From the "Wei Xiaoli" financial report to see the crisis and opportunity of new energy vehicles

Produced by | He Xi Typeset | Ye Yuan

Recently, there have been many lively events in the new energy vehicle circle, first because of the rise in crude oil prices, which has led to an increase in the attention of the new energy vehicle market, and then because of the rise in the price of upstream raw materials, the price of new energy vehicles has risen in turn. Whether it is for consumers or the capital market, new energy vehicles have endless stories, but how to develop in the future is still uncertain. Recently, Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal have announced their 2021 financial reports, let's take a look at their respective performances.

01

"Wei Xiaoli" competes on the same stage and has its own advantages

If you use three words to summarize the performance of Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal in 2021, then Weilai must be the king of revenue, Xiaopeng is the sales champion, and the ideal is the profit.

First, let's look at sales. From the data point of view, Xiaopeng Automobile's sales volume in 2021 ranked first, achieving sales of 98,155 vehicles throughout the year, compared with Weilai's 91,429 vehicles and the ideal 90,491 vehicles, which is only one step away from the annual sales of 100,000 vehicles, and significantly ahead of opponents of the same level. Before that, Weilai has always been the top seller of new energy vehicles in China, but for various reasons, sales have declined since the third quarter of last year, replaced by the rapid rise of Xiaopeng Automobile. This is due to Xiaopeng's emphasis on the sinking market and development, Xiaopeng Automobile founder He Xiaopeng said that in the fourth quarter of 2021, nearly 80% of the increase in Xiaopeng Automobile came from non-first-tier cities. In addition, Xiaopeng Automobile's launch of the low-priced model P5 is also an important reason, it is understood that the first delivery of P5 in September 2021, by the end of 2021, only a few months have exceeded the delivery volume of 5,000. From the perspective of sales, the performance of the three major car-making forces is good, and the growth rate of the new energy market is obvious.

Next, we look at the revenue, in terms of revenue, WEILAI's annual revenue in 2021 is 36.136 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 122.3%, Xiaopeng Automobile's annual revenue is 20.99 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 260%, and the ideal annual revenue is 27.01 billion yuan, an increase of 185.6% year-on-year, ANDI's revenue still maintains a leading level, significantly ahead of the same level of players, thanks to the price advantage of WEILAI Automobile. Among them, although the revenue of Xiaopeng Automobile ranks at the bottom of the three major forces, the growth rate is as high as 260%, which is not surprising, and the performance of the ideal car is decent.

Looking at the profit, in 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile had a net loss of 4.863 billion yuan, a net loss of 4.02 billion yuan, and an ideal loss of only 322 million yuan, it is worth noting that Ideal Automobile achieved a profit in the fourth quarter of 2021. From the data point of view, Xiaopeng and Weilai have large losses, only the ideal car to achieve a positive net profit, control losses, the ideal to do a better job, thanks to the ideal car's high gross profit margin, the ideal gross profit margin in 2021 is 22.4%, while Weilai and Xiaopeng are 17.2% and 12.15%, are not as good as the ideal car.

Judging from the book data, the domestic new energy vehicle market is still a relatively stable situation in the short term, but with the repeated domestic epidemics, international trade tensions and other economic and political and social reasons, there is greater uncertainty about the consumer market and supply market of new energy vehicles.

02

The dilemma and crisis of "Wei Xiaoli"

Recently, the new energy vehicle market ushered in a wave of price increases, since March alone, more than 20 new energy vehicle companies announced price increases, behind the price increases, is the dilemma and crisis of new energy vehicle manufacturers.

First of all, the price of raw materials has risen generally, especially the cost of batteries has soared, it is understood that the price of lithium carbonate, as one of the most important raw materials for batteries, has risen from 20,000 yuan per ton at the beginning of last year to 500,000 yuan per ton today, up nearly 20 times, in addition, nickel, cobalt and other important raw material prices have also risen sharply recently. Although the sales of new energy vehicles are rising, the scale effect can reduce some production costs, but it still cannot cover more expenses brought about by the rising cost of raw materials. At present, many consumers in the selection of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles, the main motivation is to save fuel costs and reduce daily expenses, if the price of new energy vehicles due to rising production costs and excessive price increases, it will hit consumers' enthusiasm for buying new energy vehicles, thus making the sales of new energy vehicles market low.

