The Associated Press, May 20 (reporter Tang Zhixiao) Recently, Maverick Electric released its performance report for the first quarter of 2024.
Data shows that the sales volume of Xiaoniu Electric in the first quarter of 2024 will be 129139 vehicles, up 36.8% year on year, with a revenue of 504.7 million yuan, up 21.0% year on year.
According to the market division, the sales volume of finished vehicles in the domestic market was 110115, up 35.1% year on year, and the revenue of finished vehicles was 392.9 million yuan; The sales volume of finished vehicles in overseas markets was 19024, up 47.6% year on year, and the revenue of finished vehicles was 49 million yuan.
Growth comes from overseas, and the domestic market has not yet fully recovered
According to the data share, the domestic market is still the main sales source of Xiaoniu Electric, accounting for 85.3%, while the overseas market accounts for less than 30%. Although the domestic sales data of Q1 in 2024 increased significantly compared with the same period of last year, it has not recovered to the same period of 2022.
After a round of decline, the overseas market has gradually recovered and sales volume has increased. On the whole, the Q1 revenue of Xiaoniu Electric in 2024 has not yet recovered to the level of the same period in 2022, but it is better than the expected 480 million yuan by the end of 2023.
According to previous statistics, the annual sales volume of Xiaoniu Electric will be about 700000 in 2023. At the performance briefing, Li Yan, CEO of Xiaoniu Electric, said to reporters: "In 2024, we will still seek to complete the shipment of more than one million vehicles in the domestic and foreign markets. From our financial report data, the growth is mainly from overseas markets."
From the financial report data, the reporter noticed that the proportion of high-end products of Xiaoniu Electric has increased, but the profit margin has not improved much.
Li Jing, the investor relations manager of Maverick Electric, responded to the reporter: "The reason why the profit margin has not increased is that we have changed the domestic IDR sales policy and shared more growth profits with distributors to regain the Chinese market and strengthen the position of new products. The proportion of scooters sold overseas is more than that of last year."
In addition, Li Jing added that sales and marketing expenses in the domestic market have declined by 2-3%, because more profit margins have been shared with distributors, and marketing expenses and retail channel expenses need to be cut to maintain a healthy operating profit contribution rate. "But we will also invest more money in brand building and channel building in domestic and foreign markets, so the sales and marketing expenses in the international market are still at a high level."
It is reported that in the first quarter, Xiaoniu Electric released a new performance flagship electric bicycle NXT, which was the first time in the industry to use the automotive level millimeter wave radar, and applied the intelligent cockpit level "magic wheel" interactive knob. Mavericks said that the car was sought after by the market after its launch, and its sales in the first quarter accounted for 26% of the overall domestic sales.
Mavericks said that since its launch in the domestic market at the end of February, the company's high-end new products have received extremely positive market response. It is reported that at present, Mavericks is expanding sales channels to improve store efficiency, with a view to achieving sustained growth in the upcoming sales season.
When the transition period of the "new national standard" ends, is the "renewal" of two wheel electric vehicles a new opportunity?
Although the transition period of non-standard electric vehicles has officially ended, the upstream lithium battery price of Xiaoniu Electric has continued to decline. Local governments have launched the "old for new" policy for electric vehicles, which may inject new vitality into the two wheel lithium battery.
According to the data disclosed by ICC, the price of square power cell (lithium iron phosphate) fell from 0.82 yuan/Wh in January 2023 to 0.43 yuan/Wh in December 2023, a drop of more than 47%; The price of square power cell (three yuan) dropped from 0.92/Wh in January 2023 to 0.52/Wh in December 2023, a drop of more than 43%.
It is reported that non-standard electric vehicles in many parts of the country will expire from March to June 2024; In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is responsible for organizing the drafting of the mandatory national standard of Technical Specification for Safety of Lithium Ion Batteries for Electric Bicycles (GB 43854-2024), which will be officially implemented on November 1, 2024.
On April 23, the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the Notice on Shanghai's Action Plan for Promoting Large scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade in (2024-2027).
In Article 14 of the notice, it is clearly and orderly to carry out the trade in of old electric bicycles, guide the production and sales enterprises of electric bicycles to actively carry out the trade in promotion activities, encourage and guide the citizens to choose and replace the tram model, and promote the withdrawal of old electric bicycles and batteries from use.
In addition to Shanghai, Zhejiang Province also issued the Notice on Several Measures to Promote Large scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade in.
In the notice, it is clear that the old electric bicycles will be exchanged for the new ones, and non-standard electric bicycles will be cleaned up and renovated. By 2027, non-standard electric bicycles on record will be completely eliminated.
Some insiders believe that the "old for new" activity of electric bicycles is just to guide the production and sales enterprises to actively carry out the "old for new" promotional activities. Such efforts are not strong, and such promotional activities have always existed.
In an interview with the Associated Press of Finance, Zhan Junhao, founder of Fujian Huace Brand Positioning Consulting, said: "After the end of the transition period of the 'new national standard', the sales growth of Xiaoniu Electric may face certain challenges in the short term, but the differentiated positioning of Xiaoniu Electric" high-end electric vehicles "can still attract consumers who pursue quality and brand. In addition, with the improvement of environmental awareness and the growth of urban short distance travel demand, even after the implementation of the new national standard, the market for high-quality and high-performance electric two wheeled vehicles still has a large space for development. "
In terms of channel construction, as of March 31, 2024, Xiaoniu Electric has 2878 brand experience stores and specialty stores in China, and has entered 54 countries overseas through 58 dealers. According to the data released at the end of 2023, there are 2856 stores of Xiaoniu Electric in China, and the overseas sales network includes 56 dealers covering 54 countries.
At the previous new product media communication meeting, Maverick said that it would launch the "1000 store plan" in 2024, and open 1000-2000 stores. At present, from the data level, the offline channel construction of Xiaoniu Electric has not made much progress.
Li Yan answered the reporter at the performance briefing: "The expansion of the global market has always been our top priority. The number of our stores in the first quarter increased by 20 to 30, and there are still more stores under construction. Because usually the third quarter is the peak sales season, we plan to add hundreds of stores in the second, third and fourth quarters. "
In an interview with the Associated Press of Finance and Economics, Zhi Peiyuan, an enterprise tutor for master students from the School of Management of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), said: "The slowdown in the growth of Xiaoniu's electric stores may be related to multiple factors such as market saturation, rising rent costs and adjustment of business strategies. In order to meet this challenge, Xiaoniu Electric needs to re-examine its offline store layout strategy, optimize store location and operation mode, and actively explore online and offline integrated sales mode to adapt to changes in consumer shopping habits. "
Mavericks said that they are optimistic about the performance in the second quarter. It is expected that the revenue in the second quarter will be between 912 million yuan and 995 million yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 10% - 20%.
