This year’s new car-making forces are noisy. Tesla’s stock price has increased seven times in one year; Weilai, Xpeng and Li Auto have all risen sharply. Perhaps the tragedy of LeTV Automobile is due to Untimely birth?
So can Jia Yueting turn around? Can Steve Jobs, who returns to China next week, come back next week? Recently, it is reported on the Internet that Zhuhai’s state-owned capital invested 2 billion in FF, and Gree and Huafa Group participated in the investment; is this the hope of Jia Yueting’s return to China?
There are reports on the Internet that in the latest round of financing of FF (Faraday Future), Zhuhai City’s state-owned assets participated in an investment of 2 billion yuan; Zhuhai’s two leading state-owned enterprises, Gree Group and Huafa Group, jointly participated in this investment, but the investment amount is less than 2 billion yuan.
Many people left comments saying; Steve Jobs will come back soon, the money is ready, and he is waiting for your car. He will make a comeback!
Although the cooperation between Geely and Faraday Future (hereinafter referred to as FF) has not been officially confirmed, the unanimous response of both parties to not comment on market rumors makes FF about to return to China. The news is rampant.
On January 27, people familiar with the matter revealed that in FF’s latest round of financing, Zhuhai City’s state-owned assets participated in an investment of 2 billion yuan. At the same time, Zhuhai’s two leading state-owned enterprises, Gree Group and Huafa Group, participated hand in hand. This investment was made, but the investment amount was less than 2 billion yuan.
Subsequently, it was reported that the relevant departments of Zhuhai City are negotiating with Faraday Future for FF financing and implementation cooperation. Faraday Future has registered and established a new company in Hengqin New District, and will establish it as a joint venture in the future. At present, Zhuhai City has stepped up various preliminary preparations for the construction of the production base after the investment. After the Spring Festival, the speed of cooperation among all parties will be further accelerated.
In addition, the news pointed out that FF will establish a production base in Zhuhai after its backdoor listing in the United States, and Geely may lead the production and manufacturing of FF products as a partner.
It is reported that if it can be successfully launched in Zhuhai this time, FF 91 is expected to achieve mass production in the second half of 2022.
Can Jia Yueting turn over? Everything is possible. On January 27, an investor familiar with the automobile industry told reporters that Jia Yueting completed personal bankruptcy and reorganization last year in order to eliminate FF’s financing problems and promote the return of FF 91 to mass production in China. Now that the bankruptcy reorganization is completed, it is expected that Jia Yueting will return to China to seek financing. ?
In fact, since the LeTV financial crisis broke out in 2017, Jia Yueting, as the actual controller of FF, has indeed brought many obstacles to FF’s financing, especially in the Chinese market, Jia Yueting’s personal credit has long been Bankruptcy. Financing difficulties have always been the main problem that has made it difficult for FF 91 to be mass-produced.
It is understood that since the first pre-production car of FF 91 rolled off the assembly line at the end of August 2018, the mass production time of FF 91 has been repeatedly postponed from 2019.
In order to open up domestic and foreign financing channels, in 2019, Jia Yueting officially proposed personal bankruptcy and reorganization, resigned from the CEO position and transferred to the company's CPUO (chief product and user officer), and welcomed Breitfeld Breitfeld, the father of BMW i8, as the company CEO of FF. The implementation of the personal bankruptcy and reorganization plan will allow Jia Yueting to release his personal guarantee obligations and debts, so that he can return to China to promote and implement FF's Sino-US dual home strategy. This will be a major benefit to FF's successful financing and future IPO, especially for FF's China business. Rapid development is of great significance. ?Previously, Jia Yueting’s debt management team stated.
Since going to the United States to build cars, Jia Yueting has been looking for opportunities to return to the Chinese market and promote the Sino-US dual-main battlefield strategy.
After joining hands with Evergrande in 2018 and quickly breaking up, Jia Yueting applied for personal bankruptcy and reorganization in 2019 to promote the plan to return FF 91 to China for mass production. Jia Yueting believes that if the FF 91 achieves large-scale mass production in China and the United States, it is expected to achieve a significant cost reduction, which will have great market potential in China, the world's largest automobile market.