The second is the shortage of chip supply. The most important thing about new energy vehicles is three electricity, systems, chips, it can be said that the manufacture and use of new energy vehicles can not be separated from the chip, subject to tense international trade relations and unbalanced supply and demand relations, the shortage of new energy vehicle chips is not a short-term problem, if the second half of this year is still unable to seek new solutions, then the development and production of domestic new energy vehicles represented by "Wei Xiaoli" will be hindered.

In addition, from the perspective of the three producers of "Wei Xiaoli" alone, there are also their own dilemmas. For example, the dilemma of Xiaopeng Automobile is the problem of supply chain and gross profit margin, at present, Xiaopeng Automobile's sales are the highest, but Xiaopeng is also a relatively weak supply chain, in the face of such a large order volume, Xiaopeng Automobile must complete the delivery target on time, which poses a challenge to Xiaopeng's supply chain; on the other hand, Xiaopeng Automobile's founder He Xiaopeng threatened that Xiaopeng would achieve a gross profit margin of 25% this year, which was a goal proposed by Xiaopeng's low gross profit and excessive loss. Weilai's dilemma lies in the decline in sales, which will also lead to a decline in the market share of the brand and a downward trend in scale effects, forming a vicious circle, easy to be squeezed by players at the same level, and quickly lose advantages. The ideal performance is decent, which belongs to a relatively stable play, but this has also become the ideal dilemma, and how to change the unchanged image is what the ideal should think.

03

Where is the future of new energy vehicles?

In the face of difficulties, new energy vehicle manufacturers are also thinking about how to face the crisis and break through the predicament, and each manufacturer has different response plans. Li Bin, founder of Weilai Automobile, said: "Since the third and fourth quarters of last year, the cost of raw materials upstream of batteries has indeed increased a lot, and the entire industrial chain must share the rising pressure. At present, we have not raised prices, but we will have some annual plans this year, including product promotion, and then we will formulate our price strategy according to the market and the price of raw materials. ”

The first is the supply chain problem, with the United States, Gree and other home appliance manufacturers and Tencent, Ali and other Internet giants into the field of smart chips, is bound to promote the development and manufacture of domestic chips, increase the supply of chips and reduce costs accordingly. Therefore, it is a good idea to seek more chip suppliers to supply chips or to cooperate in the development of chips or even self-developed chips. While the price of raw materials has risen, Li wants to say that this is more likely to be capital speculation, with the withdrawal of capital and the strengthening of national policy supervision, it is expected to reduce the cost of batteries within the year.

The second is the diversification of models. The reason for the sluggish sales of Weilai is that the model is limited to high-end models, the price is high, and it is unable to enter the mid-end market; the reason for the low gross profit margin of Xiaopeng Automobile is that the average price of the model is about 250,000 yuan, and it is impossible to obtain higher income; and the problem of the ideal car is that the model is single. In general, "Wei Xiaoli" needs to diversify its models. It is understood that Xiaopeng is about to launch a medium-sized SUV model priced at 350,000 yuan - 400,000 yuan named G9, and plans to launch two new models with new model platforms in 2023. Nio's plan is to establish a new brand, focusing on the mid-range market and operating separately from NIO.

Finally, there is R&D and service. In fact, "Wei Xiaoli" R & D investment is quite large, in the automatic driving and other aspects of investment in more funds and manpower for research and development, Xiaopeng Motors plans to test the operation of Robotaxi in the fourth quarter of this year, and will launch THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES OF EPILOT 4.0 in the first half of next year. The future direction of new energy vehicles is still intelligent and automatic driving, which is the trend of the times, no matter what kind of difficulties and crises are currently encountered, as long as there is enough strategic determination, adhere to research and development and services, then new energy vehicles will be able to turn crises into opportunities.