(Text/Yu Waijun Editor/Lou Bing) On March 28, Xiaopeng Automobile announced its 2021 Q4 and full-year financial reports. According to the financial report data, Xiaopeng Automobile's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 8.56 billion yuan, an increase of 200.1% year-on-year; automobile sales revenue was 8.19 billion yuan; an increase of 199.3% year-on-year.
In 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile achieved significant growth in key indicators such as revenue, new car deliveries and gross profit margin. Especially with the help of the strong financial performance of Q4, Xiaopeng Automobile's annual revenue reached 20.99 billion yuan last year, an increase of 259.1% year-on-year; the cumulative delivery of new cars was nearly 100,000 units, an increase of more than 260% year-on-year, and the sales revenue of automobiles was 20.04 billion yuan, an increase of 261.3% year-on-year.
In terms of cash flow, as of the end of December 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile's cash reserves amounted to 43.54 billion yuan, an increase of 23.2% year-on-year.
Revenue and delivery grew twice
Regarding The financial performance of Xiaopeng Motors in 2021, Gu Hongdi, honorary vice chairman and president of Xiaopeng Motors, said: "With the accelerated delivery of our three models, our annual revenue in 2021 will exceed RMB 20 billion. With the strong models we sell, the new models we plan to launch on the new platform, and our technological leadership, we are confident of continued growth and structural improvements in gross margins. ”
At present, Xiaopeng Automobile has a total of 3 models on sale, namely Xiaopeng G3i, Xiaopeng P5 and Xiaopeng P7. Among them, Xiaopeng P7 has become the sales responsibility of Xiaopeng Automobile.
The Xiaopeng P7 sold 21,342 units in the fourth quarter of last year, an increase of 150.3% year-on-year, and the cumulative sales volume exceeded 60,000 to 60,569 units in the whole year, accounting for 61.7% of Xiaopeng Automobile's total sales. With the continuous improvement of production capacity, Xiaopeng Automobile's goal for Xiaopeng P7 is to sprint to sell more than 10,000 vehicles per month.
In this regard, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, concluded: "We recorded considerable growth in 2021, and under the leadership of Xiaopeng P7 and the newly launched Xiaopeng P5, deliveries reached a new high in the fourth quarter. Coupled with the rapidly increasing penetration of electric vehicles in China and our highly competitive products, our total deliveries more than tripled year-on-year throughout the year and in the fourth quarter. ”
Although Xiaopeng Motors quadrupled in revenue and sales last year, it is still in a state of loss. According to the data, Xiaopeng Automobile's net loss in Q4 of 2021 was 1.29 billion yuan, an increase of 63.5% year-on-year; the annual net loss was 4.86 billion yuan, an increase of 78.0% year-on-year.
The main reasons for the expansion of Xiaopeng Automobile's loss in 2021 are as follows: First, the rise in the price of power batteries and some chips has increased cost expenditure. Secondly, Xiaopeng Automobile's research and development investment increased sharply last year. According to the data, Xiaopeng Automobile's R&D investment reached 4.11 billion yuan last year, an increase of 138.4% over the same period in 2020.
Finally, the expansion of sales channels and charging networks has further increased the cost of Sales and Operation of Xiaopeng Motors. According to the financial report data, Xiaopeng Automobile's sales, general and administrative expenses reached 5.3 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 81.7% year-on-year.
With the continuous improvement of Xiaopeng Automobile's marketing channels and energy replenishment network, Xiaopeng Automobile has a positive and optimistic attitude towards the market performance in the first quarter of 2022. Q1 vehicle deliveries are expected to reach 33,500 to 34,000 units in 2022; up 151.1 to 154.9% year-on-year; while Q1 revenue will be between $7.2 billion and $7.3 billion, up 144.0% to 147.4% year-on-year.
How far is it from being profitable?
Although for Xiaopeng Motors, which is still in a period of rapid development, the top priority is to maintain rapid sales and revenue growth; in the long run, it is necessary to further improve gross profit margin and achieve a turnaround. He Xiaopeng said on the performance conference call: "Xiaopeng Automobile's medium- and long-term goal is to increase the company's overall gross profit margin to more than 25%. ”
In order to achieve this goal, Xiaopeng Automobile will make efforts to control costs, increase sales and enhance the revenue of software services. Among them, in terms of cost control, the management of Xiaopeng Automobile said that it will achieve better cost control through model platforming and factory technology upgrading.
At the same time, in order to further increase the scale of sales, Xiaopeng Automobile will launch the fourth model Xiaopeng G9 this year. The new car is positioned in a five-seater medium-sized pure electric SUV, which means that the price of the new car will enter a higher range. As of now, the progress of the Xiaopeng G9 is very smooth, and the PT prototype has been rolled off the production line from the factory and is expected to be officially listed for sale in the third quarter of this year.
According to the plan, Xiaopeng Automobile will also launch two new platforms and its first model in 2023, which are platforms for the B-class and C-class car markets.
In addition, thanks to large-scale investment in research and development, Xiaopeng Automobile's achievements in the field of intelligence are expected to play a greater role. According to He Xiaopeng disclosed at the financial report performance meeting, the research and development of the core function city NGP of XPILOT 3.5 of xiaopeng automobile intelligent auxiliary driving system is progressing smoothly, and it is expected to be applied to the relevant cities in batches at the end of the second quarter of this year after obtaining the relevant approval of high-precision maps.
In addition, by 2023, Xiaopeng Automobile will launch XPILOT 4.0, which can realize high-speed and urban all-scenario intelligent auxiliary driving functions, and at that time, Xiaopeng Motors will have at least 4 models that can be equipped with XPILOT 4.0. At present, the intelligent penetration rate of Xiaopeng Automobile's models on sale is about 20%. He Xiaopeng believes that after the launch of XPILOT 4.0, the intelligent penetration rate of Xiaopeng Automobile will rise to 50%.
Take a look:
Compared with Weilai Automobile and Ideal Automobile, although Xiaopeng Automobile won the first place in terms of sales, there is still a certain gap in revenue and gross profit margin, and the high price of products without Weilai and Ideal is the main reason. At present, the price of Xiaopeng Automobile's models is mainly concentrated in the range of 150,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan, while the average price of ideal cars is more than 300,000 yuan, and the average price of Weilai's models is more than 400,000 yuan.
From the perspective of short-term planning, Xiaopeng Automobile has pinned its hopes on narrowing the gap with WEILAI and Ideal in terms of revenue and gross profit margin, etc., on the continuous growth of sales and the launch of higher-priced products, including the Xiaopeng G9 and two new models.
As for the issue of profitability, it is a common problem that Wei Xiaoli, who is in the first camp of the new car-making forces, is facing. Getting rid of losses is the common goal of all new forces. For them, striving to become the first profitable new power car company may be far more important than competing for the first sales.
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