Wen — Guo Ziwen
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In the new energy automobile industry market, the nine deaths of car manufacturing have become the consensus of the industry, and the huge losses of the new forces seem to have become the norm. Whether it is enterprises such as "Li Xiaowei" or the second echelon of car-making forces, they cannot escape the dilemma of large investment and low returns. Even industry giant Tesla has spent 16 years barely finding a break-even point.
In the face of the fiery new energy vehicle market, in 2021, the respective market size of "Li Xiaowei" is close to 100,000 units, basically achieving the goal of monthly delivery of more than 10,000 vehicles and crossing the "life and death line" of new forces. From its financial report last year, it is not difficult to find that the three companies have increased significantly in terms of business revenue, delivery volume and profit margin, but it is still difficult to jump out of the quagmire of loss. In the past year, players in the automotive field have also been frequently moving, increasing investment in technology research and development while constantly seeking opportunities to further dilute research and development, manufacturing and marketing costs.
For the new energy automobile industry, capital, technology and talents are indispensable. Car manufacturing requires continuous investment in a lot of money, long-term talent training and technology accumulation, but also the experience and strength of efficient transformation of technical achievements. For the new forces of car manufacturing, the loss in the early stage of operation is inevitable, from mass production to real delivery, and then to the monthly delivery of more than 10,000, which is the threshold that operators must cross. In the case of both revenue and sales, when to achieve breakeven has also become the future goal and important layout direction of the new car-making forces. Some analysts predict that the comprehensive development process of Tesla, the next threshold that new car-making forces need to cross, that is, the annual delivery volume exceeds 200,000 vehicles.
Soaring revenue and delivery volumes have not yet been able to reverse profit and loss
As the first echelon of new car-making forces, it can be seen from the financial report data that the delivery volume and revenue of the three companies of "Li Xiaowei" will double in 2021. In terms of deliveries, Xiaopeng Motors led with a yearly delivery of 98,200 units; Weilai followed, with a delivery volume of 91,400 units; ideally, it ranked the bottom of the three companies with 90,500 deliveries. From the perspective of revenue, WEILAI's revenue in 2021 reached 36.14 billion yuan, an increase of 122.3% year-on-year; the ideal annual revenue was about 27.01 billion yuan, an increase of 185.6% year-on-year; Xiaopeng's total revenue exceeded 20 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 20.99 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 259.1%.
From the perspective of net profit, Ideal Automobile had the lowest net loss for the whole year, about 321.5 million yuan, but compared with the previous year, the amount of loss was still a growth trend; Xiaopeng's net loss in 2021 reached 4.863 billion yuan, an increase of 78% year-on-year, becoming the largest loss-making enterprise among the three; in contrast, Weilai's annual net loss narrowed, decreasing by 24.3% year-on-year, but still reached 4.016 billion yuan. In terms of gross profit margin, the three companies have also improved slightly, with Weilai and Ideal gross margins exceeding 20%, while Xiaopeng gross profit margin is 11.5%, slightly behind.
To put it simply, Weilai Automobile has the highest revenue, Xiaopeng Automobile has the most deliveries, and Ideal Automobile has the least net loss. All three companies have begun to take shape, with deliveries and revenue rising, but still not breaking through the profit point. On the one hand, the supply of upstream automotive chips and parts is insufficient, and the price of raw materials has risen, resulting in a significant increase in costs. On the other hand, the continuous expansion of production capacity construction, the increase of investment in research and development, and the improvement of brand marketing expenditure have caused certain obstacles to the profitability of new car-making forces.
Accelerate investment and expansion of production, and lay down technical barriers with heavy investment
Compared with traditional car companies, the new car-making forces have a more keen sense of the development of the automobile industry. Before 2021, when the new car-making forces seized the automobile market by virtue of their first-mover advantage, the development of traditional car companies in the field of new energy vehicles was relatively slow. After 2021, with the comprehensive acceleration of the new four modernizations of automobiles, traditional car companies have gradually begun to attach importance to the field of new energy vehicles, continuously increased their strategic layout and capital investment, and launched a frontal fight with new car-making forces. Both sides have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the competition in the new energy vehicle market is becoming increasingly fierce. To this end, various enterprises have also given countermeasures, increased the investment layout of the industrial chain, and created a unique competitive advantage.
In terms of R&D investment, NIO's annual R&D expenditure was nearly 4.6 billion yuan, an increase of 84.6% year-on-year. Weilai said that the company's R& D investment last year was mainly distributed in the cost of R& D personnel, new technologies and new product development. In addition, WEINA capacity construction and production line upgrading planning are also being promoted, including the Xinqiao Intelligent Electric Vehicle Industrial Park cooperated with the Hefei Municipal Government, and the upgrading of the production line of Jianghuai Weilai Hefei Advanced Manufacturing Base.
Xiaopeng invested about 4.11 billion yuan in R&D in the whole year, an increase of 138.4% year-on-year. He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xiaopeng Automobile, said that in the future, the company will continue to optimize the cost structure through advanced manufacturing technology, and at the same time continuously improve its full-stack self-research capabilities to increase the overall gross profit margin to more than 25%. In terms of production capacity construction, Xiaopeng Automobile has achieved self-production and self-sales, The Zhaoqing plant and the Guangzhou plant have been put into production, and the second phase of the Zhaoqing plant project and the Wuhan plant are also under construction.
Compared with the former two, Ideal Automobile's R&D investment last year was slightly lower, at 3.29 billion yuan, an increase of 198.8% year-on-year. In addition to the Changzhou plant, the company has also started construction of plants in Beijing and Chongqing, and the total annual production capacity is expected to expand to 500,000 units by the end of 2023.
summary
On the one hand, the crazy capital investment and layout of cross-border enterprises, on the other hand, the new car-making forces have lost money year after year and burned money in exchange for economies of scale. Under such a dilemma, the competition in the new energy vehicle market will further intensify. After the listing of "Li Xiaowei", the second echelon of new car-making forces is also intensively promoting the listing. After continuous huge expenditures, the new forces have gradually encountered a cold reception in the capital market, and the financing channels have been shrinking, and it is urgent to seek new financing opportunities through listing to recover the blood for continuous losses.
In the next few years, a new round of market competition will be carried out around the profit point, and the new forces of car manufacturing will continue to expand the research and development head, comprehensively layout from the aspects of technology, talent, brand influence, etc., and constantly optimize the cost structure to break the break-even point.