Reporter Yang Rangchen reported from Shanghai by Quartz Jing
ZEEKR, which has only been established for 3 years, has recently become the fastest IPO of a new car-making car company.
The reporter of "China Business Daily" learned from the new car-making force Zeekr that it was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 10 with the stock code "ZK". As a luxury smart pure electric brand under Geely Holding Group, ZEEKR was released on April 15, 2021 and successfully landed on the New York Stock Exchange a few days ago, taking only 37 months, setting a new record for the fastest listing in the history of new energy vehicle companies.
ZEEKR said that this is based on the solid industrial foundation and global advantageous resources accumulated by Geely Holding in the past 37 years. "On this basis, ZEEKR has quickly built a complete pure electric intelligent technology ecosystem, and opened up the 'ZEEKR mode' of the third track of pure electric development."
It is understood that due to the oversubscription, ZEEKR expanded the scale of the IPO, and issued a total of 21 million ADS (American Depositary Shares) at a price of $21 per share, raising about $441 million. ZEEKR said that if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment rights, the size of the offering will be further expanded to 24.15 million ADSs, raising about $507 million.
Relevant information shows that ZEEKR closed at $28.26 per share on the first day of listing, up 34.57% from the issue price. At the closing price, the market value of ZEEKR has reached 6.9 billion US dollars, equivalent to more than 50 billion yuan.
An Conghui, President of Geely Holding Group and CEO of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology, said that ZEEKR will take the listing as an opportunity to further upgrade its governance structure, achieve global compliance, transparent and sustainable development, and create the ultimate experience of travel life with global users.
Significant revenue growth
In the past 3 years, ZEEKR's revenue has increased significantly.
According to the prospectus data, from 2021 to 2023, ZEEKR's revenue will increase significantly. In 2021, ZEEKR's revenue was 6.527 billion yuan, and in 2023, ZEEKR's revenue has increased to 51.673 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 7 times in 2023 compared with 2021, and an increase of 62% compared with 2022.
In addition to revenue growth, ZEEKR's net loss is also expanding, reaching 4.5143 billion yuan, 7.6551 billion yuan and 8.2264 billion yuan respectively from 2021 to 2023, and the growth rate of net loss is lower than the growth rate of revenue. At the same time, from 2021 to 2023, the gross profit margin of ZEEKR will be 1.8%, 4.7% and 15.0% respectively, with a significant increase.
These financial figures are also reflected in the sales performance. According to relevant information, ZEEKR has delivered more than 240,000 vehicles, and from January to April this year, a total of nearly 50,000 units were delivered, achieving a year-on-year growth of more than double, and continuing to rank first in the sales of China's high-end pure electric brands of more than 200,000 yuan.
At present, ZEEKR Automobile's product model portfolio has begun to take shape, and 5 models have been launched, including ZEEKR 001, ZEEKR 009, and ZEEKR X. In 2024, ZEEKR will also launch a new medium and large electric SUV.
According to iiMedia Research, by 2025, the size of China's new energy vehicle market will reach about 23 trillion yuan, "the Chinese market has a rich selection of new energy vehicle models, many products are quite attractive, strong demand is supported, and the high growth of the market scale is expected to continue." ”
"Looking ahead, the company plans to capture the huge potential of the global premium electric vehicle market by expanding its automotive portfolio." In this regard, ZEEKR said that the company is planning to launch automotive products suitable for the next generation of mobile lifestyles, "through these future models, to provide users with innovative, comfortable, intelligent high-quality mobile solutions, as well as spacious, luxurious, performance-enhancing high-tech experience." ”
To this end, ZEEKR's sales network began to spread out in the domestic market. According to the prospectus data, as of December 31, 2023, ZEEKR has 24 ZEEKR centers, 240 ZEEKR spaces, 31 ZEEKR delivery centers and 45 ZEEKR houses in China.
In terms of charging network, as of December 31, 2023, ZEEKR has 882 charging stations, covering more than 130 cities in China, and more than 54,000 third-party supported charging stations, covering more than 340 cities across the country, with a total of about 610,000 charging piles.
"The company operates in a fast-growing market with great potential. Driven by improvements in battery and smart technologies, regulatory policy support, and improved charging infrastructure, China's BEV market has huge room for growth in terms of sales volume and penetration. ZEEKR previously said in the prospectus.
Lin Jinwen, vice president of ZEEKR, also said in an interview that there is still a lot of sales space for ZEEKR that has not been released, "In 2024, ZEEKR will accelerate the layout of sinking channels, which is a great increment for the company." "It is understood that in 2024, ZEEKR will add more than 100 service networks in sinking channels, accounting for 30% of the entire sales and service network.
This is also reflected in this IPO. The reporter noted that about 45% of the funds raised in the IPO of ZEEKR will be used for sales and marketing, as well as to expand the current services and charging network of ZEEKR.
Take advantage of Geely's system strength
Backed by Geely Automobile, ZEEKR has great advantages in the production and manufacturing of pure electric vehicles, technology research and development, etc.
In the prospectus, ZEEKR indicated its relationship with Geely Automobile. "Geely Automobile has been the controlling shareholder of the company since its inception in 2021 and will continue to hold the company after this IPO." ZEEKR further stated that since its establishment, the company has operated separately from Geely Automobile, and Geely Automobile has provided technology, infrastructure and financial support for ZEEKR.
