the 4.6 billion yuan invested in research and development. This year, NIO's investment in research and development increased by 84.6% year-on-year.
"The overall strategy last year was that gross profit covered sales and administrative expenses, and the loss was all part of research and development. This year, because of the overseas operations in Europe, R&D investment will be further increased."
But is the investment in research and development really a fatal loss for a smart car startup?
Weilai itself is not shy about the loss of 4.6 billion, and even Li Bin said in the earnings report meeting that R & D investment in 2022 will reach a growth rate of more than double, straight to the tens of billions of yuan.
Hard-hardened technology products and experiences, even if the effort is used in the user at a glance, but valuable things, such as energy management, intelligent driving, body materials. As he said, WEIlai adheres to its own values and business logic, and also has strategic determination.
The average bicycle price has exceeded 430,000 yuan, and the goal is to replace one of the BBA. Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of Weilai, once said, "As Weilai enters the high-end market and forms an alternative to high-end mainstream luxury fuel vehicles, we should be able to turn the 'BBA' pattern into 'NBA' in the future." ”
Although Weilai's growth rate has indeed slowed down in the past six months, in addition to its own production capacity, product trough period and other reasons, from the overall market performance, the growth rate of the luxury car market has slowed down comprehensively compared with the previous two years.
At this time, looking at the price range of 300,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan where the main products of the BBA brand are located, the "Chinese new luxury" represented by "Wei Xiaoli" has actually gained a foothold. At least at this stage of the luxury pure electricity market, BBA can be said to be temporarily behind Weilai.
In 2021, Audi's first pure electric SUV, the Audi e-tron, sold only 1564 units, the Mercedes-Benz EQC sold 6098 units for the year, and the BMW iX3 sold 22446 units.
Even in the entire high-end brand market, Weilai still has a place. Next, ET5, ET7 and ES7 are grouped, and the "smart pure electric squad" is expected to reconstruct the luxury car market camp.
Some media commented that many new forces have in fact intercepted the potential consumer group of BBA in the next 3-5 years in advance, and BBA will become more and more difficult to cover up as this interception effect gradually appears.
As supply problems such as chips eased in the fourth quarter of last year, car companies gradually got rid of the impact, and sales as a whole began to recover. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, believes that luxury cars are expected to return to the growth track in 2022.
This is an opportunity for high-end brands, that is, an opportunity for Weilai.
Wei came to the end of last year and still had 55.4 billion yuan in cash reserves, enough time to hold out a long line to catch big fish.
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