Xiaopeng and Denza attack on both sides, and the IPO of Extreme Krypton adds resistance?
Produced | Visitor travel
Author | Liao Hongjie
Edit | Egg total
American editor | Qiu Tian
Audit | Ode
Recently, Extreme Krypton is facing the competition situation of "belly back enemy" - under the double-sided attack of Xiaopeng and Denza , the pace of Extreme Krypton is getting faster and faster.
On July 8, the Beijing Extreme Krypton Center with an area of 1,300 square meters was officially opened, which will also be the largest Extreme Krypton Center in China. At the same time, data shows that as of the end of June, Zeekr has established more than 300 directly-operated stores in 75 cities across the country.
From the long-prepared Lynk & Co model being rebuilt into the Extreme Krypton brand, from the first Extreme Krypton 001 model that smashed the 300,000-level market, to the Extreme Krypton 009 to further consolidate the "luxury" market positioning... Just when everyone thought that Extreme Krypton had successfully stabilized the "luxury market", Extreme Krypton "went the wrong way" and launched Extreme Krypton X with a starting price of less than 200,000 yuan.
On June 12, Zeekr X officially started mass production and delivery in 25 cities across the country. According to the official statement, it took only 60 days from listing to delivery, and Zeekr once again refreshed the delivery schedule.
At the same time, after completing the third round of financing at the beginning of the year, the valuation of Zeekr has also approached the 100 billion mark.
( Photo / Zeekr Auto WeChat public account)
From the market rumor in December 2022 that Geekr went to the United States to raise funds to seek an IPO, to the clear "opportunistic listing" at Geely Automobile's performance meeting in March 2023, to today's overseas story, how the IPO that has gone through more than half a year seems to have become a mystery.
The monthly sales are barely tens of thousands of units, and low-priced models are needed to support the extreme krypton of the volume, how to carry the valuation of this 100 billion?
1. Behind the highlights
On July 1, Zeekr announced that it delivered approximately 10,600 new vehicles in June, up 146.9% y/y and 22.4% m/m. It has achieved positive year-on-year and month-on-month growth for five consecutive months, and the cumulative delivery volume of the Zeekr brand as a whole has exceeded 120,000 units.
Photo / Zeekr Auto WeChat public account
According to the production and sales data released by Geely Automobile, as of the end of June, Geely achieved cumulative vehicle sales of about 694,000 units in the first half of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 13.07%. Among them, the cumulative sales of Zeekr were about 42,600 units, a year-on-year increase of 124.27%.
The overall data performance is not bad, but if compared with the expected target set at the beginning of the year, the cumulative sales of about 694,000 units in the first half of the year only achieved a "fraction" of the annual target of 1.65 million units, and only achieved 42.06% of the annual target.
It is worth noting that the cumulative sales of 42,600 units of Geely Automobile in the first half of the year accounted for only 6.14% of Geely Automobile's cumulative sales.
Looking at Geely Automobile's sales data in 2022, Geely found that Geely's cumulative sales in 2022 were about 1,432,990 units, of which Zeekr contributed about 71,900 units, and Zeekr accounted for about 5.02%.
Although the market share of 6.14% in the first half of 2023 has increased compared with 5.02% in 2022, its growth rate is obviously not in line with the initial growth rate of the new brand. If we look at the "doubling" target of 140,000 units set by CEO An Conghui at the beginning of the year, the completion rate of the sales target of Zeekr in the first half of the year is only 30.43%.
As for Extreme Krypton, which has a year-on-year growth rate of more than 100%, why the overall sales volume in Geely will appear to be so weak, in the view of "Visitor Travel": first, the luxury market of 300,000 yuan and above, lack of volumetric models; The product layout of the two is still relatively single, and it lacks the advantages of the "amazing" industry; Three, the overly strong growth in the second half of 2022 seems to be somewhat "overdrawn" the growth expectations of extreme krypton.
"Exploring Travel" collated the data of Zeekr and Geely from July 2022 to June 2023 and found that Zeekr had achieved a monthly sales record of more than 10,000 for three consecutive months in the fourth quarter of 2022, but in January 2023, it showed a sharp decline of 72.51% month-on-month, and the sales volume in January 2023 was only 27.49% of the sales volume in December 2022.
According to the official explanation of Zeekr , the Zeekr smart factory stopped production for 20 days in January, which also directly affected the sales at the beginning of the year, but how to explain the monthly sales of only 56,000 units in February and March?
Even in the second quarter, it is difficult to return to the mark of monthly sales of tens of thousands, if not for the delivery of more than 2,000 units of sales of Extreme Krypton X in June, the climb of monthly sales of more than 10,000 in the first half of the year may be "empty".
