Lead
With the announcement of the results of fiscal year 2021,
The top three "Wei Xiaoli" of the new car-making forces are still losing money.
If you explore in detail,
We will find that the details of each company are different...
Recently, the new car-making forces Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal have all released their respective financial reports, and the three companies are losing money in 2021: the net loss of Ideal Automobile is 321.5 million yuan, the net loss of Weilai is 4 billion yuan, and the net loss of Xiaopeng Automobile is 4.86 billion yuan.
The three car companies also have their own characteristics. Ideal Car is the closest to profitability, Weilai has the highest revenue, and Xiaopeng Automobile has the most sales.
So, who will be the first to make a profit, and who will be the first to break through the 100,000 sales mark?
The ideal car may be profitable first
Ideal Auto is the closest of the three to profitability, with a net profit of 296 million yuan in the fourth quarter of 2021, and once again achieved a turnaround after a year.
At the same time, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the operating profit of Ideal Automobile was 24.1 million yuan, which is the first time that the operating profit of Ideal Automobile has turned positive, which can also be seen as Ideal Automobile can rely on the car manufacturing business to achieve positive circulation.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, ideal cars had a gross margin of 22.3% on vehicle sales, compared to 17.1% for the same period in 2020. For the full year 2021, automotive gross margin was 20.6% vs. 16.4% in 2020.
The financial report mentioned that the main reason for the increase in automotive gross margin is the increase in the delivery volume of the 2021 ideal ONE launched in May 2021, and the average selling price has increased.
It is understood that compared with the old model, the 2021 ideal ONE has been upgraded in terms of on-board intelligent connected car machine system and exterior interior details, while the automatic auxiliary driving system has been supplemented, and the price has also increased by 10,000 yuan, at the same time, the 7-seat model has been cancelled and only 6-seat models have been retained.
Although at that time, because of the new model, there was a "deliberate concealment of the new model listing, pit the old owner of the storm", but still did not affect sales. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the ideal ONE delivered 35,221 units, up 40.2% sequentially and 143.5% year-on-year.
At the same time, Li Tie, CFO of Ideal Automobile, commented in the earnings report that the outstanding performance in the fourth quarter and the whole year was mainly due to the excellent operational efficiency of the company's production and supply chain management.
In addition, the reporter noted that the loss of the ideal car is much lower than that of Weilai and Xiaopeng, and it is also related to its model layout.
Different from the model expansion of Weilai and Xiaopeng, ideal car only has an ideal ONE to hit the world, which also reduces the research and development costs of other models, and currently provides A model of L9 that is not unlisted, while Weilai has 5 models and Xiaopeng has 3 models.
The higher price of the ideal L9 can also further increase the gross profit margin of the car. Therefore, some analysts believe that relying on the ideal ONE and the ideal L9, two high-premium SUV models, the ideal car may be able to achieve profitability in 2022.
NIO expects to be profitable in 2024
Nio's total revenue in 2021 reached 36.1364 billion yuan, the largest of the three car companies, but it still lost 4 billion yuan in 2021. Before the loss in 2021, WEILAI also did not have a quarterly profit.
At the beginning of the establishment of Weilai, Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of Weilai, said that Weilai will adhere to the positioning of a high-end market.
At present, NIO's main models on sale include ES8, ES6 and EC6, with the lowest price of more than 350,000. This pricing is significantly higher than the price of the main models of ideal and Xiaopeng Motors, and also higher than the price of tesla Model 3 and Model Y.
The high selling price has given WEILAI a high income, and the sales revenue of WEILAI Automobile reached 33.1697 billion yuan in 2021. However, the high selling price did not lead to higher automotive gross margins. In 2021, the gross profit margin of WEILAI Automobile was 20.1%, which was slightly lower than the automotive gross profit margin of Ideal Automobile, and there was a big gap between Tesla's 30.6% single-vehicle gross margin.
As for the reasons for the loss, Li Bin said that it was mainly due to the growth of R&D investment throughout the year and business investment in the European market.
As can be seen from the financial report, WEILAI's R&D investment in 2021 was 4.59 billion yuan, an increase of 84.6% year-on-year, accounting for 12.7% of revenue.
In addition, Qu Yu, vice president of finance at NIO, said that the service loss was due to our accelerated deployment of substations in 2021. It can be seen from Weilai's planning that its research and development is not only in terms of new cars and intelligent network technology, but also in terms of power exchange technology. NIO is the only one of the three companies that insists on power exchange technology.
Official data shows that WEIlai will build 778 substations around the world in 2021. An industry insider revealed that the cost of building a replacement power station in Weilai is about 2 million. According to this cost, it invested 1.5 billion yuan in the construction of substations throughout the year.
Not only that, Niolai's sales expenses are also very high, even the most in the new power brands. In 2021, its sales, general and administrative expenses reached 6.88 billion yuan.
Nio has increased brand loyalty by hosting various events such as NIO Day last year. In contrast, the ideal selling, general and administrative expenses in 2021 are only 3.49 billion yuan.
Although it is still in a state of loss, Li Bin said that the fourth quarter of 2023 is the target of quarterly breakeven, and it is expected to achieve profitability for the whole year of 2024.
Xiaopeng Automobile target gross margin of 25%
Xiaopeng Automobile's sales grew rapidly in 2021, with sales reaching 98,155 units, the largest of the three car companies. Annual sales increased by 360% year-on-year and revenue increased by 259.1%.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered P5, and during the same period, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 42,000 units, an increase of 222% year-on-year and a 63% increase from the previous quarter, becoming the sales champion of the three "Wei Xiaoli".
He Xiaopeng said that in 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile adopted the strategy of sinking channels, and its sales points outside first-tier cities accounted for nearly 80%, basically at the end of last year or the second half of last year.
