On March 25, WEIO officially released the fourth quarter and annual financial performance report of 2021, according to the financial report information, WEILAI's total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 9.9 billion yuan, compared with 2020, an increase of 49.1% year-on-year, and the annual revenue was 36.14 billion yuan, an increase of 122.3%; previously, according to the information statistics of the Association, in 2021, the total sales of new energy vehicles were 2.989 million units, an increase of 169.1% year-on-year, due to the collective outbreak of new energy vehicles. Therefore, the company's revenue will certainly grow due to the outbreak of the new energy industry.
In addition, the gross profit margin of vehicle sales in 2021 was 20.1%, R&D expenditure was 4.59 billion yuan, an increase of 84.6% year-on-year, and the net loss was 4.02 billion yuan, narrowing by 24.3% year-on-year; it can be seen that Weilai continued to expand in R&D investment expenditure to lay the foundation for better technology research and development, although it increased in R&D investment, but in the net loss was narrowed, coupled with the above gross profit margin and the increase in automobile sales, it can be seen that WEILAI in 2021, It is slowly moving towards the right track of break-even; Weilai officials have repeatedly disclosed that Weilai does not involve in the product array below 300,000, and only insists on making the best products for consumers, which also proves that Weilai's products, in terms of profits, have advantages over other brands.
Courage not to raise prices?
With the substantial growth of sales in 2021, and better performance in profits and losses, Weilai can be said to have handed over a "good" report card this time, and the key financial data are showing a trend of "steadily rising"; at present, various companies have also increased their investment in research and development and ecological construction, in order to give consumers a better car experience, and Weiyuan has continued to grow in product profits and product sales, so the balance of payments is more well controlled.
In the earnings conference call, Weilai founder, chairman and CEO Li Bin mentioned the word "confidence" many times, it seems that Mr. Li Bin has sufficient confidence in the WEILAI brand and the future of Weilai; in March 2021, the new energy companies due to international tensions and imbalances in supply and demand, resulting in a sharp rise in new energy raw materials, in March many new energy vehicle companies open product price increases, Tesla has increased prices twice in March, of which the highest price increase in some models of the price increased by up to 30,000 yuan, This time, Li Bin also responded to the "price increase" problem that everyone was concerned about.
Li Bin: "No price increase for the time being, the annual gross profit target is 18-20%".
From the 2021 data performance, Weilai's annual vehicle sales gross profit margin is 20.1%, in terms of vehicle sales, to reach the "target" said by Li Bin, and the gross profit margin is also a key indicator to judge the hematopoietic ability of a car company, the industry generally believes that it can reach more than 20% of the comprehensive gross profit margin, is the industry's primary indicator to judge the health status of new forces, and also means that the company has a good self-hematopoietic ability.
Although there is still a gap between Weilai and Tesla's bicycle gross profit margin of 30.6%, after all, Tesla is indeed in the industry's most eye-catching performance in the global sales data, which can naturally bring higher revenue, and therefore can bring higher gross profit margins; although Weilai is currently showing a steady upward trend, there is indeed a relatively large gap with Tesla.
Li Bin pointed out that the price increase of raw materials, chip shortage, international situation, and epidemic have brought a lot of uncertainty, but in the past few years, Weilai has accumulated a lot of experience in supply chain supply assurance, and has a very good supply relationship, which is expected to better respond than many new power brands.
As the position of the "big brother" previously known as the new domestic forces, although the results have been ups and downs in the second half of 2021, it still has a very good data performance in terms of sales revenue, and it is due to the early entry time, the high-end product needs more supply relations, resulting in Weilai in the supply market, with its own unique "right to speak", so that Weilai will not be in an excessively "passive" situation in the market. Therefore, it also gave Li Bin enough courage to "not increase the price".
When will it be possible to turn things around once and for all?
What is the reversal, for a company, having sufficient cash flow is important, but to achieve a real 0 loss, for the enterprise is also more important, according to statistics, 2021 full year Ofilao sales of 91429 units, compared to 2020 43728 units, up 109.1% year-on-year, sales rose at the same time, Niolai in 2021 net loss of 4.02 billion yuan, narrowed 24.3% year-on-year, according to the information to speculate, narrowed nearly 1 / 4, and if you want to completely complete the zero loss, sales at least to increase by 3 times, how can the current Market of Weilai really achieve "turnaround"?
In terms of the current existing models on sale, the overall sales volume has been stable, there is also a possibility of reaching saturation, and Weilai wants to achieve sales growth, it needs to inject fresh blood, according to the official current disclosure, on March 28, that is, the day after tomorrow, open the delivery of Weilai's first car ET7 listed on January 9, 2021, and in the third quarter of this year, delivery of Weilai's "cheapest" product ET5, and at this year's Beijing Auto Show, Weilai will also debut and release Weilai's new SUV model Weilai ES7, positioned between ES8 and ES6, when fresh blood is injected, it can bring a new starting point to the enterprise, for Weilai's two cars, more consumers in the current market are also very concerned, Weilai's previous products are SUVs, and what kind of performance will be on the car, but also determine the market and future financial report data of Weilai in 2022.
In addition to narrowing losses and sales growth, Weilai in 2022, R & D expenditure and Weilai's unique energy supplemental ecological system construction, will continue to expand the speed and coverage area, but also in order to give users a better car experience, many consumers are still in the "uneasy" mentality of new energy, and Weilai continues to lay out the energy supplement system and technology research and development, in order to dispel the doubts and scruples of this part of the user earlier, which is also for weilai's future market can have better performance, but also more able to achieve an early reversal.
Write at the end
According to Weilai's financial report and Mr. Li Bin's reply, it is proved that Weilai's current position in the new energy industry, as well as early entry and product attributes, let Weilai have a more sufficient "right to speak" in the supply market to control its own price, and if the product prices in the entire market have risen, Weilai will maintain the original price to continue to sell, the consequence is that Weilai will increase in product sales, according to the market effect, the competitive product increase I do not increase, of course, will bring about changes in sales.
In the financial report and the future market, the main task of Weilai is to have better sales performance, to support its own R & D investment and energy ecological investment, better sales can continue to narrow their profits and losses, but also earlier to bring real "turnaround" for enterprises.
2022 is very unfriendly to the new energy industry, with a TV series line to describe this year's market: "narrow road meets the brave to win", under the current market competition pressure and market fluctuations, enterprises must have their own unique marketing methods and product highlights, in order to attract more consumers under the background of "bad", so that they can have their own place in such a "cold winter" market, the author also hopes that more domestic car brands can have a more eye-catching performance.