With the completion of Jia Yueting’s personal bankruptcy and reorganization in July 2020, FF seems to be turning a corner.
In early October last year, it was reported that FF would prepare overseas to seek a U.S. stock IPO in the form of a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition). On October 14 last year, FF announced that it had obtained a debt financing loan of up to US$45 million (over 300 million yuan) from two major financial institutions in the United States. The loan will be used to support the final production of its flagship electric vehicle FF 91 project, as well as the next step of research and development of the FF 81. Working with all FF partners to make FF a reality and returning to China to promote the Sino-US dual-main battlefield strategy are still my core missions in the next stage of my life. ?Jia Yueting once said.
It is noteworthy that on December 22 last year, Jia Yueting’s debt team announced that the second batch of creditor compliance agreements had been signed, involving US$2.281 billion. This compliance agreement involves eight creditors applying to the court to remove or delete Jia Yueting as a person subject to double limit or breach of trust. The recent enthusiasm for new energy vehicles in the capital market is also an opportunity for FF. If FF can successfully go public in the United States through a backdoor listing, Jia Yueting may be able to turn around. ?The aforementioned investors said.
Media sources say that FF will submit SPAC listing materials as soon as within the next two weeks, and domestic financing matters are also expected to be announced by then.
It is worth noting that in the past year, the performance of new car companies in the capital market has been eye-catching. Tesla’s stock price has increased sevenfold in one year; NIO has risen 35 times in one year from falling to less than $2 in 2019; even Xpeng and Ideal, which have just entered the US stock market less than a year ago, have risen by 102 and 75 respectively.
This trend will continue in 2021. As of the close of trading on January 26, Tesla’s market value has reached US$837.1 billion; Weilai, Xpeng, and Ideal have market values ??of US$94.2 billion and 42.3 billion respectively. US dollars and US$29.2 billion. This also means that only four new car companies have created a market value of nearly one trillion US dollars. Among traditional car companies, Toyota, which ranks first in global sales, has a total market value of only US$238.2 billion.
The Hefei Municipal Government, which is betting on NIO, is also known as the "most powerful venture capital" in the industry.
The news of the tie-up with Zhuhai State-owned Assets also gave Jia Yueting and FF unlimited room for imagination.
Does Zhuhai need FF?
Before it was reported that Zhuhai State-owned Assets had invested in FF, there was news that FF had established a new company, Fafa Automobile (Zhuhai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "FF Zhuhai Company") in Hengqin, Zhuhai.
Qixinbao shows that FF Zhuhai Company was officially established on December 14, 2020, with a registered capital of US$250 million and 100 shares held by FF Hong Kong Holding Limited. The legal person of the company is Jia Chentao, who also serves as a supervisor of LeTV Ecological Automobile (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd.
The company’s business scope includes: sales of new energy vehicles; sales of new energy vehicle production and testing equipment; research and development of auto parts; sales of new energy vehicle electrical accessories; operation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure; software development; labor Intelligent industry application system integration services; intelligent vehicle equipment manufacturing, etc.
This is also considered by the industry to be a prelude to FF settling in Zhuhai.
The arrival of FF has also been interpreted by the industry as promoting the focus of high-level talents in Zhuhai's automobile industry, accelerating the circulation of industrial capital, accelerating the improvement of the industrial chain, and promoting the development of Zhuhai's new energy automobile industry. ?
In fact, as an important automobile manufacturing base in the country, Zhuhai has been vigorously developing the new energy automobile industry.
As early as 10 years ago, Zhuhai released the "Zhuhai New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2011-2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which pointed out that Zhuhai vigorously develops emerging industries and actively introduces new Energy vehicles and their upstream and downstream companies have emerged with good development prospects, such as Yintong New Energy Co., Ltd., and the industrial chain from complete vehicle manufacturing to key components and charging equipment such as batteries, motors, and electronic controls has taken shape. Preliminary statistics show that there are more than a dozen new energy vehicle companies in Zhuhai, with a total industrial output value of 527 million yuan in 2009.
