Capitals love to hear stories, and companies love to tell stories. The more beautiful the story, the farther the future will go.
Xiaopeng Motors, which is listed on the market, has recently launched its first flying car.
Does Xiaopeng Motors want to "go to heaven" before electric cars are "playing"? What is the meaning of Xiaopeng's move? Is it to go further?
Xiaopeng Motors wants to "go to heaven"
Last month, Xiaopeng Motors rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange and became the third Chinese new car company to go public in the United States after Weilai and Ideal.
Xiaopeng, who has caught up with the electrification and intelligence boom, is the darling of the capital market. Its total financing amount is as high as 1.72 billion U.S. dollars, and the issuance valuation is 11.42 billion U.S. dollars. In contrast, Weilai and Ideal, the total fundraising amount at the time of listing is only 1 billion U.S. dollars and 1.15 billion U.S. dollars. As the third new car-making force to achieve an IPO, Xiaopeng Motors is considered to be firmly in the top three positions in China.
In the capital market, Xiaopeng Motors has a great reputation at this year's Beijing Auto Show, and released its first ultra-low-flying car-"Traveler T1".
It is reported that the Traveler T1 is built by Xiaopeng Motors and CEO He Xiaopeng, an aviation high-tech innovative enterprise that is jointly invested and controlled by Xiaopeng Huitian; it supports 5-25m ultra-low-altitude flight, similar to the car driving mode, currently only One seat.
According to He Xiaopeng, "The price may be similar to that of a luxury car." He Xiaopeng also said, "This is by no means a concept. It has flown thousands of feet. At present, Xiaopeng Huitian is developing the second-generation ultra-low-altitude flying car. It is expected to be completed in 2021, and the second-generation flying car seats may increase to two"
Flying cars are very novel and full of futuristic sense. However, before the wave of electric cars and self-driving cars is a thing of the past, what is the meaning of Xiaopeng's release of flying cars?
"Concept circle money" product?
When everyone is still talking about driverless and electric vehicles, some people have calculated their transportation to the sky.
According to a market study on air traffic, air taxis can serve approximately 80,000 passengers in the United States every day, and the aircraft capacity can reach 4,000. In the first few years of operation, the annual value of this market is estimated to be approximately US$2.5 billion.
It sounds like this business is really fragrant, but the flying car is really not a concept product that He Xiaopeng said?
Xiaopeng Motors is not the first company that wants to build flying cars.
The first flying car that appeared was probably made by Glenn Curtis in 1917 using aluminum sheets, but this was the first flying car in human history and it failed to go to heaven.
However, in the true sense, the world’s first flying car was the "Leap" developed by Travegia in 2009. Its first flight can fly 500 kilometers with full fuel. When landing, you can press the relevant button to stop the aircraft. Fold the wings and drive onto the highway.
In addition to them, Uber previously wanted to "flight" and plans to put flying car services into commercial use in 2023; Google also invested in a flying car company Kitty Hawk and plans to develop flying taxis in New Zealand. General Motors is also considering entering the air. Taxi market.
In addition, automakers such as Toyota and Volvo's parent company Geely are also developing flying car technology. In China, Ehang is also trying to apply drone technology to manned autonomous vehicles.
Global giants or auto start-ups seem to have expectations in this field. However, at a time when everyone has not thoroughly studied electric vehicles and driverless driving, it seems that there is something "idiotic about dreams" to play flying cars.
Demand is oriented. Is there a demand for flying driving in the market?
In fact, flying cars have not been successfully circulated and commercialized in the market, just like domestic driverless cars have not been popularized in the travel market. This cutting-edge, high-end flying car has indeed been developed, but the technology is not yet mature and cannot be marketed, and the dangers brought about by travel can be predicted.
Obviously, the picture of people traveling unimpeded in the sky with the help of flying cars seems to only exist in movies.
In the end, flying cars may be just a fantasy, in the stage of technology research and development and practical operation. It is just a "concept money" product of new energy car-making forces, and a competition game in the high-end market.
Why build flying cars?
At the moment when the giants are "hunting" flying cars, Xiaopeng Motors has accelerated the development and launch of flying cars. But why did Xiaopeng propose to build a flying car now, instead of before the New York Stock Exchange bell was ringing?
From its own point of view, Xiaopeng faces three difficulties that need to be resolved after listing: loss difficulties, delivery difficulties, and cash flow difficulties.
1. The market facing flying cars is in line with the positioning of Xiaopeng Motors. This can be done.
2. Xiaopeng needs more money to stabilize technical barriers and get rid of losses. Then Xiaopeng needs new stories or "money-making" products.
First of all, since its establishment, Xiaopeng Motors has been committed to making smart cars that know China best, positioning it in the mid-to-high-end market. Needless to say, flying cars are positioned in the high-end market. This is something that can be done.
