As the new energy automobile industry gradually enters a new stage of market-driven, brand power and product power have increasingly become an important reference for consumers when purchasing new cars. As one of the earliest enterprises in China to lay out new energy vehicles, Beiqi Blue Valley (600733, SH) is taking stable operation, product upgrading, structural adjustment and strengthening Jihu as the main line to improve its brand reputation and product competitiveness. On March 26, the 2021 annual report released by Beiqi Blue Valley showed that the main revenue of the enterprise in 2021 was 8.697 billion yuan, up 64.95% year-on-year; the net loss attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was 5.244 billion yuan, narrowing by 1.239 billion yuan year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that in 2021, the net cash flow generated by beiqi blue valley operating activities was 4.985 billion yuan, which achieved a positive turn.
"Last year, we made an improvement in profitability, and the overall profitability level has improved through the reduction of non-main business and the strength of main business. This year we feel the positive signal from the new energy vehicle market, through the current cooperation with industry chain partners, as well as related technology research, we are still confident that we can focus on intelligence, technology, safety, quality, luxury and other aspects of the industry ceiling. Dai Kangwei, manager of BAIC Blue Valley and general manager of BAIC BJEV, said to the outside world.
A number of performance indicators show signs of business recovery
As an early enterprise in the Chinese market to transform into new energy, Beiqi Blue Valley has sold more than 550,000 pure electric vehicles in the past 12 years.
However, with the transformation of the market from policy-driven to market-driven, Beiqi Blue Valley is also facing new challenges. In order to better meet the market demand, Beiqi Blue Valley has opened a new round of adjustment. In 2021, BEIQI Blue Valley focuses on the business ideas of stable operation, product upgrading, structural adjustment and strengthening of Jihu, on the one hand, vigorously promotes the brand building of Jihu, accelerates market expansion, and enhances its influence on the private market; on the other hand, strengthens lean management, continues to build independent technical capabilities, increases investment in research and development, clears the burden, strengthens the foundation, and prepares for rebound.
At present, a series of transformations have begun to bear fruit. The 2021 annual report shows that the annual revenue of Beiqi Blue Valley has increased significantly, the loss has narrowed year-on-year, the overall operating situation has improved, and the company has shown a steady development trend.
According to Dai Kangwei, in 2021, Beiqi Blue Valley will further deepen its transformation and reform, and break through innovation in many aspects such as organizational structure, brand positioning and product structure. At the level of organizational structure, Beiqi Blue Valley has changed from a previous administrative organization to a business organization, and at the same time, it allocates resources according to the business chain, and focuses its resources on the "new four modernizations" technology fields such as intelligence and network connection. At the level of business structure, Beiqi Blue Valley strives to build a high-end new energy vehicle brand ARCFOX Polar Fox, exerts efforts in the high-end market, and focuses resources on research and development.
According to the data, in 2021, the research and development expenses of Beiqi Blue Valley were 1.208 billion yuan, an increase of 24.14% year-on-year. Among them, the research and development of three electric (battery, electric drive, electronic control), model, new materials and intelligent technology is the focus of Beiqi Blue Valley. At the same time, the construction of parts, vehicles, materials, safety and other aspects of the world's leading verification facilities and verification standards has also become the company's technical "moat".
In 2021, the second phase of the test center led by Beiqi Blue Valley was officially put into use, providing support for enterprises to continuously improve their R&D technical capabilities. It is worth mentioning that Beiqi Blue Valley successfully realized the international output of key technology intellectual property rights in 2021: including electronic and electrical EE architecture based on BE21 pure electric vehicle product platform and BE21 platform architecture chassis technology and other related intellectual property rights, creating a precedent in China's automotive industry.
With the Polar Fox brand as the anchor point to force high-end
According to the data of the Association of Passenger Vehicles, the sales volume of new energy class B and above passenger cars will account for 27% of total sales in 2021, and the high-end private market share will accelerate significantly. As a high-end brand of Beiqi Blue Valley, Jihu Automobile is also continuing to increase brand and channel construction to seize market opportunities.
"Through the overall deep ploughing last year, the terminal sales of the two models of the Polar Fox brand Alpha T and Alpha S have achieved good results. In the first quarter of this year, driven by the overall market, it is expected to complete about half of last year's sales. On the one hand, this is due to the opportunities in the market, on the other hand, due to the improvement of the system, channels and marketing capabilities of the Jihu brand in the past year, the market consumers have recognized our brands and products. "For the follow-up market performance of the Jihu brand, Dai Kangwei is very confident.
According to the data, Beiqi Blue Valley's vehicle sales in February 2022 were 1263 units, an increase of 24.8% year-on-year; the cumulative sales of 3385 vehicles from January to February, an increase of 62.43% year-on-year. At the same time as the sales of new energy vehicles have risen, the Jihu brand has achieved 100% coverage of the core market in 15 key cities where sales account for more than 80% of the high-end pure electricity market, and completed full coverage of 21 cities with potential.
In terms of marketing model, Beiqi Blue Valley promotes the "online + offline" integrated marketing model around users and sales scenarios, and innovates and develops direct sales, distribution and digital marketing businesses; in the construction of channels, it promotes the construction of direct stores, distribution stores and service networks for the high-end market; at the level of capacity improvement, deeply refines the experience process of each scene of store operation, supports stores across the country to compile business guidance manuals, and assists dealers to improve their operational capabilities and customer experience.
According to the data, as of the end of 2021, Jihu Automobile has completed the construction of more than 120 authorized outlets. There are also 73 authorized service centers covering 54 cities across the country, providing users with 24-hour online services for the direct team of Jihu to ensure that multi-channel all-scenario users use car life.
Not only that, with the maturity of the new energy vehicle market scale, the division of labor in the industrial chain is becoming more and more refined, and enterprises must not only fully grasp the core technology, but also be good at integrating the superior technical resources in various fields of the industrial chain. Because of this, Beiqi Blue Valley has taken precautions in recent years and joined hands with technology giants in the industrial chain industry such as Huawei, Baidu, Magna, Didi, and Ningde Times to establish an industrial community facing the future of the industry.
Since 2017, Beiqi Blue Valley has signed cooperation agreements with Huawei four times to continuously deepen cooperation between the two sides. The two sides jointly established the "1873 Davidson Innovation Lab", and continuously improved the cooperative management mechanism, strengthened product research and development, and co-brand marketing, formed a mutual priority partnership, and occupied the opportunity with a highly coordinated development model. The new HI version of the Polar Fox Alpha S, a model deeply cooperated by the two parties, will also be delivered in batches in the first half of 2022.
Dai Kangwei said that for 2022, the sales target of Beiqi Blue Valley is 100,000 vehicles, of which 40,000 are Jihu Automobiles. In terms of current sales, if the sales target for 2022 is completed, the sales volume of Beiqi Blue Valley will increase by 282% year-on-year, of which the sales volume of the Jihu brand will increase by 701% year-on-year.
It is foreseeable that with the technical strength in the field of product research and development, cooperation with enterprises with advantages in the industrial chain and the rapid layout of the brand service network, Beiqi Blue Valley is expected to complete the comprehensive transformation from manufacturing thinking to Internet thinking, with a new look, starting from more thinking dimensions, and bringing more users a beautiful experience of smart travel. Wen/Wu Xiangbin
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