On the evening of March 31, Gaohe Automobile, a subsidiary of Huaren Express, held a spring conference, and the HiPhi Z GT was officially unveiled, and the HiPhi OS 2.0 system will be launched, and the Creation Alliance and HiPhi Play have also been launched. The official said in a press release that the HiPhi Z GT will be "a new concept GT with future high-tech performance that costs millions of dollars." If this car is successfully listed, it will also be the first mass-produced million-level new energy vehicle of domestic cars. The price of this million is a bit of a surprise, and many people complain that if there is another day, they really think it is a joke.
Before HiPhi Z GT, there were actually many domestic car companies that created products that cost more than one million. For example, Hongqi's L5 is priced at up to 5 million yuan, and Weilai's first car, EP9, is also a supercar. However, the Weilai EP9 has not been mass-produced, which is simply that money cannot buy it. The car is limited to 10 units worldwide and costs as much as $1.48 million, and is only available to future founding investors. It is a bit interesting that at the same time as the release of the HiPhi Z GT, GAC executives also announced at the earnings conference earlier on the same day that they would launch a million-level product.
Million-class cars have aroused questions from the outside world, rather than worry. Although the field of new energy vehicles has impacted the original brand value system, it is still too early to say that it fundamentally changes people's perception of the brand. However, how many of these products with a price of more than 1 million yuan can eventually be sold may not be the real goal of these car companies. For example, GAC Aean is at a critical moment of the listing IPO, and a million-dollar product may bring it an increase in valuation, after all, this breaks the shackles of survival below 200,000, and there is more possibility of upward growth.
As for Gaohe, it can also continue its "self-made ranking table" operation. Although the cumulative sales are only 5,000 units, the Gaohe HiPhi X has always been ranked first in its official special ranking list. Of course, this is also the unified play of the new forces, as netizens said, "as long as the fixed words are added enough, everyone is the first", after all, there are only so many opponents. In the million-level market, this time the HiPhi Z GT chose a narrower market, the advantage is that even if only 10 vehicles are sold in the end, Gaohe can still be said to have the highest sales product in the market segment.
These names can attract the attention of capital for Gaohe, and also win the bright spots of differentiation for Gaohe in future IPOs. According to previous news, Huaren Express is considering listing in Hong Kong as early as 2022, intending to raise no more than $500 million, and is working with UBS and Morgan Stanley on IPO matters. Relying on the current cumulative 5,000 HiPhi X to complete this goal, it is indeed a bit difficult to get the capital markets to have enough confidence. On the other hand, although the sales volume of HiPhi X exceeded expectations in the market segment, the sales of hundreds of units per month could not find the possibility of profitability for it.
For new car manufacturers, the core indicator is still the profit prospects. In the full year of 2021, Gaohe Automobile sold a total of 4237 vehicles. In fact, in the past two months, Gaohe's sales have declined, and monthly sales have reached more than 300 units. From the perspective of customer groups, Gaohe's customers are concentrated in users who have multiple cars at home, and a large number of people are just playing with the mentality, and most of them are early adopters. There are also many people who start to change hands in a few months after buying them, and the mileage of these cars is even within 1,000 kilometers.
It is a bit peculiar that in the various rider forums of Gaohe, the acquisition of second-hand Gaohe is already a popular business. The negative impact of this is that Gaohe does not have a clear user group, which is not the same as the new forces such as Wei Xiaoli who have found their own positioning.
In fact, It is difficult for Gaohe to find differentiated advantages in the brand. In the new car-making enterprises, it is difficult to compare with Weilai in terms of service, its understanding and definition of products is not ideal, and it is difficult to compare with Xiaopeng in intelligence, if it goes down, there are WM, Nezha, Zero Run, etc. each have their own advantages, and their resources are far more powerful than Gaohe.