Obviously, the "heavy decline" in sales at the beginning of the year left a "gratifying" growth foundation for 2023, which is also the root cause of the good data in the first half of the year.
Although the entire automotive industry briefly fell into a "relative downturn" in the first quarter of 2023, the decline of more than 70% month-on-month by Zeekr is inevitably a little "slippery". Moreover, in the downward market of this industry, there are also new energy vehicle brands such as Aion, Ideal, and Zerorun all the way.
In this way, the June delivery of Zeekr X is also the key to promoting the sustainable growth of Zeekr X, and it is also related to the annual target and the confidence foundation of the IPO.
2. Peripheral "strangling"
In June, when the extreme Krypton X ushered in mass production and delivery, another blockbuster model, the Xpeng G6, ushered in "launch and delivery".
As of the eve of the release of Xpeng G6 on June 29, the pre-sale order of 35,000 units, the starting price of 209,900 yuan, and the delivery cycle scheduled to three months later shocked the entire automotive industry, and everyone exclaimed "Xpeng survived".
Xpeng G6 has also become the hottest and most widely concerned new model in 2023, and it is considered to be the key to determining Xpeng's "life and death fate".
Photo / Xpeng Motors official website
From the perspective of product positioning, it is obvious that Xpeng G6 did not come to Extreme Krypton X, but as several head players of new forces in car manufacturing, the appearance of Xpeng G6 will make Extreme Krypton X a little uncomfortable.
The performance of the Xiaopeng G6 with a large body size of Extreme Krypton X is also significantly better than that of Extreme Krypton X. In addition, the energy replenishment advantages of the 800V high-voltage platform and the intelligence represented by high-end assisted driving, the Xpeng G6, which starts at 20,000 yuan more expensive, is a crushing "dimensionality reduction blow" to the extreme krypton X.
It is worth noting that the smaller Extreme Krypton X cleverly designed a rear foldable seat in order to achieve more space in the car. This design also makes some consumers wonder, if you want more space, isn't it more "one-step" to choose Xpeng G6?
If the 200,000-level market does not have an optional model with relatively balanced performance, appearance, space, and brand as a whole, then the "dimensionality reduction strike" Xpeng G6 seems to have become the biggest resistance to Extreme Krypton X.
On the other hand, another flagship model of Extreme Krypton, Extreme Krypton 001, will also shift from "dominant" in the market segment to "Showdown".
On July 3, the Denza N7, known as "the world's first intelligent luxury hunting SUV", was officially launched, and the Extreme Krypton 001, which has been on the market for nearly two years, is no longer the only choice for domestic "hunting cars". The starting price of 301,800 yuan directly coincides with the 300,000 yuan polar krypton 001.
Photo / Denza Automobile's official website
At the press conference, Denza did not talk about benchmarking Extreme Krypton, but its ambition and product positioning were enough to form a "block" against Extreme Krypton 001. In particular, the big sale of the first model D9 after the new Denza brand, coupled with the 24-hour 11,687 units of Dading, really made the extreme krypton 001 sweat.
Compared with the two models, the polar krypton 001 and Denza N7, which have similar body sizes, are also "equal" in product performance. In terms of intelligence and other differences, the newly listed Denza N7 seems to be "slightly better" than the Extreme Krypton 001.
From the price point of view alone, the extreme krypton 001 is 20,000 cheaper than the Denza N7 (non-air version), but the extreme krypton 001 has more options, and the optional one is thousands of yuan larger, and the Denza N7 seems to have no room for choice.
In this way, the pricing difference between the two is not too much, obviously Denza N7 is facing the hard bar BBA, but Yu Guang has seen the extreme krypton 001 that has been "enjoying solitary food" in the market segment for more than a year.
In the view of "Exploration Travel", as long as consumers are not particularly picky about medium and large cars and mid-size SUVs, Denza N7 may be the strongest "enemy" faced by Extreme Krypton 001.
Of course, the 2023 Extreme Krypton 001 also has a Kirin battery model with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers at 140KWh, but its price has gone to the price of 400,000 yuan. For this extra 300 kilometers of endurance increased by 100,000 yuan, how many consumers will be willing to try it?
As for another MPV model, Extreme Krypton 009, it is currently not only facing the catch-up of Lantu Dreamer and Buick Century, but also facing the Denza D9 containment with monthly sales of more than 10,000 and the replacement of Buick GL8, and the future may be "suddenly killed" by the ideal first MPV.
Obviously, Extreme Krypton has long moved from the "must me" market segment to the embarrassing situation of "belly back enemy".
3. Hundreds of billions of stories
New cars go on the market, brands go overseas, Extreme Krypton IPO... It seems to have become the recognized "three-step strategy" of Extreme Krypton in 2023.