According to the "Plan", by 2015, Zhuhai will achieve a new energy vehicle industry scale of more than 10 billion yuan and become an excellent city for the promotion and application demonstration of new energy vehicles in the province. By 2020, the scale of the new energy vehicle industry will reach more than 80 billion yuan, and the province's important new energy vehicle production base and the country's important new energy vehicle key component production base will be built, and it will become an excellent city for the promotion and application demonstration of new energy vehicles nationwide. .
In 2010, the first batch of 20 pure electric buses in Zhuhai were put into operation on 2 bus lines, marking the first commercial operation of pure electric buses in Guangdong Province.
Dong Mingzhu’s investment in 2016 brought widespread attention to Zhuhai Yinlong, which had been unknown for a long time. In the same year, ZTE Corporation, a traditional mobile phone equipment manufacturer, acquired Zhuhai Guangtong Bus and established ZTE Intelligent Automobile Co., Ltd. to enter the field of new energy vehicles. In November 2019, Zhuhai Jinwan ZTE Intelligent Automobile New Base was completed and put into production, with a single-shift annual output of large and medium-sized vehicles There are 5,000 buses.
The Pearl River Jinwan District, home to Yinlong New Energy and ZTE Intelligent Vehicles, has been rated as the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Base for Strategic Emerging Industries of Guangdong Province". The products it produces mainly include new energy vehicles (pure electric vehicles) , hybrid vehicles, LNG vehicles, etc.) vehicle production, power batteries, motors, electronic controls and other key components.
It is worth noting that Yinlong New Energy and ZTE Smart Vehicles mainly focus on the field of electric buses, while Zhuhai’s performance in new energy passenger vehicles is weak.
Since the end of 2018, the internal fighting between the two major shareholders Dong Mingzhu and Wei Yincang has also caused Zhuhai Yinlong to gradually fall behind in the internal friction.
During this period, Shanghai successively introduced Tesla, invested in WM Motor and built the Zhiji brand. Hefei invested again in Leapmotor after introducing NIO. Zhuhai’s layout in the field of new energy passenger vehicles is almost blank. .
In order to speed up the automobile industry cluster, Zhuhai has increased investment in related industries in the past two years.
Public information shows that state-owned enterprises in Zhuhai have added more than 200 new industrial investment projects in the past two years, involving an investment amount of more than 20 billion yuan. They have recommended and introduced more than 200 companies to various departments at all levels in Zhuhai City, promoting More than 60 high-tech companies have signed contracts or settled here. In terms of strategic investment, Zhuhai municipal state-owned enterprises have become the largest shareholders of 8 listed companies through investment and mergers (6 holding and consolidated listed companies), with a total market value of approximately 50 billion yuan, and 1 company has been privatized.
In May 2020, the "Opinions of the People's Government of Guangdong Province on Cultivating and Development of Strategic Pillar Industrial Clusters and Strategic Emerging Industrial Clusters" clearly stated that we should adhere to the simultaneous development of traditional and new energy vehicles. Promote new energy and intelligent connected vehicles, expand the proportion of high-end models, and increase the proportion of new energy vehicles. Optimize the regional layout of the automobile industry focusing on Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, and Zhaoqing to create an automobile industry cluster with international influence.
Currently, Zhuhai is accelerating the cultivation of five major 100-billion-level industrial clusters focusing on integrated circuits, biomedicine, new materials, new energy, and high-end printing equipment.
From the perspective of the industry, FF, which is just one step away from mass production, has a number of technology patents, especially in the core technologies of electric vehicles, software, artificial intelligence and the Internet. , if it goes well, it may be able to make up for Zhuhai's shortcomings in the field of high-end new energy passenger vehicles. Jia Yueting's credibility in the country has not been completely restored, and FF has a history of going to court with Evergrande. ?Some people in the industry are also worried that the risks of cooperation with FF are uncontrollable.
It is worth noting that FF is currently promoting related testing work for pre-production vehicles. On December 9 last year, FF stated on its social media account: "Another pre-production vehicle has been completed. It will join the test fleet for road testing and continue to advance the FF 91 mass production plan." ?