Nowadays, the involution of the automobile market is intensifying, the new energy market is crazy about the price and configuration, and the future of the automobile market is facing a protracted war, which also tests the technical research and development strength and cost control system of car companies, just in 2023, when BYD relies on technology and price advantages to frantically grab the market, Geely also handed over a good answer.
On March 20, Geely Automobile released its 2023 performance report, with cumulative sales of 1.687 million units for the year, which not only exceeded the set target, but also hit a record high. Operating income increased by 21% year-on-year to 179.2 billion yuan, while net profit attributable to the parent company increased by 51% year-on-year to 5.308 billion yuan, also setting a new historical record. The company's net cash level increased significantly by 46% to RMB28.4 billion, demonstrating its financial strength.
The strategic layout of "all-round to new" was completed
2023 is a critical year for Geely Automobile's new energy transformation and upgrading. In 2023, Geely Automobile exceeded its sales target, with a total annual sales volume of 1.687 million units, of which 487,000 were new energy vehicles, and the total annual sales volume and new energy sales reached a record high, and the cumulative annual export volume reached a record high of 274,000 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 38%, and the export volume reached a new high.
In the past year, the proportion of Geely's new energy products has steadily increased, with a penetration rate of 29%, and a monthly penetration rate of more than 40%. Gross profit improved due to product mix optimization, cost reduction and scale effect, with total gross profit increasing by 31% year-on-year to RMB27.4 billion, and gross profit margin increasing from 14.1% in 2022 to 15.3% in 2023.
In terms of brand segments, Geely Galaxy has three new products, Galaxy L7, Galaxy L6 and Galaxy E8, with cumulative sales exceeding 110,000 units in 9 months after listing, the Lynk & Co brand has also achieved remarkable results in 2023, with annual sales of more than 220,000 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 22%, and Zeekr has delivered 119,000 units for the whole year, a year-on-year increase of 65%.
In terms of expenditure, Geely Automobile's total capital expenditure (including property, plant and equipment, capitalized product research and development costs and prepaid land lease payments) in 2023 was RMB15.3 billion, higher than the RMB14.0 billion budgeted at the beginning of 2023. The company said that this was mainly due to the group's acceleration of new energy and intelligent transformation and high R&D investment.
As of December 31, 2023, Geely Automobile's R&D expenditure totaled RMB7.810 billion, an increase of 15.45% over 2022.
After a year of rapid transformation of new energy with high investment, Geely Automobile Group now has a product layout in the mid-to-high-end new energy market, and the market performance is good, with the launch of new products, Geely New Energy's market share will further increase, and net profit and revenue will also reach a new high.
We have the confidence to return to the national brand first
Geely's rapid upward movement last year was mainly due to the gradual improvement of the group's ecological chain, in addition to the rapid decision to make a new energy transition. In February last year, Geely's cloud computing platform "Geely Star Smart Computing Center" was launched, laying the foundation for the underlying computing power for intelligent driving and AI. In January this year, its full-stack self-developed full-scene AI model "Geely Xingrui" was pushed to the forefront.
At the same time, the self-developed ecology around the "space-ground integration" satellite communication technology, NOA high-end intelligent driving, smart cabin, Flyme Auto car machine system and other self-developed ecology is also being further improved, and gradually began to empower Geely's models, and there are already products that have enjoyed Geely's wave of technological dividends. In terms of intelligence and autonomous driving, Geely's new energy vehicle products have narrowed the gap with the products of new forces, and the product experience has steadily improved.
It is worth mentioning that in 2023, in order to accelerate the transformation of new energy and intelligence, Geely Automobile will achieve a net profit of 5.308 billion yuan with a total capital expenditure of 15.3 billion yuan, which shows that the new energy transformation has not caused a drag on Geely Group, and it also shows Geely's advantages in cost control.
At the 2023 results conference of Geely Automobile Holdings Co., Ltd., Gui Shengyue, CEO and Executive Director of Geely Automobile Holdings Co., Ltd., said that he is confident that he will return to the first national brand of Chinese automobiles, but it will take time to work hard in various market segments. Regarding the question of whether BYD can surpass BYD in terms of sales, Gui Shengyue said that BYD is very good and needs to learn from him, but not all of them are worse than them, and Geely Automobile is also very good in some market segments.
Geely Automobile has set a sales target for 2024 and plans to sell 1.9 million vehicles, of which the sales target for new energy vehicles will increase by more than 66% compared to the total sales achieved in 2023.
At present, Geely's "comprehensive to new" strategic transformation has basically completed the layout, in terms of intelligence and supply chain has been basically laid, the next long time will also be Geely's harvest period, I believe that with the arrival of more and more new products, Geely will also "quality and quantity" to complete the goal, and 2024 will also be a bumper year for Geely.