Wen | Zhang Jun
Edit | Han Dapeng
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Nezha Auto Exceed Wei Xiaoli and topped the delivery list. but Due to the large difference between the delivery volume and the insured volume, This car company is It is challenged by data injection. In addition, the average selling price eight Ten thousand of it, Try to impact the high-end market, A leap Launch 300000 Price model ， Many netizens questioned "overestimation" 。
Since this year, the seats of Weixiaoli's new car making forces have changed for many consecutive months.
A little-known car company named Nezha Auto surpassed Wei Xiaoli and topped the delivery list. However, the high altitude is extremely cold. Due to the large difference between the delivery volume and the insured volume, Nezha Automobile is also challenged by the data injection.
At the same time, after the rise of sales volume based on cost performance ratio, Nezha Motors is trying to impact the high-end market. The launched Nezha S has even reached the price of 300000 yuan, a reversal of the normal price of about 100000 yuan. However, the long-term dependence on the low-end market and the B-end market has led to the low brand awareness of Nezha Auto, which has even been labeled as a fake brand by many netizens.
The continuous loss may be one of the reasons why Nezha Automobile has hit the high-end market. According to the data, in 2020 and 2021, Nezha Automobile suffered a total loss of more than 4.2 billion yuan. However, the lack of research and development strength may be a major obstacle to Nezha's impact on the high-end market. It is not easy for Nezha to change the current situation if it adopts the "take it" approach in many important technologies.
Data injection behind high sales volume?
Nezha Auto, which has never been known to the public, has become a dark horse in the new force of car making since this year.
According to the delivery data released by the major new car making forces, in the first half of this year, Nezha's car delivery began to enter the first camp of new car making forces; Since July this year, it has even surpassed the "Weixiaoli", the three new automobile manufacturing forces, and has taken the first place.
Nezha Auto has a strong traditional car enterprise gene, and its founding team is mainly Chery and BAIC. The core team led by founder Fang Yunzhou is basically from Chery's "new energy division". In 2018, Zhang Yong, the former deputy general manager of BAIC BJEV, joined as CEO.
Chery and BAIC's genes have created today's Nezha Automobile. One is the low-end market, and the other is the B-end market.
In 2018, Nezha N01, the first mass production model of Nezha Motors, was unveiled, with a starting price of only 59800 yuan; In March 2020, the second mass production model, Nezha U, will be launched, with a starting price of 139800 yuan; In November 2020, the third mass production model, Nezha V, will be launched, with a starting price of 59900 yuan; Later, Nezha U Pro and Nezha V Pro were successively launched, with a starting price of 99800 yuan and 76900 yuan respectively.
Zhang Yong from BAIC BJEV opened the B-end market for low-cost Nezha cars. When Zhang Yong was at BAIC BJEV, he focused on public sales, built a cooperative relationship with local governments, including taxis, online car hailing, official cars and other government subordinate models, and deeply cooperated with enterprises and institutions.
Zhang Yong also adopted this approach in Nezha Auto, bringing in investment platforms subordinate to the governments of Yichun, Jiangxi and Nanning, Guangxi to participate in financing, and reaping a large number of government orders. Under the low price strategy and corporate sales strategy, the delivery volume of Nezha Auto, an unknown brand, began to increase dramatically.
However, with the rise of Nezha's automobile delivery volume, the dispute over its data injection has also followed.
According to the data released by Nezha Auto, 18016 Nezha Automobiles were delivered in October this year, up 122% year on year. For specific models, 6295 Nezha U series vehicles were delivered, up 115% year on year; Nezha V series delivered 11721 vehicles, up 126% year on year.
However, the Comparison of Delivery Volume/Insurance Volume of New Auto Manufacturing Forces in October 2022 shows that Nezha Auto has become the largest difference between delivery volume and insurance volume while becoming the first in sales volume. In October, only 9832 Nezha cars were insured, which was 8184 different from the official delivery.
The insured amount refers to the amount of compulsory traffic insurance purchased by consumers after the vehicles are sold, so it can also better reflect the real sales situation of car enterprises at the C-end.
There may be two main reasons for the large difference between Nezha's delivery volume and the insured volume. First, Nezha focused on the B-end market in its early days. Although Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha, said that he had been reducing the proportion of this market, there was still a certain base; Second, the sales of Nezha Automobile are mainly based on the dealer model. According to the data, as of the end of October this year, the number of Nezha Automobile stores nationwide was 355, including 110 direct stores, that is, 70% of the stores are non direct stores. There is a situation of overstocking dealers.
How does low brand awareness impact the high-end?
Although the delivery volume of Nezha Auto has become the first among the new car makers, its brand recognition is still not high among C-end users.
In some auto forums, when referring to Nezha Auto, many users attached labels such as "inferior brand" and "fake brand" to it, and some users teased why it was not called Jindouyun Auto or Sun Dasheng Auto.
On the one hand, it is related to its early focus on the low-end market and the B-end market. When a large number of Nezha's products flow to the B-end market instead of the C-end users, users' awareness is naturally low; On the other hand, in order to get out of the circle in the early days, Nezha also had negative opinions on marketing.
In 2021, Nezha executives proposed to "ask Wu Yifan to speak for them", which aroused public doubts. The screenshot of the then weblog showed that in the WeChat group of "Nezha Brand Center Management Group", Peng Gang, the head of Nezha auto market, proposed to invite Wu Yifan as the spokesperson, and said that "Nezha spirit is an opportunity for everyone to be a new person", which was supported by others, Peng Gang also said, "This matter is out of the loop in five minutes. In fact, it can be tried. The big deal is to go back to the official apology and dismiss the relevant personnel."
