In the new energy vehicle arena in 2023, undercurrents are surging beneath the vast waters.
Since Tesla launched its first price cut at the beginning of the year, the wave of price cuts has not yet come to an end. September has just arrived, and Xpeng Motors and Leapmotor have launched price adjustment policies.
Against this background, it is inevitable that the involution of car companies will intensify. At the beginning of the year, Zhang Yong, co-founder and CEO of Nezha Automobile, wrote: "2023 should not be too good. It will face many challenges and difficulties: 'Lack of cores and expensive electricity', lack of consumer confidence, and increasingly fierce competition."
Source: Electric EV
Now it seems that his judgment has basically become reality. However, Zhang Yong also revealed the annual delivery target of 250,000 units at the end of this paragraph, indicating that he still has great expectations for new products in the new year.
After the successful listings of "Wei Xiao Li Ling", the market is most concerned about when Nezha Auto, which is also a "first generation" new car-making force, will IPO?
At the end of August, Nezha Automobile announced that it had completed a crossover round of financing totaling 7 billion yuan, which was regarded by many as a signal to accelerate its listing.
So, after completing the "cross-round" financing, what are Nezha Automobile's plans? In the future, will the world of new energy vehicles still stage a counterattack story?
Starting from quantity, Nezha must step to a higher level
In 2022, Nezha Automobile will become the first new car-making force with annual sales exceeding 150,000 units, showing its status as a "dark horse".
However, the ever-changing new energy automobile industry has no shortage of surprises. The logic behind the surge in sales of Nezha cars is worth thinking about.
Through the data, we found that in 2022, among the sales of more than 150,000 Nezha cars, Nezha V sold nearly 100,000 units, accounting for 65% of the annual delivery volume of the entire series. It is not difficult to see that Nezha V is the cornerstone of Nezha Automobile's story of "my fate is up to me."
The reason is that Nezha has seized the market demand for economical models and lowered the entry threshold for a new energy vehicle with good performance to less than 100,000.
However, sales volume is only the basis for the development of car companies, and profitability is the key to the sustainable development of new energy car companies. Nezha Automobile CEO Zhang Yong also said frankly in an interview with the media, "Our plan is to have a certain scale first... Our goal next year is to make a profit."
Because of this, this year's Nezha cars are priced at RMB 150,000-300,000 starting with Nezha S and GT. Compared with the AYA, which was launched in August with a price range of 73,800-88,800 yuan, Nezha S and GT will undoubtedly face the impact of the price war.
Judging from its performance in the first eight months, Nezha Automobile failed to continue last year's leading position, but it successfully established a foothold in a higher price band, laying the foundation for the positive operating cash flow.
At present, "Wei Xiao Li Ling", which has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, together with Nezha Automobile, has basically become the first stable echelon of new car-making forces. In August, Lideal, Weilai, Leapao, Xpeng and Nezha all maintained delivery volumes of more than 10,000 vehicles, ranking among the top five.
So, how does Nezha Automobile maintain stable growth and enter the most mainstream price range?
Through Nezha Automobile's planning, we may be able to get a glimpse of some changes that are quietly taking place in this emerging industry.
Change and planning
In the first half of 2023, the industry was involved in infighting, and car companies launched a price war, which not only kept industry profit margins at a low level, but also led to a strong wait-and-see mood among consumers.
According to statistics from the Passenger Car Association, in the first half of 2023, new energy vehicles sold 3.747 million units, a year-on-year increase of 44.1%. Compared with the 122.4% growth rate in the same period last year, the industry growth rate has slowed down significantly.
This means that car companies have reached a stage where they must make adjustments - the industry has developed to this point, the entire vehicle market has been sold out, and the price has almost been reduced. A plan related to technology, layout and strategy is brewing within the car company.
First of all, the competition among new car-making forces is changing from the competition of complete vehicles to the competition of deep technical strength.
This year, Nezha's big move is to release its own exclusive platform and technology brand for pure electric vehicles.
The platform architecture is familiar to anyone familiar with the automotive industry. Volkswagen's MQB and Toyota's TNGA are typical examples. A full-stack self-developed platform is the foundation for the development of car companies. At the Guangzhou Auto Show, Nezha introduced its intelligent safety car platform "Shanhai Platform" in detail in terms of safety attributes, efficiency and cost optimization, and high intelligence.
In addition, on August 21, Nezha officially released "Haozhi Technology Brand 2.0", focusing on highlighting its technical strength and independent research and development capabilities through five core advantages. We understand that Nezha will successively launch two to three products relying on the basic strength of the Shanhai platform, Haozhi Technology Brand 2.0 and self-research capabilities of components.
Judging from these actions, Nezha Automobile's development focus has obviously shifted from price, design and other factors to the improvement of underlying technology, thereby trying to open up the situation in the mid-to-high-end market and seeking "technological realization."
Secondly, Shanhai Platform and Haozhi Technology Brand 2.0 also reveal another important trend, that is, the advancement of automobile intelligence, and car companies have increased investment in intelligence.
As policies continue to blow, the development of intelligent connected cars has passed an upward turning point. In June, the State Council's policy will launch a pilot program for the access and on-road access of intelligent connected vehicles, and organize the implementation of city-level demonstration applications of "vehicle-road-cloud integration"; in July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Standardization Administration issued relevant documents to target The general specifications, core technologies and key product applications of intelligent connected vehicles have established a standard system for intelligent connected vehicles.
