From "exchanging the market for technology" to today's "export at a higher price", the competitive position of Chinese car companies and the world's auto giants is undergoing a historic shift.
With a complete industrial chain, rapid iteration of digital technology, scale advantages and rich product matrix, the internationalization of China's auto industry has entered a new journey of accelerating its overseas expansion. Strong product competitiveness has allowed Chinese brands to grasp the right to define and price new energy vehicles.
In this context, Leapmotor, which has been established for eight years, has also ushered in its own "highlight moment". On November 20, with the arrival of 8.5 billion Hong Kong dollars from Stellantis Group, the cooperation between Stellantis Group and Leapmotor was also finalized.
After successfully leading the company out of the thorns in the early years, Zhu Jiangming, the founder, chairman and CEO of Leapmotor, once again demonstrated his persistence and commitment to Leapmotor.
Crossing the "Darkest Hour"
"After the IPO, Leaprun entered the darkest moment for a long time. All the executives of Leaprun took the initiative to take a 20% salary cut, and I myself took up a post with zero salary. ”
When hearing Zhu Jiangming's self-description, Zhao Hejuan, founder and CEO of Titanium Media, couldn't help but sigh "This is a big revelation", and this is also the "darkest moment" when Zhu Jiangming first talked about Zerorun.
In fact, Zhu Jiangming, who is a technical background, is different from many founders of new forces with the blessing of Internet thinking, and his public image is not related to talkative and radical. Since 2015, when Leaprun was first founded, Zhu Jiangming's "low-key and pragmatic" style has deeply influenced Leaprun.
"The public's impression of Leap is low-key and pragmatic at best, and it is not good at propaganda and marketing. "Don't engage in fancy brand marketing, focus on practical research and development, and use the money saved to do global self-research, which is the tone set by Zhu Jiangming for Zero Run.
Because of this, Zhu Jiangming suffered a lot in the promotion and distribution of S01 in 2019, in addition to the slight deviation in product positioning, the lack of marketing and market awareness also made Zerorun pay enough "tuition" at that time.
Over the years, Zhu Jiangming has firmly guarded the word "technology", and understood, improved and applied his strengths, shortcomings and needs to the extreme. In that "darkest moment", Leap resolutely changed the pure electric route and bet on the dual-power strategy of pure electric + extended range, which is undoubtedly a big gamble.
If it wins, Leapmotor will successfully pass the "most dangerous" time period for the new car-making brand, and if it loses, in Zhu Jiangming's own words, "if the sales figures cannot go up this year, then there will be no hope for the future." ”
In March 2023, Leapmotor chose to launch a dual-power strategy of extended range + pure electric after a brief decline in sales. Subsequently, sales began to recover steadily, with sales returning to more than 10,000 units in May, and then climbing all the way, with the latest November deliveries reaching 18,508 units, a year-on-year increase of 130%.
When Zhu Jiangming introduced the Leapmotor exhibition hall to Zhao Hejuan, Zhu Jiangming also explained the reason why he was desperate to bet on the extended range market at that time.
In Zhu Jiangming's view, the range anxiety of Chinese people for pure electric products has not been completely liberated, and the power characteristics of extended range can have better adaptability in 5-8 years.
When Zhao Hejuan talked about the future technical route of Leap, Zhu Jiangming also said frankly: "The general trend in the future will definitely be pure electric, with the gradual improvement of charging facilities and the progress of energy replenishment technologies such as fast charging, there may be more pure electric models in five years." ”
Therefore, in that critical period, Leapmotor firmly chose the dual-line parallel of pure electric and extended range, not only to increase the market at this stage, but also to continue to lay out for the future. And facts have proved that Zhu Jiangming's vision does not have any deviation.
This year, in addition to returning to the top echelon in terms of sales, Leaprun's long-term self-research has finally achieved a breakthrough. The four-leaf clover central integrated electronic and electrical architecture realizes the integration of the cockpit domain, intelligent driving domain, power domain and body domain.
At the same time, the third-quarter financial report shows that the gross profit margin of Leapmotor has turned positive ahead of schedule, and the "surprise" performance of Leapmotor on the occasion of its listing on the Hong Kong stock market for one year proves that the car company led by Zhu Jiangming has significantly improved its cost control and hematopoietic capabilities.
You must know that sales reflect market sentiment, with sales as the support, technology, profit as the other two poles of the triangle of the positive cycle, in order to start the spiral.
