Three years after its listing, Xpeng delivered almost its worst financial report in history in the second quarter of this year. Multiple tragic data were superimposed, and from a distance, it looked like a critical illness notice.
Since its listing in 2020, Xpeng's expansion speed has amazed capital. As of June 30, 2023, the number of Xpeng stores has expanded to 411, with 1,024 self-operated charging stations, including 824 super charging stations and 200 destination charging station.
But in terms of sales, Xpeng seems to have encountered Waterloo this year. The financial report shows that Xpeng delivered a total of 41,435 vehicles from January to June this year, with an average daily sales volume of less than 6 vehicles per store, lagging behind Weilai and Ideal.
The most critical thing is that in addition to sales, Xpeng also experienced multiple declines in other aspects of its financial report. This financial report was also dubbed by netizens as "Xpeng's worst financial report in history."
However, judging from the performance of He Xiaopeng and Xpeng Motors executives during the second quarter financial report conference call, they still have high hopes for the future. "Xpeng Motors has gradually entered a preliminary positive cycle; in the third quarter, it is expected to sell 39,000 to 41,000 vehicles; In the fourth quarter, monthly sales hit 20,000; gross profit margin will be turned positive within 2023."
It seems that although Xiaopeng handed over the worst financial report, it showed the most inflated confidence.
Dismal financial report
Let’s take a look at Xpeng’s financial report first. What’s the difference?
To put it simply, the financial report of a car company is nothing more than looking at how much money it made from selling cars, how much profit each car made, what the company's total revenue was, what the overall profit was, how much it lost in total, and how much money the company had left. ?
What is presented in the financial report is automobile sales revenue, automobile gross profit margin, total revenue, gross profit margin, net loss, and cash reserves.
Let’s look at revenue first. In the second quarter of 2023, Xpeng’s total revenue reached 5.06 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 31.9%. The decline in revenue from automobile sales was even more severe, reaching 4.42 billion yuan, a decrease of 36.2% compared with the same period last year. %.
As revenue declines, Xpeng's losses also intensify.
In the same period last year, Xpeng's net loss was 2.7 billion yuan. By the first quarter of this year, the net loss had eased to 2.34 billion yuan. But by the second quarter of this year, it had reached 2.8 billion yuan. Compared with the previous quarter's Net losses increased by 20%.
On the one hand, the revenue is declining, and on the other hand, the losses are intensifying. When combined, Xpeng's gross profit margin has also fallen into a vicious cycle.
In the same period last year, Xpeng's overall gross profit margin and automobile gross profit margin were 10.9% and 9.1% respectively, both of which were developing positively. However, by the second quarter of this year, they had dropped to -3.9% and -8.9%.
We all know that Xiaopeng’s product pricing covers models ranging from 150,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan. If calculated based on the average bicycle price of 200,000 yuan, Xiaopeng will lose nearly 18,000 yuan for every car sold. .
Along with the release of the financial report, Xiaopeng was greeted by a cold reception in the capital market.
You know, for listed companies, when the company's financial report is strong, investors will be more excited. With the influx of large amounts of money, the market value will also grow rapidly. Once the financial report is weak, investors will inevitably have a fear. As new funds decrease, the bubble will shrink rapidly and the market value will fall.
Just after Xpeng Motors announced its second-quarter financial report, Xpeng Motors' U.S. stocks fell nearly 7% before the market opened. After the opening, Xpeng's stock price continued to fall. As of the close of trading on August 18, the stock price fell by 4.31%.
Along with the release of the financial report, Xpeng Motors also announced its capital reserves, which were 33.74 billion yuan. We might as well make a bold prediction. If Xiaopeng is unable to reverse the status quo for a long time, with a quarterly loss of 2.8 billion yuan and no capital support, it may only be able to survive for another three years. It is obviously on the verge of life and death.
Sales volume and cost are the biggest obstacles
Xiaopeng’s tragic financial report was foreshadowed as early as September last year.
At that time, the war between new forces was in full swing. Ideal launched L8, NIO launched ES7, and Xpeng also launched G9. The gears of fate also began to turn at this time.
Due to the confusing configuration list and confusing pricing of the G9, this product suffered setbacks when it was first launched, and sales did not make waves. By 2023, Xiaopeng's sales have suffered miserably. Only the P7 series products can support sales. The remaining G3i and G9 are really difficult to carry the banner. Xiaopeng has also experienced its darkest moment in history.
It can be seen that the biggest problem of Xpeng is that sales have not been able to increase and costs have not been reduced.
You know, for a car company, sales volume and cost are the most intuitive indicators to judge the strength of a car company. When sales increase, the most direct result will be an increase in brand recognition and automobile sales revenue, and the cost of R&D, equipment, and channel construction can be evenly amortized through the scale effect of industrial production.
As sales reach a certain volume, they will have a greater say in the supply chain.
For example: Apple can impose any stringent requirements on almost any supplier, and can even obtain the highest quality components at the lowest prices in the industry. The main reason is that Apple is large enough and sells enough iPhones.
