Author | Zhang Chi/Editor | Lei Qian
What can100 billion do for the automobile main engine factory? According to the experience of luxury car brands: Volvo built a SPA platform, which cost 65.438+0 billion US dollars; The well-known Volkswagen MQB platform costs $60 billion. Although domestic car companies usually don't have to spend this sky-high price to develop a platform with wide coverage, it is a big investment for any car company to develop brand-new models and even touch the development of the whole vehicle platform.
According to the financial data, Weilai's revenue in the first quarter was only 163 1 100 million yuan, down more than 50% compared with the fourth quarter of 20 18. Although the net loss has decreased, it is still as high as 2.6 billion yuan. What is more worrying than this is that the domestic automobile market still shows no signs of recovery, and the competition in the pure electric vehicle market is becoming more and more fierce. In 20 19 1 quarter, there were only 3,989 vehicles, and the delivery volume in the second quarter was only 3,586 vehicles, which was still declining compared with the previous quarter, but it was as high as 7,980 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 20 18.
The decline in sales and continuous losses have made Weilai extremely hungry for funds. The profit generated by ES8 is far from satisfying the commissioning of ES6, the research and development of new projects in the later period and the after-sales service in the market. What's more, in the face of various competing models to be listed soon, Weilai Automobile still needs to fully develop the second-generation products to keep the product updating speed and ensure certain attractiveness. Therefore, the involvement of Beijing state-owned assets will significantly improve the financial situation of Weilai Automobile. For Shanghai, where Tesla was introduced, one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers. Not to mention, Shanghai's layout in the field of new energy vehicles is not limited to Tesla and Weilai.
Is weilai automobile still valuable?
Is weilai automobile still valuable? The answer is yes, there is. Weilai has a certain foundation on the wheel of technology and brand that promotes the progress of car companies. This is not available to other new car-making forces or traditional independent brands.
According to Weilai's official statement, before the delivery of ES6, there is no problem that the order will reach 65,438+0,000 vehicles. This also puts forward a certain test for the delivery of Weilai products. However, with the experience of ES8, Weilai believes that it will not skip the ticket again in the delivery of ES6. If the sales volume of ES6 can be maintained at more than 3,000 units per month, it will be of great significance to the cost dilution and later profit of Weilai Automobile. This is also the recognition of Weilai's product development and related technical capabilities.
From the brand point of view, Weilai has successfully established a higher brand positioning than other independent brands through ES8, which has been recognized by many consumers with certain spending power. Weilai takes the same road as luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. When a brand-new product pedigree is launched, the brand awareness will be enhanced by taking the lead in selling flagship models, and the terminal sales will be boosted by product sinking in the later period. This is helpful for brand building.
Why does Beijing need Weilai?
As a pillar industry of regional economy, Beijing has a strong desire to build BAIC into a world-leading automobile enterprise. At the 20 18 intelligent networked automobile conference, BAIC officially released the "Dolphin+"strategy of the five-year action plan of intelligent networked automobile. However, with the current technical accumulation of BAIC, it is difficult to form a smart car brand that can represent capital in the fierce competition. It is not easy to change from manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing by introducing equipment.
From the perspective of Beijing municipal government, behind Beijing's huge state-owned investment: on the one hand, Weilai Automobile's plan to build a factory in Shanghai has greatly increased because of the landing of Tesla, but at the same time, Weilai's desire to build a factory has never subsided; On the other hand, the positioning of BAIC new energy products is too low, and the sales prospect is not optimistic in the increasingly fierce competition in the electric vehicle market. By introducing Weilai, it can lay a foundation for further deepening cooperation between BAIC and Weilai in intelligent networked vehicles. In the future, whether the factory is sold to Weilai or BAIC helps Weilai to contract, it can not only solve the idle capacity of BAIC, but also drive BAIC's parts suppliers to get more opportunities.
Nowadays, apart from Beijing Benz, BAIC's own brand and Beijing Hyundai are facing many difficulties. In addition to BAIC in China, Mercedes-Benz is also cooperating with its major shareholder Geely. For BAIC, it is urgent to find a more reliable new force and achieve a strategic balance to some extent.
How to balance Shanghai's new energy rivers and lakes
Compared with the expectation of Weilai, the enthusiasm of the Shanghai municipal government has actually fallen behind. In Shanghai, where land is scarce, local authorities hope that enterprises will put their R&D centers or headquarters with higher unit output in Shanghai to form a larger headquarters economy.
From the manufacturing point of view, Shanghai already has Tesla's first overseas super factory, and its domestic Model3 will be listed soon. In addition, the MEB factory of Volkswagen and Guoneng Automobile of Evergrande are in full swing. Tesla is recognized as a leading company in electric vehicle technology in the world, and it even has its own ability to design and develop driverless chips, which is unparalleled in the world; The landing of Volkswagen MEB factory gives SAIC Volkswagen the same ability to quickly launch and produce electric vehicles as MQB; As for the present Guoneng, as the core flagship of Evergrande's entry into new energy vehicles, Evergrande has acquired world-renowned enterprises with three power systems and built a relatively complete three power systems, and its future potential cannot be underestimated.
In addition, the centers of SAIC's own brands, SAIC-GM, Volvo Cars and many new R&D forces are located in Shanghai. Therefore, from the perspective of the Shanghai Municipal Government, its enterprise lineup in the electric vehicle era is far from losing the combination of Volkswagen and GM in the fuel vehicle era.
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In just a few years, it is a bit overwhelming to ask Weilai Automobile to give better financial statements. However, compared with Tesla, Weilai's investment in forward-looking technology is much inferior. If Weilai really has the technology to develop chips like Tesla, then Weilai will have the funds to continue to invest even if the losses are serious. This is the real difference between the new car-making forces and traditional car companies. If we copy the old road of traditional car companies and do not seek leadership in cutting-edge technology and its landing deployment, Weilai will one day become mediocre. In the face of traditional car companies with stronger profitability and system capabilities, it is far from enough to rely solely on the after-sales service experience of users. If Yizhuang SDIC's RMB10 billion can empower Weilai in R&D, Weilai can achieve breakthroughs in these core technologies, including 5G intelligent network connection, thus truly becoming a respected enterprise.
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