At the Chengdu Auto Show, Yu Songyao, assistant president of Nezha Automobile and director of the Intelligence Research Institute, also mentioned: "Nezha Automobile has recently carried out an intelligent software upgrade in the smart cockpit segment. Nezha Automobile's NETA SPACE smart cockpit system has strengthened its relationship with users. For related functions, in order to solve application problems, we made a structure based on user feedback."
In fact, both "Wei Xiaoli" and "Ling Na Sai" are accelerating in the field of smart driving and starting a new race.
Finally, while leading car companies are improving their sales and service networks, they are also accelerating the expansion of overseas markets, gradually consolidating their competitive advantages and positioning themselves against latecomers.
On the one hand, with the increasingly perfect channel network construction, the full life cycle of automobile sales services has been put as a focus by the leaders of the new car manufacturing forces, and automobile companies are more willing than before to implement "user-centered".
In a media interview at the Chengdu Auto Show, Nezha Auto said that CEO Zhang Yong is personally building a team to respond to user voices in a timely manner. It can be seen that building a complete response mechanism is becoming an important task for leading car companies, which is also the only way to build a brand.
On the other hand, leading car companies are accelerating their overseas expansion through "whole-part collaboration". In addition to mature markets in Europe and the United States, Southeast Asia, which is "at home", is also becoming one of the main battlefields.
According to data from the Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute, car companies such as Great Wall Motors, SAIC Motor, and BYD have confirmed that they will build production bases in Thailand. Brands such as Nezha, Chery, and Jianghuai have also entered the Thai market through KD factories or assembly. According to data from Thailand's Autolife, in the first half of this year, the total sales of electric vehicles in Thailand reached 31,700 units, while the sales volume of Chinese brands exceeded 20,000 units. Chinese brands accounted for more than 70% of Thailand's new energy vehicle sales.
As a bridgehead for domestic enterprises to enter Southeast Asia, the importance of the Thai market is self-evident. Taking advantage of the general trend of switching from gasoline to electricity, Chinese brands are building a complete sales and operation framework to carve a niche in this market dominated by foreign fuel vehicle brands.
In short, a new development pattern of the industry is taking shape around technological precipitation and innovation capabilities, the moat of channels and brands, and the development of emerging markets. At this stage, compared with the previous conspicuous "price war", the world of new energy vehicles is sparkling on the water, and there are hidden mysteries under the water.
Against this background, Nezha Automobile completed Crossover financing and once again received 7 billion yuan in funding. It was like a stone thrown into the water, causing ripples.
In a protracted war, the “leftover” is the winner
Last year, Nezha Automobile suddenly emerged. This year, Li Auto and GAC Aian outperformed the market, fully proving that the new energy vehicle market is still uncertain.
Looking at many industries such as home appliances, consumer electronics, and the Internet, price wars are not decisive battles in a short period of time. Enterprises must always return to rationality.
As car companies concentrate on accumulating technology internally and continue to conquer territory externally, the competition in the industry is turning into a protracted knockout match. Those who can stay at the "card table" hope to become the final winner.
Therefore, Nezha Automobile mentioned "a better life" in its New Year's speech. However, Nezha is obviously not satisfied with this. Nezha, who has another amount of funds on hand, not only wants to secure his seat, but also clearly shows his ambition to continue "overtaking".
Since August, Nezha’s new products have been released intensively, and the pace of going overseas is also accelerating.
On the one hand, to stimulate sales in the domestic market, Nezha will launch new models in the second half of the year. Before and after the Chengdu Auto Show, Nezha displayed various models such as Nezha AYA, Nezha GT eyebrowless version, 2024 Nezha S, Nezha AYA pet modified version and Nezha U-II challenge version.
On the other hand, Nezha is using "Hot Wheel" to develop overseas markets. The ASEAN overseas strategy will only be launched in 2022, but Nezha is relying on a localized team to "make waves" in the Southeast Asian market. According to data released by Thailand's AutoLife official website, from January to May 2023, Nezha V ranked second with 3,752 vehicles registered, with a market share of 15.6%.
In August, Nezha Automobile signed a memorandum of cooperation with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, announcing that it would establish an international headquarters in Hong Kong. In the same month, Nezha Automobile debuted at the Indonesian Auto Show with Nezha S, Nezha U, Nezha V and other models.
This race against time attitude is understandable. With the overseas expansion of BYD, Aian and other brands accelerating, and the listing of "Wei Xiaoli Zero" one after another, Nezha must not only accelerate its efforts to seize overseas markets, but also prepare for its entry into the capital market.
Only in this way can Nezha Automobile have a broader and longer-term future.
Conclusion
Taking advantage of the news of the Crossover round of financing and sorting out the recent development trends of Nezha Auto, it can be clearly seen that after going through rounds of price wars, car companies are working hard to create a new development paradigm, break through price constraints, and achieve greater success. Healthy and sustainable development.
This means that the competition between car companies is evolving into a long-distance race. Fortunately, the track for new energy vehicles is wide and long enough. According to research by Morgan Stanley, new energy vehicles are expected to account for more than 50% of global car sales by 2025, which is a trillion-dollar market.
Among them, Chinese brands are becoming the leaders in this track. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Passenger Car Association, pointed out that from January to July this year, China's new energy passenger vehicle sales accounted for 61% of the world's new energy.
Whether it is a car company that has already been listed or a car company that is still sprinting to be listed, it can be described in one sentence: The world is still uncertain, and they are all dark horses. Perhaps, there will be more unexpected stories to come in China's new energy vehicle arena.
Source: Pinecone Finance