In 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile can be described as a soaring progress, with its annual delivery volume reaching 98,000 units and total revenue exceeding 20.9 billion yuan. But at the same time, the brand is also experiencing a further increase in losses, and the gross profit margin is not high overall. On March 28, 2022, Xiaopeng Automobile released the brand's 2021 annual report, in a conference call, the founder of the car He Xiaopeng said that it is expected that there will be a good improvement in material costs in May and June, and the brand's medium- and long-term goal is to increase the gross profit margin to more than 25%.
The day after the release of the financial report, Xiaopeng Automobile reported 106.4 Hong Kong dollars per share (about 86.6 yuan per share) before the market, an increase of 2.5%. After the opening, it fell to 103.5 Hong Kong dollars / share (about 84.21 yuan / share of the people), down 0.29%.
Among the three listed companies of the new car-making forces, compared with Ideal Automobile and Weilai Automobile, Xiaopeng Automobile has the first sales volume and loss in 2021, the richest product line, and the revenue is also at the bottom. Urban NGP will land this year, G9 will be listed in the third quarter, and the super charging station will accelerate its layout and move towards unmanned driving in 2026. The fast-growing Xiaopeng Motors, while looking up at the stars and full of hope, must also face the reality and challenges that are not completely optimistic.
Sales lead the new forces, net profit at the bottom, rich product lines and low prices are the key to the problem?
Shell financial reporters summarized the main indicators of Xiaopeng Automobile's financial report since 2018. It can be seen that in the past 4 years, Xiaopeng Automobile has gone from almost "nothing" to what it is now. In 2018, the sales volume of Xiaopeng Automobile was still 0, and in 2021, the sales volume of Xiaopeng Automobile was close to 100,000 vehicles, becoming the first place in the new car-making force. There is still a good performance in January-February 2022. Among them, Xiaopeng P7 is the main sales force, delivering 61,000 vehicles in 2021; the delivery volume of G3i has also increased after the restructuring, and the P5 that opened for delivery at the end of the year has completed the delivery of 0.8 million vehicles.
Changes in the main financial indicators of Xiaopeng Automobile in recent years The mapping | Bai Haotian
With good sales, Xiaopeng Automobile's revenue in 2021 reached 20.99 billion yuan, an increase of 200% year-on-year. The listing of US stocks and Hong Kong stocks has also prepared ample ammunition for enterprises, and in terms of cash flow, Xiaopeng has a reserve of 43.5 billion yuan, and according to the loss in 2021, it can still last for about 9 years. However, after all, the company is still in the rising period, the new energy vehicle market is competing for deer, the competition is fierce, and the cost of the enterprise is quite high. The brand's marketing expenses and R&D investment reached 5.31 billion yuan and 4.11 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 81.7% and 138.4% year-on-year, respectively, reaching a total of 9.42 billion yuan. At present, the company is still in the loss stage, and the net loss reached -4.86 billion yuan, an increase of 78% year-on-year.
Zhang Xiang, dean of the New Energy Vehicle Technology Research Institute of Jiangxi New Energy Technology Vocational College, pointed out that the sales volume and several major financial indicators reflect the rapid growth of Xiaopeng Automobile now, but the cost of other links is also quite high. At present, the capital reserves are abundant, and for Xiaopeng Automobile, the loss is still affordable.
Xiaopeng Automobile, which is born from a new car-making force, is taking the lead step by step, so what kind of performance does the other two new forces enterprises with the same name have, Weilai and Ideals? Shell financial reporters collected the main indicators of the financial reports of XiaoWeili in fiscal 2021.
Comparison of the main financial indicators of Xiaopeng, Weilai and Ideal in fiscal 2021 The charting | Bai Haotian
Judging from the financial data of the three new power companies in fiscal year 2021, Xiaopeng has a certain lead in sales, but the performance of other major indicators is not outstanding. Among them, total revenue, net profit, and gross profit are at the end of the team.
Zhang Xiang said that Xiaopeng's situation can be analyzed from its product structure. At present, the product line of Xiaopeng Automobile is widely distributed, from the compact sedan P5 and SUV G3i that have been opened for delivery to the B-class sedan P7, and then to the flagship SUV G9 listed in the third quarter of this year, Xiaopeng's layout from terminal to high-end products has been completed.
Zhang Xiang further pointed out that at present, Xiaopeng's product line is rich and has certain advantages in automatic driving, and its marketing and research and development expenses are also higher. Because the product is more inclined to the mid-range consumer, its price is lower than that of WEIlai and the ideal product. Previously, He Xiaopeng mentioned at the just-concluded electric vehicle 100 people's meeting that the current average price of bicycles for enterprises is about 250,000 yuan, while the price of Weilai and ideal products is higher than 250,000 yuan, so the gross profit performance of the brand is not particularly prominent. In terms of losses, Xiaopeng's research and development and marketing expenses are not the most prominent, but because the total revenue is lower than that of the other two companies, the net loss problem is also more severe.
