1%, 5%, 19.3% - these three figures correspond to the penetration rate of China's new energy vehicle market in 2015, 2020 and the first quarter of 2022, respectively: from 2005 to 2015, it took ten years to break through 1%; from 1% to 5% took nearly 5 years; and from 5% to nearly 20%, it took only one year. Under the wave of "new four modernizations" of the automotive industry with intelligence as the core, China's new energy vehicle market has entered a new stage of explosive growth.
When the wave of intelligent and electrification transformation rushes in, BYD, Tesla, Weilai, Ideal, Xiaopeng and other "forerunners" stand out. However, the battlefield of new cars is divided, the pattern is uncertain, for new entrants, relying on excellent product competitiveness, mature marketing system and channel construction and good brand image and many other factors, there is no shortage of latecomers to catch up until they become a member of the head echelon.
In recent years, with the halo of "Huawei automobile concept stock" overhead, Xiaokang shares, which have become famous because of its new energy brand Xilis, have been in the limelight for a while, based on the blessing of core technology and in-depth cooperation with Huawei, relying on the new high-end smart car brand AITO, Xiaokang shares have sounded the clarion call to attack the new energy vehicle market.
The new energy vehicle business has become a new performance growth point
On April 29, Xiaokang Co., Ltd. released its 2021 annual report and 2022 first quarter financial report. The announcement shows that in 2021, Xiaokang Co., Ltd. achieved operating income of 16.718 billion yuan, an increase of 16.89% year-on-year; automobile sales revenue of 14.419 billion yuan, an increase of 18.13% year-on-year.
Among them, the new energy vehicle business has become a new performance growth engine for Xiaokang Shares. In 2021, a total of 41,400 new energy vehicles were sold, an increase of 104.39% year-on-year, and revenue increased by 128.8% year-on-year. Sales and revenue scale of new energy vehicles both increased exponentially, covering a weak decline in vehicle sales.
The growth momentum is still continuing, and the company's new energy vehicle sales totaled 14,200 units from January to March this year, an increase of 207.43% year-on-year. Thanks to the eye-catching performance of the new energy vehicle business, the revenue of Xiaokang shares in January-March this year increased by 56.03% year-on-year to 5.131 billion yuan, laying the foundation for the steady growth of the annual performance.
In terms of profits, Xiaokang shares still have strategic losses in 2021. Xiaokang shares said that although the sales volume of New Energy Vehicles in 2021 increased compared with the same period last year, sales are still in the climbing stage, the amortization of fixed assets and intangible assets has increased, and the investment in research and development, labor costs, and the construction costs of marketing channels have continued to increase, resulting in the impact of the business segment on net profit.
In fact, the well-off shares that bet on Xilis and are in the critical stage of transformation are still in the investment period of building brands, and it seems too early to talk about making money. Senior executives of the new car-making forces said that "the capital threshold for building cars needs to be reserved, a few years ago I said it was 20 billion, and now there is no 40 billion that may not be able to do it"; Tesla has taken 16 years to achieve profitability; Xiaomi invested in tens of billions of cars... In order to win a place in the increasingly fierce competition in the new energy vehicle market, the continuous investment of car companies is becoming more and more important.
When the core values of the automotive industry transition and evolve from engines, gearboxes, and chassis to batteries, chips, and in-vehicle systems, when the suspension of fuel vehicles is put on the agenda, how to achieve technological exploration and breakthroughs in areas where they are not good at has become the most realistic and cruel problem in front of all brands.
From starting with a spring, to entering the traditional fuel vehicle manufacturing, and then to the transformation of new energy intelligent vehicle manufacturing, Xiaokang shares have changed lanes three times and constantly explored.
According to the financial report, in 2021, Xiaokang co., Ltd.'s R&D investment reached 1.949 billion yuan, accounting for 11.66% of revenue. Xiaokang Co., Ltd. has more than 10 years of complete core engineering capabilities for vehicle manufacturing, and has built its own three-electric production line to achieve a high degree of autonomy and controllability in the core links of the industrial chain.
