In recent years, driven by the national "dual carbon" strategic goal and the wave of "new four modernizations" of automobiles, the process of new energy of commercial vehicles in mainland China has been accelerating. In 2022, the outbreak trend of the new energy commercial vehicle market will be clearer, ending with sales of 338,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 78.9%, becoming an important force to boost the "market" of the market. Driven by the rapid development of the industry, the new energy commercial vehicle financial service market has also heated up, becoming a key area for players to rush to layout.
All players lay out new energy commercial vehicle financial services
At present, the penetration rate of new energy commercial vehicles has exceeded the key node of 10%, with reference to the development process of new energy passenger vehicles, the industry is about to enter the outbreak period of market demand, coupled with the in-depth promotion of the "dual carbon" goal, the liberalization of the right of way and the launch of the pilot of full electrification of public sector vehicles, which undoubtedly opens up new space for the development of new energy commercial vehicles.
The industry's optimistic expectations for the rapid growth of the new energy commercial vehicle market have driven the accelerated expansion of auto finance into this field. At the same time, the policy level has also given favorable financial support for new energy commercial vehicles.
Previously, the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021~2035)" issued by the General Office of the State Council clearly stated that it is necessary to implement preferential tax policies related to new energy vehicles, optimize classified traffic management and financial services and other measures.
At the end of August 2022, the General Office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the Notice on Encouraging Non-bank Institutions to Support the Development of New Energy Vehicles (hereinafter referred to as the "Circular") to guide non-bank institutions such as auto finance companies, enterprise group finance companies, and financial leasing companies to support the development of new energy vehicles.
The Notice clearly supports the sales of new energy vehicles and improves the availability of financial services for new energy vehicles; Encourage non-bank institutions to develop and design exclusive financial products and services that meet the characteristics of new energy vehicles, reduce the cost of new energy vehicle consumers in the purchase, use and ownership process, and further release the consumption potential of new energy vehicles.
Under the dual role of market and policy, commercial banks, financial leasing and manufacturer finance companies have all begun to "nugget" the new energy commercial vehicle financial field to explore feasible financial support paths.
Among them, the manufacturer is an auto finance company deeply tied to the vehicle enterprise, and has obtained the support of the discount policy of the car company, and launched zero down payment products, with interest rates as low as 4%~6%. In addition, many vehicle manufacturers cooperate with parts manufacturers to develop financial products. For example, in 2021, Foton Motor signed a strategic cooperation agreement with CATL subsidiary Ningpuera on battery finance and innovative business models for new energy commercial vehicles. Subsequently, in 2022, it announced that it would jointly invest in the establishment of a new company with CATL to carry out new energy battery operating leasing business and jointly develop the new energy scene operation market.
The huge potential of the new energy commercial vehicle financial market has also attracted the active layout of financial leasing companies. Among them, CITIC Financial Leasing launched its first vehicle retail financial leasing business in 2022, and its layout has more than 2,000 new energy logistics vehicles; Industrial Financial Leasing and Guangzhou Yuexiu Leasing Co., Ltd. have reached cooperation with Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle and other vehicle enterprises, focusing on the whole industry chain of new energy commercial vehicle finance, and making attempts in vehicle sales, construction and operation of substations, production base construction, array risk control, business model innovation and other fields; Since 2017, Lion Bridge Leasing has begun to lay out the new energy commercial vehicle financial industry, and has invested a total of 32,000 new energy commercial vehicles totaling 3.48 billion yuan; Guoneng Financial Leasing, China Kangfu and other companies have laid out in the subdivision of battery replacement heavy truck leasing.
In addition, since new energy vehicles have been officially included in the Green Industry Support Catalogue, the development of new energy commercial vehicle financial business has become an important starting point for many commercial banks to transform green and find new increments.
There are still practical problems in improving development
There is no doubt that the rapid growth of domestic new energy commercial vehicles provides huge development space for the commercial vehicle financial market. In particular, after-sales and derivative consumption of automobiles such as charging piles and power stations will become the main growth point of new energy commercial vehicle finance. However, behind the advanced development of the industry, practical problems cannot be ignored.