In terms of product planning, Xiaopeng will be listed in the G9 in the second half of the year and gradually make efforts to the high-end; the ideal L9 is a step forward on the basis of medium and large SUVs; Weilai will have ET7, ET5, ES7 three products to the user, of which the price of ET5 is reduced to 250,000 yuan through the separation of vehicle and electricity. In Zhang Xiang's view, Xiaopeng Automobile's product line is becoming more and more abundant, and its gross profit and revenue will have a good performance in 2022; Weilai's sales volume and financial situation will continue to improve, but the ideal user increment is more limited. As each brand continues to sell and become more well-known, their marketing expenses will gradually decline. He believes that Xiaopeng needs to make efforts to high-end products as soon as possible, and Weilai and Ideal need to sink and expand their potential consumer groups.
Strategic planning steadily moving forward Medium- and long-term targets will increase gross margins to more than 25%.
In the financial report and telephone communication meeting, Xiaopeng Automobile also introduced the brand layout and future planning in addition to financial data to the market.
Xiaopeng P5 real-time photography | Bai Haotian
In terms of products, He Xiaopeng said that Xiaopeng Automobile will launch two new model platforms and its first model in 2023, namely the C-class car platform and the B-class car platform. According to the planning of Xiaopeng Motors, through the system platform, it will promote the transformation of the company's power system, manufacturing process and BOM cost system. The gross margin of new models, including the G9, and the gross profit margin of the company as a whole will be structurally improved. Xiaopeng Automobile's medium- and long-term goal is to increase the company's overall gross profit margin to more than 25%.
As of December 31, 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile's sales network includes 357 physical stores, covering 129 cities; the brand super charging station has expanded to 772, covering 308 cities across the country, and as of January 17, 2022, the brand super charging station has expanded to 813, with rapid growth. In the energy replenishment link, Xiaopeng Automobile is developing and laying out the next generation of high-power supercharge stations, and will focus on the layout in the high-speed charging link.
In terms of intelligent assisted driving, Xiaopeng Motors plans to complete the development of urban NGP in the second quarter of 2022 and gradually promote it according to the situation of each city. Xiaopeng Motors officially said that the current urban NGP based on the safety structure has approached the high-speed NGP in the number of 100-kilometer takeovers, and has surpassed the domestic Robotaxi company in some auxiliary driving capabilities. In 2022, G9 will take on the brand's attempt at Robotaxi. Enterprises will gradually transition to driverless technology in 2026.
Xiaopeng P5 equipped with lidar enterprise courtesy of the enterprise
It is worth mentioning that XPilot4.0 hardware will be equipped with all the products of Xiaopeng Motors at the end of 2022. In terms of consumer selection rate, companies expect the proportion to exceed 50%. However, according to shell financial reporters' inquiries into previous years' data, Xiaopeng Automobile's selection rate of XPilot in fiscal 2021 and 2020 is only about 20%. Perhaps with the support of urban NGP technology, it can attract more users. It is expected that in the first half of 2023, the software service of XPilot 4.0 will be officially launched. He Xiaopeng called it "all-scenario intelligent assisted driving".
Short-term results, long-term planning. But if you look at the present, Xiaopeng Motors is still facing no small challenge. The first is the pressure brought about by the rising cost of batteries.
The sharp rise in battery costs In mid-2021, when Xiaopeng quickly launched new cars, companies have successively launched P7, G3, modified G3i models and new P5 equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries. Xiaopeng Automobile, which has completed two rounds of price adjustment, will also face a huge battery price test in the foreseeable short period of time. As Zhang Xiang mentioned, the price of Xiaopeng Automobile's products is relatively close to the people, which also leads to the low gross profit of its products, if the problem of battery cost and chip shortage continues to exist, it may be a big difficulty for the financial performance of Xiaopeng Automobile.
Because the market changes too quickly, Xiaopeng Motors also has challenges in terms of delivery and public opinion processing. Shell Financial Reporter has also previously reported that the order for the P5 460e model received by Xiaopeng Automobile in mid-October and late October 2021 has not been fully delivered five months later. In the face of delivery problems, Xiaopeng Motors initially did not communicate with users openly and honestly, resulting in a series of complaints. According to the investigation of Shell Financial Reporter, while other models of Xiaopeng Automobile have completed delivery, dozens of users of the P5 460e model that have been scheduled for 5 months have not yet received the accurate delivery time or delivery deadline given by Xiaopeng Automobile.
In an interview with the Electric Vehicle 100 People's Meeting on March 26, He Xiaopeng told Shell Financial Reporter that the current chip shortage problem is deteriorating, while the battery price of the battery factory is also rising, and the price increase even exceeds the expectations of the company. How to balance word-of-mouth and sales may be a problem that Xiaopeng Automobile and even the entire industry's auto brands have to think about.
The second is the intensification of competition, Zhang Xiang believes that the next market competition will become more and more fierce, joint venture brands rely on the strong strength of capital production capacity, have launched their own new energy vehicle products; BYD, Tesla, Wuling and other brands, has established a foothold in the industry, and has a considerable volume. New power enterprises have Internet thinking, flexible concepts and small burdens, which is an important advantage for them. Xiaopeng Automobile's current product release rhythm is already very good, but in the brand upward link, it is necessary to accelerate the layout.
Beijing News shell financial reporter Bai Haotian Editor Song Yuting Proofreader Wang Xin