2021 is a very special and challenging year, not only for the economy, financial markets, but also for the car market. After experiencing the epidemic, the underlying logic and pattern are undergoing profound changes, new energy has become the darling of the secondary market last year, of which new forces have also become a pole that cannot be ignored, of course, there has been gradual differentiation within the industry, and some of the enterprises with product strength and operation systematization capabilities have further stood out, such as Xiaopeng Motors.
On the evening of March 28, Xiaopeng Automobile (09868.HK/XPEV.US) disclosed the 2021 performance report, which showed that in 2021, the company achieved operating income of 20.99 billion yuan (the same unit below), an increase of 259.1% year-on-year, of which the automobile sales revenue was 20.04 billion yuan, an increase of 261.3% year-on-year.
In 2021, Xiaopeng will "narrowly win", and it is expected to further open the gap in 2022
Nowadays, the delivery results of the new forces car companies in 2021 have long been clear, and the annual delivery volume of the first echelon of "top three" is in the range of 90,000-100,000 vehicles, of which Xiaopeng Automobile has increased by 263% year-on-year, with a narrow victory of 98,155 vehicles for the whole year, and has become the biggest winner of this stage qualifying competition.
Looking back at 2021, the differentiation of this qualifying race began in the second half of the year: from July, Xiaopeng delivery rose from third to second, in October 2021, Xiaopeng delivery ranked first, and for many months in a row, the champion throne, only in the fourth quarter of 2021, Xiaopeng delivered up to 41751 vehicles, an increase of 222% year-on-year, an increase of 63% month-on-month, showing a trend of riding in the new forces of car companies.
(Source: Company Financial Report)
In the camp of new forces, the reason why Xiaopeng was able to catch up and lead in delivery last year, in addition to the dividends of the new energy vehicle market, is more from the company's intelligent product positioning and a relatively rich model combination.
In the company's model mix, the Xiaopeng P7 listed in April 2020, last year's cumulative delivery of 60,569 vehicles, accounting for 62% of the total annual delivery, became the first pure electric new force model to break through 100,000 off the production line, and from the perspective of the proportion of Xiaopeng P7 delivery to the company's total delivery, the Xiaopeng P7 this year will continue the momentum of the explosion, And the Xiaopeng P7 will impact the monthly delivery of more than 10,000 in 2022.
In addition, the company's large-scale delivery of Xiaopeng P5 in the fourth quarter of 2021 is also climbing, with obvious explosive potential, and the monthly sales of Xiaopeng P5 in the second half of 2022 will be close to P7. According to the company's planning, the company's new model G9 will begin to be delivered in the third quarter of this year, according to the official website information, Xiaopeng G9 is China's first mass production model based on the 800V high-voltage silicon carbide platform, to achieve "charging 5 minutes, endurance of 200 kilometers", and will be the first to support THEPILOT 4.0 intelligent auxiliary driving system. Under such product strength, Xiaopeng G9 undoubtedly has the potential of explosive models, which means that Xiaopeng Automobile is still full of momentum this year.
Xiaopeng P7/P5/G3 monthly sales trend
Source: Minsheng Securities
According to the delivery guidelines issued by Xiaopeng, the delivery volume of company in 2021Q1 will be between 33,500 and 34,000 units, an increase of about 151.1% to 154.9% year-on-year, compared with the first quarter delivery guidelines recently announced by Weilai and Ideal Automobile, Xiaopeng Automobile's delivery volume will still rank first, maintaining its leading position in the first echelon of new forces.
According to the company, in the traditional off-season of the automobile market after the Spring Festival, the reason why Xiaopeng was able to achieve rapid growth was due to the fact that the company had accumulated a large number of orders before the price increase, and second, during the Spring Festival, Xiaopeng carried out a technical transformation of the Zhaoqing production base, and now it has fully resumed production in mid-February as planned, which means that this year Xiaopeng will usher in a situation of supply and demand, which is likely to further open up the gap with other new car companies.
Xiaopeng's growth is outstanding, and the future gross profit margin improvement can be expected
Thanks to the strong growth of deliveries, Xiaopeng's revenue growth rate last year was also in a leading position. According to the financial report, in 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile achieved operating income of 20.99 billion yuan, an increase of 259.1% year-on-year.
In the current stage of rapid expansion of the new energy vehicle market, the company's R&D investment and sales network are more important than the immediate profits. According to the financial report, Xiaopeng Automobile spent a total of 4.114 billion yuan on research and development in 2021, and sales and general expenses of 5.305 billion yuan, which is worth affirming that with the scale effect, the expense ratios have shown a downward trend.
First of all, R & D investment is the key to winning the future, directly determines the product strength, Xiaopeng's investment in this area has been sparing no effort, and the R & D strength and results are also obvious to all, especially in the field of intelligence. In 2021, the company launched the NGP automatic driving assist system, parking memory parking VPA, 800VSiC high-voltage platform and P5, G3i two models, in 2022, the company will also launch VPA-L, CNGP, G9, XPILOT4.0, Robotaxi five major research and development results, in the new forces of car companies, Xiaopeng's input and output performance is outstanding. And Xiaopeng's intelligent positioning is also in line with the view of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum on March 25: "Intelligent networking will be an important development direction for the future of automobiles." ”
Of course, the surge in R&D investment and marketing expenses actually matches the company's product and market expansion rhythm. Xiaopeng currently has 3 models on sale, in addition to the G9 that will be listed in 2022, there are 2 new platforms and 2 new cars on the market in 2023, and the pace of model launch is faster; at the end of 2021, the sales stores and cities covered have reached 357 and 120 seats respectively, an increase of 123% and 87% year-on-year, and the sales network has expanded rapidly.
It is worth mentioning that considering that the G9 will be delivered in Q3 this year, from the product positioning and pricing range and management revealed, G9 is bound to have a structural impact on the gross profit margin, which is the embodiment of the upward force of the Xiaopeng brand. Xiaopeng management also said on the conference call that Xiaopeng's medium- and long-term gross profit margin is more than 25%.
epilogue
The gold content of the latest answer sheet handed over by Xiaopeng Automobile must be beyond doubt, and the delivery curve and revenue growth in 2021 have fully verified the effectiveness of the company's strategy and implementation.
In 2021, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the mainland has exceeded 20%, passing the stage inflection point, and the new forces, as the vanguard of domestic independent brands advancing to the high-end market, have become a pole that cannot be ignored in the mainland's multi-headed pattern of the car market.
In such a competitive environment with full dimensions, If Xiaopeng Automobile wants to win the future, the current investment is indispensable. In terms of the strategic development rhythm and delivery curve of Xiaopeng Automobile, the current expansion of the company's loss is only a stage of storage, in the long run, as the company's delivery scale continues to rise, and the investment is peaked in stages, under the "vehicle + software + content" diversified income structure, the market and research and development costs will continue to be diluted, thereby continuously releasing profits, and the future may usher in a situation of "quantitative profits".
It is undeniable that this year's economic environment is full of many variables, new energy vehicles as one of the few tracks in the world with both growth and certainty, valuation has also borne great pressure, in which, Xiaopeng Automobile's stock price will inevitably undergo a sharp correction, but the company's performance, especially the delivery volume, is still rising, the joint action of the two, Xiaopeng Automobile's configuration cost performance began to appear.