After the incident was exposed, netizens denounced the malicious hype of Nezha cars. "It really went out of the circle, but no one bought cars," said one netizen. The incident ended with the dismissal of relevant personnel.
However, it is clear that Nezha Automobile is not willing to accept the low-end market.
In July this year, Nezha launched the Nezha S series of products. Instead of the usual low price strategy of Nezha V and Nezha U, the price of some models even exceeded 300000 yuan, starting to impact the high-end market. Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha Auto, even shouted the slogan "Nezha S, the best car race within 1 million". He also said that he expected Nezha S to pass the exam if it sold more than 10000 units per month, and to be an excellent student if it sold more than 20000 units per month.
This goal is undoubtedly a great challenge for current Nezha Motors. According to the delivery data in October, the Nezha V series with the lowest price achieved a monthly delivery of more than 10000 units, while the Nezha U series with a slightly higher price just exceeded 6000 units. The Nezha S series needs a monthly delivery of more than 10000 units, or even 20000 units, which is far from the goal.
In addition to the brand level, Nezha Auto wants to hit the high-end, and its technical weakness is also obvious. For example, when BYD is mentioned, users can think of blade batteries; When it comes to questions, users can think of Hongmeng intelligent cockpit; When it comes to Nezha, there are few technical highlights that users can think of.
A few days ago, Nezha Automobile held a special technical brand conference, releasing the Haozhi series of technical brands and a number of related technical products, hoping to break the inherent image of its "low-end electric vehicles". Dai Dali, CTO of Nezha Automobile, said frankly at the press conference that technological innovation will become the key point to determine the end of the future new energy vehicle industry, and the things bought cannot be differentiated. Although there are fewer and fewer things that people don't have, we can work hard in the direction that people have my advantages.
When will it be profitable to sell a car with a loss of 40000 yuan?
Nezha Automobile has to rely on self-developed technology to hit the high-end. One of the challenges it faces is its poor financial situation.
While the delivery volume of Nezha Auto has been growing, its losses have also been expanding. According to the financial data of Nezha Auto disclosed by 360, in 2020, Nezha Auto's revenue was 1.297 billion yuan, with a net loss of 1.321 billion yuan; In 2021, the revenue will increase to 5.735 billion yuan, and the net loss will also expand to 2.908 billion yuan.
Consecutive losses may also be one of the reasons why Nezha Automobile has hit the high-end market.
In 2020, a total of 15091 Nezha vehicles will be delivered; In 2021, a total of 69674 Nezha cars will be delivered. Based on this calculation, the income of each car of Nezha Motors in 2020 and 2021 is only about 80000 yuan. In contrast, the average price of a single car of Weixiaoli in 2021 is 410000 yuan, 200000 yuan and 320000 yuan respectively. Although the monthly delivery volume exceeds that of Weixiaoli, the average price of Nezha's products still lags far behind the three.
In addition, based on this calculation, every time Nezha sells a car in 2021, it will lose more than 40000 yuan. One of Nezha's important goals is to improve the price and sales of its products so as to turn around its financial situation.
Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha Automobile, said in an interview with the media earlier that Nezha Automobile's internal calculation showed that the sales volume reached 300000 to 500000 units, which could initially form the ability to scale, and at the same time achieve a balance of profit and loss, and the cash flow was relatively safe. 500000 units was the first target.
It is worth noting that the IPO of Nezha Auto is not smooth.
In 2020, Nezha Automobile announced that it would start the application for listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, and planned to complete the listing in 2021. However, the Science and Technology Innovation Board strengthened the review on the scientific and technological content of listed enterprises, leading Nezha Automobile to terminate its plan to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
At the beginning of this year, Nezha Auto was once again revealed to be planning to go to Hong Kong for listing. Later, there was an episode related to 360, which added variables to Nezha's IPO plan.
In October 2021, 360 announced that it planned to invest 2.9 billion yuan in Nezha Auto. But after investing 1.9 billion yuan, in June this year, 360 suddenly announced that it would give up 1 billion yuan of capital increase and transfer 3.532% of Nezha Auto's equity at 0 yuan. It is reported that 360 originally planned to become the second largest shareholder of Nezha Motors, but after giving up the 1 billion yuan capital increase, 360 now holds 11.4266% of the shares of Nezha Motors, the third largest shareholder.
According to 360, this is to support Nezha Automobile to carry out shareholding reform and improve the control of the management team.
Zhang Yong also responded to this matter in an interview. He said that the IPO requirement is that the actual controller of the team should hold no less than 35% of the shares. Although Nezha Auto has reached this level, he still hopes that the team will have more voice. "Because the whole vehicle enterprise is planning for five or even ten years, it cannot follow the principle of short-term benefits." So he discussed with Zhou Hongyi, Chairman of 360, and hoped that the team could improve its control and voting rights.
In fact, Zhou Hongyi also disclosed that he had an ideological collision with Nezha Auto's team in the interview.
Zhou Hongyi's idea to Zhang Yong is to build cars for the people, and he firmly opposes building sports cars. "In my impression, only a playboy drives a sports car, but sometimes I also feel that my opinion cannot force the team, because I represent the aesthetic view of a 50 year old man, and user surveys are still needed to resolve disputes."
When 360 invested in Nezha Auto, a special press conference was held with the theme of "making cars for the people"; After 360 gave up the 1 billion yuan capital increase, Zhang Yong shouted the slogan "Nezha S, the best car race within 1 million yuan". It has to be meaningful.