The launch of the Zeekr X is to increase the brand's sales, and going overseas is a global strategy based on sales. Obviously, the ultimate goal of the first two steps is to "successfully achieve an IPO" and "build another 100-billion-level automobile brand".
However, the time has come to July 2023, and the first step of the new car from launch to delivery has been completed, and the brand going overseas has also been officially announced with the help of the Shanghai Auto Show.
On April 18, Zeekr brought the Zeekr X, Zeekr 001 and Zeekr 009 and the Zeekr M-Vision concept car to the Shanghai Auto Show, and officially announced that it will open up the European market. At the end of June, the pre-sale of Extreme Krypton X and Extreme Krypton 001 officially opened in Sweden and the Netherlands, of which the starting price of Extreme Krypton X is 44,990 euros (about 357,000 yuan) and the price of Extreme Krypton 001 is 59,490 euros (about 472,000 yuan).
Photo / Zeekr Auto WeChat public account
In order to successfully realize the IPO, in addition to launching new models and international layout going overseas, Zeekr has also launched the official second-hand car business, launched the Kirin battery models of Zeekr 009 and Zeekr 001...
As for the final IPO schedule, it seems that it will take some time, and the lack of new information disclosure only indicates that a suitable time window has not yet been found.
At Geely Automobile's 2022 results conference on March 21, An Conghui, chairman of Geely and CEO of Zeely, said: "Geely has secretly submitted its US IPO application in December 2022, and is currently under regulatory review. ”
"Exploring Travel" learned from Tianyancha that in February 2023, Zeekr Motors completed the third round of financing, with a financing amount of US$750 million, and a post-financing valuation of US$13 billion (about 90 billion yuan). At that time, the market value of Geely Automobile was only 115 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 105.5 billion yuan).
As of the close of trading on July 21, the market value of Geely Automobile has fallen to HK$96.145 billion (about 88.4 billion yuan). In this way, the current market value of Geely Auto and the latest valuation of its subsidiary Zeekr Automobile are not far off, or even lower.
At the same time, "Visiting Travel" noted that after completing two industrial and commercial changes in April and June 2023, the registered capital of Zeekr Motors has increased from 5 billion yuan to 10.500 billion yuan. In comparison, Geely Holding Group's registered capital is only 1.030 billion yuan.
From the perspective of the registered capital of the two alone, the subsidiary Zeekr Automobile is already more than 10 times the size of the parent company Geely Holding Group.
Obviously, Li Shufu wants to use Extreme Krypton to "recreate" Geely's world-class automobile brand.
It is foreseeable that in the short term, the key to the success of the IPO of Zeekr is the mass production and delivery of Zeekr X, and what kind of results can be sold in the second half of the year seems to determine the operating conditions and market performance of Zeekr in the short term.
"Visiting Travel" noticed that the positioning of the Zeekr X product has always been controversial. Some people say that the Extreme Krypton X is a delicate, personality, and cost-effective luxury model. Some people also say that the extreme krypton X can be called the performance of the small steel cannon in the electric car. But others have given a different view of this.
For example, a Extreme Krypton 001 owner frankly said to "Visitor Travel": "One of the selling points of the electric slide rail screen and movable center console, when you first pick up the car, you must feel that it will be very innovative, but the car is still a durable product after all, three or five years later, how to put aside the car system and the car screen, how effective this slide rail is not easy to say, maybe it has become your after-sales burden." ”
As for the selling point of "rear foldable seats", the owner said: "The reason why it is designed to be foldable is obviously a compromise to the lack of space in the car. Since the owner has requirements for interior space, why not buy a car with a larger body size? ”
In addition, the owner affirmed the power and handling performance of the extreme Krypton X, although he would not choose this car, but still went to test drive the first time to experience, "the car is very good, but it always feels a little chicken."
4. Conclusion
Less than half a year has passed since the public IPO plan, and Zeekr first launched a 200,000-level Zeekr X to disrupt the market to help the volume of Zeekr products, and then shouted out the overseas plan to enter the European market.
The volume model Extreme Krypton X inadvertently ushered in the "dimensionality reduction strike" of Xpeng G6; The polar krypton 001, which has filled the gap of domestic "hunting vehicles", has also ushered in the "food grab" of Denza N7; Extreme Krypton 009 is also facing the crushing of Lantu Dreamer, Buick Century and Denza D9.
Coupled with the overall slow pace of new energy going overseas, how should Zeekr tell the story of going to sea, and how should it face the market pressure brought by peers?
The current situation is not an exaggeration for Extreme Krypton to say that it is "internal and external troubles", and the IPO process also reveals the meaning of "time does not wait", after all, the further it drags on, the greater the potential uncertainty.
*The title picture in the article is from: Extreme Krypton official website.