In the two markets of 200,000-400,000 yuan and less than 100,000 yuan, the market competition is already fierce - of course, this does not mean that there are no opportunities at all. Therefore, in terms of products, HiPhi X starts from a higher high-end, which is also a differentiated competitive path. However, even for those who hold high, the second car has begun to mass-produce products. However, Gaohe still chose a product that can only create gimmicks, which still makes the outside world feel a little worried.
Before an IPO, Gaohe's choice not to launch its volume products may also be a wise choice. The goal of "going volume" means that the price needs to be explored and entered the range of the current new forces more concentrated in the price of 300,000 or so. In this price range, the market is characterized by a relatively strong consumption ability of the crowd, a good gross profit margin (generally around 20%), and a high acceptance of new brands, which is a very ideal market segment. However, once it enters this range, Gaohe is likely to face the risk of failure, which is a blow that it cannot bear before going public.
Once its products launched in this market cannot reach the same scale as mainstream new car manufacturers, it means that the interest and confidence that have been hard to build in the capital market will collapse. From the current point of view, this possibility is very large. In the range of 300,000, Gaohe's "exclusive car door" is also difficult to become an element to impress consumers. In fact, the industry has always been skeptical that because founder Ding Lei and Jia Yueting had co-founded a business, Gaohe HiPhi X and FF 91 are highly similar in appearance.
And this, for Gaohe, will be a devastating blow. Unlike other new car manufacturers who have already received large amounts of financing, Gaohe currently relies only on the financial support of Yancheng. Ding Lei, the founder of Huaren Express Gaohe Automobile, once made it clear that "Huaren Express has original capital from the United States, as well as government investment, and there is no plan to start social private placement for the time being, and there will be no A, B, C, and D rounds of investment." But now, It seems that The Chinese Express is looking around for money for Gaohe.
Recently, the media of Gaohe Automobile's relevant sources revealed that the current valuation of Gaohe Automobile is US$4 billion (equivalent to 25.2 billion yuan), and it will also launch a series A financing, and then will go to Hong Kong to list. In addition, Gaohe is setting up its Chinese headquarters in Qingdao and will establish its own production base in Qingdao. This mode of operation is basically the same as the way WEIlai gambled with Hefei at that time. Qingdao has been trying to expand its auto industry in recent years, having previously controlled Chery through Qingdao Wudaokou Capital Yidu, but Chery seems too big to swallow. This year, it sold part of its equity to the outside world, retaining only part of Chery's equity.
Through this model of headquarters setting, Gaohe has exchanged support from Qingdao. Although Qingdao has not released its support for Gaohe Automobile at present, it is clear that the support of these real money and silver will not be less. However, no enterprise can survive only on local government funds, and if there is such a company, it may be like Sailin Motors, which is just a trick to defraud government funds.
From the current perspective of new car manufacturers, as of 2021, Weilai's financing has exceeded 70 billion yuan, and the amount of zero running with relatively little financing has also exceeded 10 billion. As far as "burning money" is concerned, after Weilai enters the mainstream market, the annual loss is about 5 billion yuan, and this is already on the scale of annual sales of 100,000 vehicles. The average price of Weilai's bicycles is 363,000, and even if Gaohe is twice its price, it should reach sales of about 40,000 vehicles to truly enter the mainstream.
However, this is too difficult for Gaohe. From the current global auto market, there are too few cars surviving at the high end, and most of them have serious losses and are constantly being changed by shareholders. From the perspective of the market, it will also face the strong suppression of BBA + Tesla, and it will become more and more difficult to grow in the later stage. This is also why NIO needs to launch a sub-brand to seize the parity market. Of course, Gaohe's strategy can not be wrong, the early high-end car to enhance the brand, the later stage of the car will save some effort.
According to Ding Lei, Gaohe's third car will be a "walking car". Although it claims not to pursue planning, "holding high and hitting high" has indeed come to an end. Now is the time to face reality. Therefore, with the launch of products priced at millions, behind the seemingly beautiful scenery, in fact, Gaohe has reached a critical point of life and death. The time window is closing, is there still a chance for Gaohe?