Send technology or seek development?
Some people say that the Germans came to the mainland to steal technology, because domestic new energy battery manufacturers not only went to Germany to build factories, but also conducted multiple rounds of technical training for workers in German factories in China in 2022.
In the eyes of some people, the development of new energy vehicles in mainland China is at the forefront, and this behavior is tantamount to easily giving away their core technology to others.
But there is also a view that the mutual development of business is very common, and our own technology is advanced, and then go out, isn't it a good thing?
Furthermore, all technologies are patented, and domestic enterprises build factories overseas, and the control is still in our hands, so isn't it a good thing to be able to further expand and strengthen the enterprise?
More importantly, all the world's largest companies are not resting on their laurels in their own countries. Especially in the automotive field, the big giants are all developing across borders, and since we want to lead the trend of the new energy era, we can't always stay at home and be happy.
Perhaps in the eyes of some people, the above point of view is not unreasonable, but what makes people uncomfortable is that the largest shareholder of this domestic company going out is the German company Volkswagen. But some people are about to sneer: do you really think that the public spent money to buy a good thing?
So, what's going on behind all of this?
What the masses need
The above-mentioned company is Guoxuan Hi-Tech, which understands the development of new energy batteries and knows that this is a company in the field of batteries. And the public has been interested in it before.
Volkswagen is interested in batteries, just like many workers in Germany's automotive industry. In 2021, Gotion Hi-Tech acquired a Bosch plant in Göttingen as its overseas battery production base.
However, the old German workers in the factory, although they have been exposed to auto parts all their lives, know nothing about batteries. Similarly, before Volkswagen wanted to take a stake in Guoxuan Hi-Tech, although it was the leader of the automobile industry, it also did not have much understanding of the new energy field.
In particular, in order to maintain its leading position in the automotive industry, Volkswagen must develop its own advantageous projects in the field of new energy. As a result, Volkswagen's electrification strategy began in 2019. When it comes to electrification, the first thing is the battery.
At the heart of the driving force is the battery, which accounts for 38% of the cost in automotive manufacturing. The public is very clear that buying other people's batteries can be developed, but it lacks the right to speak.
If you produce your own batteries, this is not your advantage. Therefore, after thinking about it, the best way is to invest in battery companies, and then have the right to speak.
And in 2020, the production of one of Volkswagen's electric models was disrupted by the battery supply. This has prompted it to speed up the pace of buying battery companies, and the key question is who to buy.
The mainland is the country with the fastest development of new energy vehicles, and Volkswagen first thought of finding a suitable target in China.
According to the situation of the domestic battery industry, CATL ranked first, with a market share of 51.01% in China in 2019. It is followed by BYD's battery with a market share of 17.3%.
The third place is Guoxuan Hi-Tech, with a market share of 5.33%. Since then, the fourth and fifth are Lishen and EVE, with a combined market share of less than 5%.
From this ranking, it is not difficult to see that CATL is the absolute leader, with a market value of more than 320 billion. Volkswagen's market value is only 570 billion, so it is impossible to make CATL commit to Volkswagen, and Volkswagen does not dare to have such a dream.
Looking at the second-ranked BYD, although the market share of its batteries is very different from that of the CATL, it is very special that BYD is a car-making company, and its batteries are originally given priority to serve their own products, which is in competition with Volkswagen in the automotive field, and BYD cannot sell its batteries to Volkswagen.
The third-ranked Guoxuan Hi-Tech is different, its company is small, and the company size in 2020 is only 30 billion, and it is easy for the public to control.
On the other hand, the company's technology is good, especially in lithium iron phosphate batteries, the installed rate in 2019 once reached 15.1%, and even exceeded the proportion of BYD's batteries.
For the public, the companies that are lower in the ranking can't look down on themselves, and the biggest ones can't be won, so winning Guoxuan Hi-Tech is the best solution.
The question is, Guoxuan Hi-Tech is also an enterprise with a market value of tens of billions, is it really willing to hand over the right to speak?
Why "sell yourself"
On the surface, it seems that Guoxuan Hi-Tech is huge, but in fact, when it was first listed, it did play the trick of "borrowing skin", which is often referred to as backdoor listing.
When preparing to go public in 2015, Guoxuan Hi-Tech sold itself once at a price of 3.326 billion. Committed to the buyer of Dongyuan Electric, it can be regarded as the completion of the listing.
However, Guoxuan Hi-Tech promised at that time, that is, the so-called VAM agreement, that the next annual profits could not be less than 316 million, 423 million and 468 million. If the profit of the following year does not meet the requirements, the difference will have to be made up.
Fortunately, from 2015 to 2017, Guoxuan Hi-Tech completed its profit performance, but this was only barely supported. In 2018, the annual profit fell to 191 million yuan, while the profit of the previous year was still 529 million yuan, which means that the profit fell by 63.89%.
Immediately after 2019, Guoxuan Hi-Tech suffered a loss, with a loss of 345 million yuan. However, on the surface, it does not seem to be a loss, thanks to the government's subsidy of 510 million yuan that year (which is why many people who are not optimistic about new energy vehicles are dismissive of this type of enterprise, because such enterprises have huge government subsidies every year).
Things have developed to this point, and Guoxuan Hi-Tech is really a silver-like wax gun head, which is forced to fill the façade. Since there is a loss, it must be a bad business.
Before going public, the company's inventory turnover days were 77 days at most. However, in 2019, its inventory turnover days reached 335 days. In other words, the goods in the company cannot be sold. In that year, the actual amount of the company's inventory was as high as 3.959 billion yuan.