Although ZEEKR was established relatively late compared with other new car-making companies, with the help of Geely Automobile and its own differentiated strategic route, ZEEKR has embarked on an unusual development path for new energy vehicle companies.
Relevant information shows that at the beginning of its establishment, ZEEKR used the SEA vast architecture developed by Geely Automobile to build a car, the world's first pure electric architecture, which has achieved full-size coverage from A-class cars to E-class cars, and can meet the styling needs of a variety of models, including sedans, SUVs, MPVs, etc.
In An Conghui's view, this is due to Geely Automobile's technology accumulation in the field of car manufacturing. "Geely Automobile has been in the automotive industry for more than 30 years, and everyone sees the brilliance of ZEEKR 009 today, which is not simply built by the ZEEKR team in 3 years, but based on Geely Automobile's long-term accumulation and investment in the field of car manufacturing for more than 30 years, relying on system strength to get to where it is today."
An Conghui said in a previous interview that the vast architecture used by ZEEKR has been under development since 7 years ago, and the current product launch speed of ZEEKR is very fast, which is based on the experience and foundation of Geely Automobile's more than 30 years of technology precipitation.
ZEEKR said that based on the concept of architecture car manufacturing, the pure electric models mass-produced by ZEEKR are all built from SEA's vast architecture, which is the world's largest bandwidth native pure electric architecture, which greatly improves R&D efficiency and large-scale benefits, and leads category innovation, efficiently ensuring the launch of 5 new cars in 3 years, and the launch speed of no less than 2 new models per year until 2025.
Relevant information shows that up to now, in terms of technological innovation, ZEEKR has launched a number of black technologies including four-motor distributed electric drive, ZVC four-wheel torque vectoring technology and satellite communication technology in global mass production, and has also cooperated with Mobileye to develop advanced assisted driving systems to meet the needs of intelligent driving in the global market.
"As a luxury pure electric brand under Geely Holding Group, ZEEKR was born all over the world. The company not only has global technology, standards and channels, but also has an open, cooperative and win-win attitude, and deeply co-creates with global technology partners. An Conghui said at the launch ceremony of ZEEKR that based on the Haohan-M architecture that completely subverts the form of electric vehicles, the company's customized models in cooperation with Waymo will soon enter the U.S. travel market, and related household products will also be launched in the Chinese market.
Accelerate the global layout
After the successful listing of the New York Stock Exchange, ZEEKR will also accelerate the "horse race" in the global market. "In 2024, ZEEKR will not only enter the luxury market of 8 European countries, but also enter the markets of 50 countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Australia, and the globalization strategy will be fully accelerated." ZEEKR said that as of the end of April, ZEEKR had built nearly 380 stores around the world.
"The company is confident in its sales target of 230,000 units this year." An Conghui also said in an interview previously that every product developed by ZEEKR has become a benchmark in the market, and in 2023, ZEEKR will begin to face the global market, "which will be a good help for sales." ”
Li Donghui, CEO of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, also said a few days ago that ZEEKR's positioning as a luxury intelligent pure electric brand is an important part of Geely's electrification, high-end and globalization. "The ZEEKR IPO is a microcosm of Geely Holding Group's overall strategic plan. With electrification and intelligent transformation as the core, Geely Holding Group has made strategic layouts in cutting-edge technology fields such as new energy technology, human-computer interaction, intelligent driving, on-board chips, and low-orbit satellites, providing a strong boost for the growth of its sub-brands. ”
To this end, ZEEKR has increased R&D investment in technology research and development. Relevant information shows that in the past three years, ZEEKR has invested nearly 17 billion yuan in research and development. "At present, ZEEKR's self-developed electric drive has formed a luxury and high-performance label." According to ZEEKR, ZEEKR's 800-volt gold brick battery is self-developed and self-made in the whole stack from battery cells to battery packs; The full-stack self-developed high-end intelligent driving assistance system, Haohan Intelligent Driving, has achieved the transcendence of the intelligent head echelon; In terms of intelligent manufacturing, ZEEKR has built the world's first L4-level integrated die-casting intelligent production line, and has become the first independent brand in China to build its own die-casting workshop.
In the future, ZEEKR will continue to increase its investment in R&D, and about 45% of the funds raised from this IPO will be used to develop more advanced pure electric vehicle technology and expand its product portfolio. At the same time, Chen Qi, vice president of ZEEKR, also said in an interview that ZEEKR's intelligent driving team is growing rapidly, "In order to launch the best products for everyone, the resources of the entire team are inclined to intelligent driving, so as to win more with less and win slow with fast." ”
We know that China's new energy vehicle market is seriously "involuted", and ZEEKR is constantly breaking through with its own super products and technical strength. The reporter noted that in the current Chinese auto market, car companies are competing for market traffic by means such as price wars and the participation of car company CEOs in live broadcasts.
However, An Conghui previously said in an interview that traffic cannot be the only one for the success of a brand or a company, "As the CEO of the company, time and energy are limited, and it is more important to put more time on products, technologies, and users." ”
(Editor: Quartz Jing Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Yan Yuxia)