In the past 6 years, the cumulative R&D investment of nearly 10 billion yuan has cultivated and formed core technologies such as electronic control and electric drive with independent intellectual property rights.
For example, the first multi-motor drive platform, independent research and development of electronic control integration technology, high safety, high magnification, long-life battery system, and intelligent range extension technology in line with China's national conditions, currently has nearly 3,000 patented technologies, including 157 invention patents. Another example is the successful development of a pure electric drive extended range platform (DE-i), CTP module design battery PACK in each cell is the use of independent fireproof packaging technology, for users to solve the anxiety about battery safety.
In addition, in the face of the explosive growth of the new energy vehicle market, Xiaokang co., Ltd. has built the Industry 4.0 standard Xilisi Liangjiang Smart Factory, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, more than 1,000 robots working together to achieve a high degree of automation, and 100% automation of key processes. At the same time, a new second plant built in accordance with the standards of intelligent digital flexible vehicle plants has also been basically completed, and is expected to be put into operation this year, when the production capacity will increase by 100,000 units per year. Higher production efficiency will further help the accelerated delivery of a large number of orders in hand, and prospective car owners waiting for scheduling are expected to "pick up their cars" as soon as possible.
Xiaokang shares officials revealed at the investment exchange meeting in January this year that the goal of new energy models in 2022 is to "sell more than 10,000 per month" and "hope to achieve the sales scale achieved by others in five or six years" in two years.
Under the incentive of this goal, Xiaokang shares increased the layout of new energy vehicle business. In January this year, Xiaokang co., Ltd. announced that it intends to raise no more than 7.13 billion yuan in the non-public issuance of shares in the A-share market, and the net amount of funds raised after deducting the issuance fee will focus on the development of electrified models and product platform technology upgrade projects, including the development of 6 electric vehicle models (3 high-end intelligent electric vehicles and 3 practical electric vehicles), DE-i platform upgrade (hybrid high-efficiency electromechanical coupling system development, efficient range/hybrid special engine development, Development of high-efficiency range extender powertrain) and product technology research and development and upgrading construction (intelligent cockpit, intelligent network connection, automatic driving, electronic and electrical architecture, etc.).
Today, Xiaokang people are working together to create the third venture in the company's history - to build Xiaokang from a traditional automobile manufacturer into an internationally competitive global intelligent car brand enterprise. And this is the common vision of all well-off people.
Zhang Zhengping, rotating chairman of Xiaokang Group, said in an internal letter, "Investment in the new energy field is the key to achieving sustainable development of Xiaokang Group in the next ten, twenty years, or even further in the future, and it is also the core foothold of our intelligent ecological strategic transformation." Without the determination of a strong man to break his arm and scrape his bones to heal his wounds, it is impossible for Xiao Kang to truly complete the transformation. ”
Join hands with Huawei to create a new model of cross-border cooperation
In the past hundred years, traditional car companies have established a moat of technology with the accumulation of chassis, powertrain and other mechanical fields, but with the acceleration of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change, the automobile has been comprehensively reshaped from product to ecology, and capital has given high-end intelligent electric vehicles new power and unlimited imagination space.
At the same time, the emergence of the trend of "software-defined cars", the development logic of the automotive industry has undergone profound changes, the new energy vehicle competition has gradually entered the second half of the competition for safety, high-end and intelligence, in the face of Tesla, "Wei Xiaoli" wrapped in Internet thinking and technological revolution, the traditional automobile manufacturers that are carrying the burden of moving forward have begun to cooperate with technology giants across borders to accelerate the speed of research and development, save costs and reduce risks.
As the vanguard of Xiaokang's accelerated running in the new energy track, Xilis joined hands with Huawei to launch a new high-end new energy brand AITO, creating a precedent for the deep integration of new energy automobile enterprises and ICT technology enterprises, breaking through the previous OEM-supplier cooperation model, creating a new model of Huawei's deep participation and full-link deep empowerment, and bringing new value to AITO vehicles in all aspects of production, research and development, and sales.