On the one hand, the goods cannot be sold, and on the other hand, there is a wave of returns. In the last extreme of 2019, the company's revenue was negative 193 million yuan, while the inventory amount at that time reached 1.471 billion yuan.
What's even more embarrassing is that the account can't be collected. The collection turnover days before the listing were only 120 days, and the collection days after the listing were directly extended to more than 385 days. The business situation is not good, and if it can't be recovered, the revenue can only make matters worse.
Without money, the company had to borrow money to get by. In 2019, the company's debt ratio was 64.02%, and the debt amount plus interest totaled 7.482 billion yuan.
Based on the above situation, it is not difficult to see that before being acquired by Volkswagen, Guoxuan Hi-Tech looked infinitely beautiful on the surface, but in fact it was an empty shell with high debts.
Because of lack of money, Guoxuan Hi-Tech also violated the law in 2019. In that year, the Jiangsu Securities Regulatory Bureau issued a warning letter to the company, and its performance disclosure in 2018 was untrue and inaccurate.
In this case, even if there is no buyer, Gotion Hi-Tech can't afford to sell itself right away. So as soon as the public appeared, the company almost knelt down and called Dad.
Change of Registered Place and Deed of Sale
Gotion Hi-Tech was originally registered in Nantong, Jiangsu, and after contacting the public in 2020, its registered place was immediately changed from Jiangsu to Hefei, Anhui Province.
Because Volkswagen's main customer, JAC, is located in Hefei, the office of the two is only 40 kilometers away. With Volkswagen's stake in Gotion Hi-Tech and a little bit more shareholding, the latter's batteries will also be given priority to Volkswagen.
From the point of view of the product itself, the advantage of Guoxuan Hi-Tech is lithium iron phosphate batteries, and Volkswagen also said that some small electric vehicles under its JAC Volkswagen will mainly use this type of battery in the next step.
On the other hand, the shortcoming of Guoxuan Hi-Tech is the ternary lithium battery, with Volkswagen's investment and becoming its first shareholder in 2021, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, which has money, will naturally invest more energy in research and development in this area.
Today, Volkswagen has a 24.74% stake in Gotion Hi-Tech, making it the company's largest shareholder. Because of this, when Gotion Hi-Tech opened the factory to Germany, there was speculation that it would sell the technology to the Germans.
Batteries are now available at factories in Germany
According to public information from Xinhua News Agency, in Göttingen, Germany, the first batch of batteries has been officially produced at the factory put into operation by Gotion Hi-Tech in September.
Also in the autumn of this year, the senior management of Gotion Hi-Tech and Volkswagen also completed intensive exchanges and visits, which were mentioned in public news reports, and will not be repeated here.
According to public reports, many of Volkswagen's factories in Germany will gradually switch from the original production of engines to the production of batteries. The description used in the report is that Guoxuan Hi-Tech has completed a series of renovations with the public, and the word "cooperation" is quite expressive.
For example, the design team of the factory in Salzgitter, Germany, which is being renovated, was led by the vice president of international business of Gotion Hi-Tech. From the design of the battery cells to the related equipment, all of them are from China.
Therefore, it is precisely because of these circumstances that many people think that the Germans are stealing Chinese technology. In fact, whether it is stealing technology or not, there are many factors involved.
On the one hand, it depends on whether there are core technologies under Gotion Hi-Tech, and at the same time, it also depends on whether these technologies belong exclusively to Gotion Hi-Tech, or whether they can be shared after the patent protection period.
From the previous series of acquisitions to the construction of factories in Germany, which not only involved enterprises, but also the involvement of the mainland and German governments, judging from the fact that this series of things can be successfully completed, the above conjecture about technology may not exist. After all, if there is really any core high-tech technology, any stage will be stopped by the government.
On the other hand, it is from the perspective of the battery technology itself. Because there is always a view that the current new energy vehicles are not good at all. The existing lithium battery technology has long been rotten on the street, and it does not have any technical content, and the relevant technology patents have long been a sharing model, which can be used by any enterprise.
The difference lies in the fact that different companies have a certain gap in their battery design experience. In addition, if it is other new types of batteries, it may involve core technology, but this point Gotion Hi-Tech has not carried out any research and development before. For example, domestic CATL companies with new technology research and development cannot "sell themselves".
epilogue
Therefore, in combination with the above situation, there is a high probability that a battery company will not develop well, and another traditional car manufacturer wants to transform into an electric vehicle, so the two hit it off and completed the above series of operations.
As for whether Guoxuan Hi-Tech can be revitalized after gaining fresh blood, it depends on whether the company can launch truly subversive battery products under the leadership of the public in the next step. As it stands, everything is unknown.
When it comes to mergers and acquisitions, a large number of enterprises in the mainland are now expanding their territory in overseas markets, and the acquisition of enterprises in other countries is no longer a new thing.
Therefore, don't guess at every turn, the merger and acquisition or cooperation of multinational enterprises is stealing technology. Let's ask, if a company really wants disruptive technology, can it be easily sold?
Resources:
"Volkswagen's acquisition of Guoxuan Hi-Tech Power Battery ushers in the "Three Kingdoms Era"" Jiemian News June 1, 2020
"Why is the Anhui Enterprise Guoxuan Hi-Tech Lithium Battery "Made in Germany"?", Hefei Online, October 16, 2023
"China's Power Battery Company Rolls Off the First Battery Product in Germany" Xinhua News Agency, September 17, 2023
"Industrial Cooperation Brings 'German Taste' to Hefei," Xinhua News Agency, December 7, 2023