The same is true in the automobile industry. When the sales volume of a car company reaches a certain level, the average purchase cost of parts will plummet. Simply put, with the capital to lower prices, costs will be reduced again, and gross profit margin will naturally increase. .
At this time, the company will have more funds to develop new models, continuously expand product lines, and boost sales. Strong performance will also cause a boom in the capital market, ultimately forming a positive cycle of prosperity and prosperity.
Judging from Xiaopeng's financial report, it is clear that it did not enter such a positive cycle at the end of the second quarter. Like dominoes arranged in a row, the decline in sales triggered a series of chain reactions.
Xiaopeng’s source of confidence
"Xpeng Motors has gradually entered a preliminary positive cycle." He Xiaopeng said in the second quarter conference call.
In the face of the tragic financial report, such a speech is like a reassurance force-fed to capital and the public, and it seems somewhat reluctant to others.
But after carefully analyzing Xiaopeng’s current situation and He Xiaopeng’s speech, we found that Xiaopeng seems to have the confidence to make a comeback. Mainly reflected in three aspects: sales volume, cost, and assisted driving.
The first is sales . Although Xpeng's sales in 2023 have suffered a setback, it is undeniable that it has achieved growth for several consecutive months and returned to the 10,000-unit monthly sales club in July.
It can be seen that Xpeng's sales in July achieved significant month-on-month growth, and its monthly delivery volume once again exceeded 10,000 vehicles. The hero who helped Xpeng achieve sales growth was Xpeng G6.
On June 29, 2023, Xpeng G6 was launched. With 800V architecture, XNGP intelligent assisted driving system, zero-to-zero acceleration in 3.9s, and a starting price of 209,900... Excellent configuration and affordable price made G6 widely concerned by the market as soon as it was launched. , and was even once called the biggest competitor of Tesla Model Y. According to He Xiaopeng, the G6 received 35,000+ orders on the day it was launched.
In the sales structure in July, due to limited production capacity, the G6 only contributed 3,900 deliveries. This means that most users of the G6 are in a state of placing orders but unable to pick up the car. Once production capacity is released, it seems natural for the G6 to take off.
He Xiaopeng also mentioned in the earnings call that by the fourth quarter, as G6 production capacity continues to increase, the reputation effect of the first batch of users will appear, and monthly delivery of G6 is expected to exceed 10,000. In addition, He Xiaopeng also said that with the increase in store visits caused by the G6, old models such as the G9 have also seen a rebound.
It can be seen that Xiaopeng seems to have a plan to get rid of the sales slump.
cost issue
For a long time, Xpeng has been facing difficult "cost control". Take Xpeng's models as an example:
G3 and P5 are developed based on the David platform, P7 and G9 are developed based on the Edward platform, and G6 is developed based on the SEPA2.0 Fuyao architecture, and many parts need to be molded separately, and the universality of parts is very low, which costs a lot of research and development costs.
And just in April this year, Xpeng Motors released the SEPA2.0 Fuyao global intelligent architecture, which means that Xpeng will officially enter the platform-based car manufacturing stage. With the support of the SEPA2.0 Fuyao architecture, Xpeng Motors' future new model development cycle will be shortened by 20%, the commonality rate of parts based on the architecture part can reach up to 80%, and the comprehensive intelligent driving R&D efficiency will be increased by 30%. Cost reduction by 70%.
He Xiaopeng also said that he would work with Wang Fengying to benchmark the best cost control levels of global and Chinese car companies, and take cost reduction as the core goal.
Xiaopeng’s final confidence is intelligent driving
You know, Xpeng Motors has been making efforts in the field of intelligence since its establishment, and the order structure of the G6 has also confirmed that Xpeng's bet on intelligence is the right choice.
Let’s look at the configuration of G6 first. In addition to different battery life, G6 can be simply divided into Pro version and MAX version. The difference between the two is mainly reflected in intelligence.
According to He Xiaopeng, in the first month of G6’s launch, 70% of orders were contributed by the MAX version. This shows that under the wave of new energy vehicles, the appeal of intelligence cannot be underestimated, and this is Xpeng's strength. He Xiaopeng even stated that in the future, the most mainstream users in the 150,000-level market will also be able to enjoy autonomous driving technology.
The sales volume guarantee brought by G6, the gradual advancement of cost reduction and efficiency increase, and the general trend of intelligence are the source of He Xiaopeng's confidence and the capital for Xiaopeng Motors to make a comeback.
It can be seen that Xpeng's second quarter financial report meeting seemed simple, but in fact it was more like a future planning meeting . While Xpeng handed over a tragic financial report, it still remained full of confidence and was by no means blindly arrogant.
But on the other hand, Xpeng G6 is still limited by production capacity issues after all. At a time when new energy vehicles are extremely involved, new products are coming one after another, leaving little time for Xpeng G6 to improve production capacity. From this point of view, whether Xiaopeng can make a comeback is still unknown.