Some insiders pointed out that although the new energy commercial vehicle financial market has attracted many players to enter, the number and scale of financial institutions in this field are far from enough. In addition, due to the continuous downturn in the domestic road transport market in recent years, there are many overdue bad debts in the industry, so some financial institutions have begun to raise interest rates, strengthen risk control, strict approval, cautious lending, extend the lending period, or even refuse to lend in the field of new energy commercial vehicles, which has also led to many purchasers unable to find suitable financing channels.
"Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the pain points of participants in the new energy commercial vehicle industry chain are more obvious. For example, vehicle companies need to purchase batteries in full, and they face greater financial pressure; In the sales process, due to the high selling price of new energy commercial vehicles, limited use scenarios, and low residual value of second-hand vehicles, the terminal driver's cognition and purchase willingness of the vehicle are not strong, and the probability of breaking the contract or disconnecting the supply is relatively large. In addition, under the premise of uncertain value retention rate of new energy commercial vehicles, it is difficult for financial leasing companies to control risks. Liu Cheng, director of Ronghe Electric Auto Finance Center, said that because the application scenarios, production and sales models of new energy commercial vehicles are obviously different from traditional fuel vehicles, this has brought a huge impact to the entire automotive industry chain system, and if auto finance companies still operate in accordance with the past financial model, it will cause more contradictions and problems.
Zhong Weiping, secretary-general of the Commercial Vehicle Professional Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that although there are many participants in the new energy commercial vehicle financial market, most enterprises are still in the exploration stage, and have not yet formed a standardized and unified risk control model. In addition, the threshold of the new energy commercial vehicle financial industry is high, and the vast majority of them are large customers, which belong to the asset-heavy operation model, which not only requires financial institutions to provide services in the purchase process, but also needs to focus on charging and battery leasing, which also puts forward higher requirements for financial institutions.
Explore innovative service and management models
Some industry experts believe that the financial services of new energy commercial vehicles need to be combined with the current situation of the industry, as well as the application scenarios, customer characteristics and model characteristics of the vehicle, and innovate in the business model, asset management and disposal model. Specifically, in terms of business model innovation, for fixed scenarios, financial institutions can experiment with rent-to-purchase, rent-to-buy, operating lease and other models. In terms of industrial chain operation and management, we should look for breakthrough points around operation scenarios and supply providers, create breakthrough points around charging and battery replacement scenarios, and solve problems such as low depreciation rate of non-powered bodies and difficulty in battery leasing.
Liu Cheng also pointed out that auto finance companies should carefully study the changes in the consumption trend of the new energy commercial vehicle industry, accurately tap the needs of upstream and downstream market segments of the industrial chain, and carry out multi-point profitable industrial chain finance. For example, for the affiliation model, relevant institutions can try direct leasing, financial leasing, etc., to meet customer needs while ensuring the safety of their own assets; Strengthen the symbiosis ability with the industry, participate in the sales, operation, post-loan and other links of new energy vehicles, control the entire supply chain, and achieve "one fish eats more"; At the back end of sales, the returned and overdue vehicles are not discounted or sold, but the vehicles are allowed to operate, and they can be rented, directly leased, and subleased, so as to reduce risk exposure; In addition, it is also necessary to monitor the status of platform vehicles to avoid secondary mortgage fraud.
"New energy commercial vehicle finance is in the era of 'separation', if it wants to survive in a highly competitive environment, it needs to give full play to its own advantages and continue to innovate and develop, such as joint vehicle enterprises or modification factories in operating leasing, replacement business, vehicle maintenance and other aspects of deep cultivation; Cooperate with partners to carry out second-hand garage financing, transaction leasing, second-hand car trading and other businesses. However, at the same time, all participants also need to assess the situation and make decisions according to their own resource endowments and market development status, and cannot be too aggressive, otherwise they will bring immeasurable losses or even be eliminated by the market. Zhong Weiping finally said.
Text: Li Yanan Editor: Sun Weichuan Layout: Zhao Fangting
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