In the view of Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, CEO of consumer business, and CEO of smart car solution BU, Huawei and Xiaokang complement each other's advantages.
On the one hand, Xiaokang Xilis has a high willingness to cooperate, has a very strong combat effectiveness, and has the spirit of working hard and fighting;
On the other hand, after more than ten years of development, Xiaokang has a strong vehicle design and manufacturing capabilities, and the Liangjiang factory in Chongqing is also one of the few intelligent factories in China.
At the same time, he has rich experience in the research and development of pure electric drive range extender technology, which coincides with Huawei's current technical route choice for domestic actual car use scenarios.
From the release of AITU's new brand in early December last year, to the debut of the first smart luxury electric drive SUV model AITO Q&AO M5 at the end of that month, and then to the opening of delivery in March this year, it took only 3 months for AITO to compress the seemingly long cycle of new car brands from release to delivery to a shorter period.
As the first model equipped with Huawei's latest HarmonyOS cockpit, the M5 has produced and sold 3,465 new cars and 3,160 vehicles within a month of opening delivery, which also brings Cyris production and sales to a new level.
On May 4, Xiaokang co., Ltd. released a production and sales express report showing that in April this year, Xilis sold 3439 vehicles, a year-on-year surge of 1248.63%, an increase of 8.83% month-on-month; in the first four months of this year, Xilis sales reached 8483 vehicles, an increase of 1211.13%, showing a strong growth momentum.
In order to meet the diversified needs of consumers, Xiaokang accelerated its product layout. According to the plan, the AITO brand will launch a medium-sized electric SUV this year, a full-size electric SUV in 2023, both of which are available in two versions of extended range electric vehicle and pure electric vehicle, in addition to a compact pure electric SUV in 2023.
It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, the epidemic has once made the automobile industry press the pause button, and unfavorable factors such as rising raw material prices and chip shortages have exacerbated the uncertainty. In this context, Xiaokang said that it has made preparations in advance, actively taken measures to ensure the supply of raw materials and key components to the greatest extent, and did its best to minimize the impact of the epidemic and ensure the stability of production and operation. In addition, the holding subsidiary and CATL have signed a capacity guarantee agreement for the period from 2022 to 2026 to stabilize the company's power battery supply chain and provide a strong guarantee for the company's new energy vehicle delivery.
It is worth mentioning that in order to resist risks, Xiaokang has also formulated and implemented the localization of key components and the strategy of product integration supply, promoted the localization of supplier production and product integration, and improved the efficiency and efficiency of the industrial chain. With the effective prevention and control of the epidemic, more and more supply chain enterprises have gradually begun to resume work and production, and the relevant impact will be further weakened.
To the present, the competition in the automotive industry has undergone profound changes, traditional giants such as Volkswagen, General Motors, and BBA have launched a counterattack war, Honda, Toyota and other Japanese head players have accelerated the electrification transformation, Tesla has ridden the dust, BYD, Weilai, Ideal, Xiaopeng and other Chinese new energy vehicle brands have harvested market dividends, and the second generation of traditional car companies are ready to go, and the game and fight will become more and more intense.
"The three entrepreneurships of Xiaokang are also three choices in the face of history, each time is not the same as the clouds, the same trend, we dare to seize the trend of the times, step on the rhythm of development, bold innovation results." The success or failure of our business can only be determined by the results of competition and innovation. What is innovation-driven, survival and change is innovation-driven. Zhang Zhengping stressed in an internal letter.
It is certain that in the process of consumer demand evolution and technological iteration upgrade, Xiaokang co., Ltd. adheres to the core technology leadership, cross-border cooperation and strong alliance with an open attitude, and the accelerated transformation of Chinese brands in this development path will play a pioneering and exemplary effect.
*This article is for reference only, investment caution is required.
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