The efficient and pragmatic operation model and the attitude of insisting on self-research have made Leaprun the first choice of Stellantis Group.
Go to the global market
2023 is destined to be the year of the big test for China's new energy vehicle industry. With the gradual withdrawal of state subsidies, increasingly fierce price competition and the gradual saturation of consumer demand, these factors will bring unprecedented challenges to the automotive industry and enterprises.
"Recently, Stellantis Group's HK$8.5 billion has arrived, do you feel relieved?" This is the opening remarks of this interview between Zhao Hejuan and Zhu Jiangming.
In this regard, Zhu Jiangming also felt deeply and said that although he could not completely relax, he did reduce a lot of pressure on the issue of funds. At the same time, Zhu Jiangming is also outspoken about the whereabouts of this financing, in his opinion, 8.5 billion Hong Kong dollars may be a lot of money to the outside world, but it is not too much for the new car-making forces that can "burn money". In the future, Leaprun still needs to work hard to improve product gross profit, improve financial situation, reduce performance losses, and invest in technology research and development, domestic network and global market expansion.
Since the beginning of this year, new power brands that do not have "hematopoietic ability" have now even become a problem for survival itself. In such an environment, major automobile companies need to prove their viability and the value of their products with sales volume. The "leapfrogging" growth of export data has also made manufacturers more determined to expand overseas markets, and formed a positive driving force that cannot be ignored.
For Zhu Jiangming and Leap, if they want to expand the global market, they also need a good partner.
From the perspective of Leaprun, Stellantis' channel resources in the global market, such as finance, insurance, and services, can help Leaprun quickly seize the market and allow the brand to develop globally. For Stellantis, Leapmotor's R&D-based business model is more in line with the development logic of Stellantis Group. Stellantis' EV portfolio, product capabilities, performance and cost control capabilities supported by a comprehensive R&D system will complement Stellantis.
Previously, Tang Weishi, the global CEO of Stellantis Group, said frankly, "Stellantis Group also needs to have a certain exposure to the Chinese market, and we are not too successful in the Chinese market at present." If we want to win the Chinese market, then it is better to win the help of a good company in China first, this is our logic. ”
So, what exactly is a "very good company" in Tang Weishi's mouth? Zhao Hejuan is also full of curiosity about why Stellantis Group firmly chose to invest in Leap.
In this regard, Zhu Jiangming also explained his opinion, he believes that the two companies are more compatible in style, and the high complementarity of the business side also provides a stable foundation for the cooperation between the two sides. More importantly, Leaprun's efficient and pragmatic style has also become a key factor in impressing Stellantis Group. From the official announcement of the cooperation between the two parties to the completion of the delivery, it took only 25 days, ahead of Volkswagen and Xiaopeng to complete the "landing" of the cooperation, becoming the first cooperation project between a new power car company and a multinational giant, and this implementation efficiency has also been fully recognized by Tang Weishi.
Subsequently, Zhao Hejuan had an in-depth exchange with Zhu Jiangming on how to negotiate the investment ratio that investors are generally concerned about, and who is in control.
Zhu Jiangming replied: "The specific proportion is negotiated based on their respective demands, from the perspective of Stellantis, it is their demand to do the Chinese market with an asset-light model, and for Leaprun, with the help of cooperation, it can do the global market with the model of asset-light going overseas, and the equity ratio of the cooperation between the two parties will not change the daily business decision-making and management of Leapmotor, and at the same time form a bridge for overseas cooperation and resource connection, so as to achieve a very good balance." ”
When Zhao Hejuan asked, what is the biggest significance of this investment for Leap in addition to financial value?
Zhu Jiangming responded confidently: "Through the new model of asset-light going overseas and developing globalization, on the one hand, it provides innovative solutions for Chinese cars to go overseas, and more importantly, it can greatly accelerate the pace of globalization of Leaprun, which is also the greatest significance of this cooperation." ”
Under the trend of increasing involution in the domestic new energy vehicle market, the overseas market has become a battleground for Chinese new energy vehicle brands. While continuing to promote the establishment of overseas factories, Chinese car companies are now accelerating their globalization strategies, and new power car companies represented by Leap have begun to go overseas with a new model of asset-light going overseas. In the long run, this will also be the general trend in the development process of China's mainstream car companies.
As an entrepreneurial veteran, when Zhu Jiangming was asked "is it your last time to start a business", he said: "Building a car is a long-distance process, and Leaprun will also be my last business, I hope to do my best to make Leap a global car brand, which is the goal I always adhere to." ”