However, Xiaopeng Automobile lost 4.86 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 78% year-on-year, and is also the largest loss among the three car companies.
It can be seen from the financial report that the main expense of Xiaopeng Automobile is also research and development investment. In 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile's R&D investment was 4.11 billion yuan, an increase of 137.6% year-on-year. R&D investment accounted for 19.6%, higher than NIO's 12.7%.
Some industry insiders believe that Xiaopeng Automobile is more like Tesla in the new forces of car manufacturing, and Xiaopeng Automobile's full-stack self-research has exchanged for the continuous iteration of intelligent technology.
He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, said that among the P5 and P7 delivered in the fourth quarter, the penetration rate of the driver assistance system XPILOT 3.0 was close to 20%.
This year, Xiaopeng Motors will also plan to conduct robotaxi testing on the G9 in preparation for unmanned driving.
He Xiaopeng once mentioned at the 2022 China Electric Vehicle 100 People's Conference: "2023 will begin to enter a new era, 'man-machine co-driving' will enter this era, and in 2026 we will transition to unmanned driving." ”
In contrast, the profit margin of Xiaopeng Automobile is the lowest in "Wei Xiaoli", at 11.5%, and the gross profit margin is only 12.5%. Xiaopeng Motors hopes to increase gross profit margin, with a gross profit margin of 25% as a medium- and long-term target.
He Xiaopeng said that he hopes that with the listing of new models (Xiaopeng G9), the company's gross profit will have structural changes.
The ideal will definitely break 100,000 this year
In the Chinese market, whether the annual sales volume can reach 100,000 vehicles is the criterion for judging the operation of a company, because the annual sales of 100,000 vehicles can make the sales channels in key areas of the country in a healthy and profitable state.
Shen Hui, the founder of WM Motors, once said bluntly that selling 100,000 vehicles a year is not a goal, it is a reality. But the reality is that he's still far from that amount.
Ideal Car bets on Ideal ONE, and the strategy of not dabbling in other car segments is successful. There are not many new energy medium and large SUV models, and if you add the condition of range extender power, there are only a few models in the market.
Ideal ONE has achieved sales of 90,491 units through a single model alone, which is also the most successful of the three car companies of "Wei Xiaoli".
At present, Ideal Car is still not involved in the field of cars or crossover SUVs. The ideal L9 released this year is to directly enter the field of large SUVs, while in the new energy vehicle market, there is currently no range extender power large SUV.
Shen Yanan, co-founder and president of Ideal Automobile, said that by the end of 2023, the combined annual production capacity of the Changzhou plant and the Beijing plant will reach 500,000 vehicles, and if the dual-shift production system is adopted, the total annual production capacity will reach 750,000 vehicles.
If Ideal Car can maintain the single car sales of Ideal ONE, and Ideal L9 achieves a certain amount of sales in the new energy large SUV market, Ideal Car is very hopeful to achieve the target of 100,000 units this year.
It is difficult for Weilai to return to the first
In 2021, NIO delivered 91,429 new cars throughout the year, an increase of 109.1% year-on-year. Sales are no longer the first of the new forces, and the sales growth rate is also lower than that of Xiaopeng Automobile and Ideal Automobile.
Li Bin said that factories and delivery work are still affected by the epidemic and supply chain capacity fluctuations, and NIO expects the total delivery volume in the first quarter of 2022 to be 25,000 to 26,000 vehicles.
In addition, judging from Nio's sales in 2021, the strategy of high-end SUV models seems to be blocked. NIO has also made changes, releasing two cars, ET5 and ET7, in 2021. The starting price of the ET5 was reduced to 328,000 yuan, competing with the Tesla Mode 3 and Xiaopeng P7.
Li Bin said: "Weilai Automobile's mass-market brand is progressing smoothly, the core team has been formed, and the development direction has been clarified, and it has now entered the key product research and development stage. ”
Weilai's entry into the 300,000 yuan sedan field can be seen in its determination to enter the mass market, but this segment is fiercely competitive, and if you want to "grab sales" with Tesla Mode 3 and Xiaopeng P7, you also need to see the strength of Weilai ET5.
At the same time, in the environment of the general price increase of new energy models, Weilai has not yet released the news of the price increase. Industry insiders believe that this is related to its sales "falling behind", and Weilai does not want to further lose sales.
Although NIO hopes to become a leader in the new forces and will also list ET5 and ET7 this year, its sales may still be difficult to return to the first.
Xiaopeng or the first to cross the line
Xiaopeng Automobile will deliver 98,155 vehicles in 2021, becoming a dark horse in the new forces. Among the models delivered throughout the year, the P7 with higher product premiums accounted for the majority of sales, and the P5 sales in the middle of the premium are expected to catch up with the P7 this year.
At the same time, Xiaopeng Automobile's 2022 Q1 delivery guidelines are 33,500-34,000 units, which greatly exceeds the Q1 delivery guidelines of Weilai and the ideal.
He Xiaopeng revealed that since late February and early March, the number of new additions of Xiaopeng Automobile has quickly recovered to the peak season level of last December.
In addition, the Xiaopeng G9 is expected to go on sale in the third quarter, and the G9 is positioned as a five-seat medium and large SUV. If the pricing is in the 300,000 range, it can divert the sales of some ideal ONE and Tesla Mode Y, which is the icing on the cake for Xiaopeng Motors.
In the case of tight supply of raw materials for new energy vehicles, Xiaopeng Automobile has selected multiple battery suppliers. He Xiaopeng said that cooperation with a number of battery suppliers is very valuable.
Xiaopeng Automobile is expected to replicate the success of 2021 again through price advantages, and with P7 sales continuing to maintain, relying on P5 and G9, Xiaopeng Automobile is most likely to sprint to the 100,000 mark.