Secondly, Xiaopeng's steady technical genre is compared to the "buy service and send car" NIO, which is ideal for flexible and adaptable program extensions. Xiaopeng needs a steady stream of capital injections for technology research and development. Although it has been mentioned above that Xiaopeng has a lot of financing and is not short of money, Xiaopeng needs more money for the money-burning industry of car building.
Of course, Xiaopeng can seek more financing by creating a new concept and technology of "flying car".
Although technology is an advantage, the company is trading at a loss. According to the financial report data, in the six months ended June 30, Xiaopeng Motors had revenue of US$142 million, and the net loss was almost equivalent to the entire revenue scale of US$113 million.
At the same time, Xiaopeng Automobile is melancholy in terms of the number of deliveries. According to the prospectus, as of July 31, Xiaopeng Motors delivered 18,741 G3 SUVs, and began to deliver the second model P7 in May, and shipped 1966 vehicles on July 31.
The industry believes that 100,000 vehicles are the life and death line for car manufacturers, and Xiaopeng is still a long way from this goal. In the first half of this year, Xiaopeng’s sales of electric vehicles fell by nearly 51% year-on-year, falling out of the top three in the sales list of new car manufacturers.
Finally, in addition to the difficulty of delivery and loss, Xiaopeng is also facing the suspicion of user rights protection and "secret stealing". According to reports, in 2019, Cao Guangzhi, vice president of Xiaopeng Auto's autonomous driving, served as a senior Tesla engineer. Before leaving his post as vice president of Xiaopeng Auto's autonomous driving, Tesla was accused of copying more than 300,000 confidential company information. .
In terms of the external environment, the reason why Xiaopeng Motors is now building flying cars is: the electric car market is difficult to do.
1. The subsidy policy for domestic new energy electric vehicles is declining sharply, making it difficult for manufacturers to mass-produce.
2. Electric vehicle technology is not mature enough, and spontaneous combustion accidents and car accidents occur frequently.
At the Beijing Auto Show this time, Xiaopeng Motors did not release a new model of electric vehicles. In addition to releasing the first flying car, it also focused on bringing the "Xpeng Supercharge Free Power-up Program" and "Battery Rental Program".
The purpose of these plans is very clear, which is to enhance user experience and reduce the pressure on users to purchase cars, hoping to allow more consumers to enjoy a completely different travel experience with a smart car earlier.
Xiaopeng has only one purpose, which is to popularize its products to the general public and increase delivery. Only in this way can the above-mentioned problems be solved. These problems may start from the new concept of exporting flying cars to get more financing and continue to lose energy on the smart car track.
How far can we go in the future?
How far can He Xiaopeng, who has a "dream of heaven", lead Xiaopeng Motors?
As mentioned above, the brand-new concept output of flying cars is novel, but unrealistic. If only selling the concept can’t become a reality, Xiaopeng’s method of collecting money cannot last long.
At present, the various problems that the company has, it needs to solve one by one or tell an updated story to support its "car dream".
Xiaopeng’s future mainly lies in launching tangible products. Selling concepts and stacking technology moats are important, but subsidies have fallen, mass production is difficult, sales have fallen, and powerful enemies are waiting for various factors. This company cannot overcome them one by one. , May come to an end. This is also a common problem faced by China's new carmakers. Once the electrification and unmanned bubbles are burst, everyone will come to an end.
However, flying cars are still worth the money for Xiaopeng Motors to draw the concept, after all, this market is a blue ocean. According to the forecast of Spark Cognition, an artificial intelligence company invested by Boeing, the future urban air traffic market will reach 3 trillion US dollars, which will bring huge market space for the commercialization of flying cars.
So, can flying cars survive?
Since the birth of automobiles, the number of car ownership has been rising. The evolution of urbanization has not been able to fully meet the needs of the growth of motor vehicles, and the diseases of big cities have gradually brought global traffic congestion. Experts in urban planning and commuting are slowly pinning their hopes of solving this problem in the sky.
In addition, the industry generally believes that the emergence and popularization of flying cars may effectively break the existing traffic dilemma. Then, the giant drove into the flying car, or it is really because "the road is not enough."
The future of flying cars must first solve these major issues: battery, cost, talent and regulations.
Flying cars use batteries, but how to develop a high-capacity, lightweight battery is a difficult problem, and the extension of the battery life and range will determine whether it can be popularized; in addition, the cost of technology development will also become a problem. Cars are sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Who can accept this price?
Talents and regulations are also two difficulties. If flying cars are commercially available, a series of traffic regulations and supporting structures are required; how should the training of talents such as managers and drivers be conducted? The driver must have both a car driver's license and a flight qualification certificate at the same time, which is not easy.
Finally, flying cars are still in the early stages. Although the various problems they face cannot be overcome one by one, under the trend of capital influx into the market, new car forces can give it a go and give priority to the race track.
Author: Yexiao An
Article source: Songguo Finance, please indicate the copyright