Zero -run car struggle "ashore"

Author | Karong

Edit | Tang Fei

After the "Wei Xiaoli", the fourth new vehicle construction forces are about to "ashore".

On August 29, according to the announcement of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Zhejiang Zero Running Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Zero Running Car") passed the listed hearing of the Stock Exchange. Market sources said that it will start the first public offer (IPO) pre -performance this week, and will be offered as soon as September. Zero Running Technology plans to raise 1.5 billion US dollars (at a discount of 11.7 billion yuan), and China Gold, Citi, Morgan Chase and Jianyin International are joint sponsor.

In fact, zero -run cars have long been willing to go public. In November 2020, Wu Baojun, co -founder and president of Zero Running Automobile, publicly stated that "it is planned to submit an IPO file in the second half of 2021, and it will be listed on the science and technology board at the end of 2021 or early 2022."

However, due to the obstruction of some car companies' landing in the science and technology board in 2021, Zero Running Cars began to change their ideas and seek other ways to go public. In March 2022, Zero Running Automobile officially submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The zero -run car aims at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, on the one hand, because of the new forces such as "Wei Xiaoli", Zhuyu, and on the other hand, it may be because it falls into the quagmire of continuous losses. Capital "storytelling new energy" story ".

Zero -run sales start to "lead"

Although the current volume of zero -run cars is not as good as "Wei Xiaoli", the former's qualifications are not lost to the latter three.

Photo source: Enterprise Check

In December 2015, Zero Running Cars was officially established. At that time, it was the wave of entrepreneurship in China New Energy Vehicle.

According to the company's investigation data, from 2014 to 2016, the registration volume of Chinese new energy vehicle related enterprises was 7,600, 111,000, and 17,000, respectively, an increase of 86.91%, 45.83%, and 53.17%year-on-year. Weilai, Xiaopeng, and ideal car building "Sanjie" are all established around 2015.

Photo source: Enterprise Check

Zero -run cars snatched on the eve of the market also attracted the attention of the capital market. According to the company's investigation data, from 2016 to 2021, zero-running car completed a total of six rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of 11.56 billion yuan. There are many investors behind them, and there are many well-known investment institutions such as Sequoia Fund, CICC Capital, and Viva assets. There are brokerage institutions such as Xingye Securities, Guoxin Securities, and CITIC Construction Investment.

Although it has caught up with the industry dividend window period and has the help of capital, Zero Running Motors failed to be ranked in the same echelon with "Wei Xiaoli" in the future.

This is mainly because the first product of the zero -run car is difficult to produce, and it is not sold.

After the establishment of December 2015, the zero -run car fell into silence. It was not until November 2017 that Zero Running Cars launched the first smart electric coupe S01. Consumers need to wait for the past two years, that is, July 2019, to get the product.

At this time, "Wei Xiaoli" products have been on the market for many years, and they have obtained a good volume at the market level. Taking Xiaopeng as an example, at the end of 2018, Xiaopeng G3 was officially listed and delivered in the same period. In the whole year of 2019, Xiaopeng had passed a total of 12,000 vehicles.

In contrast, the first product of Zero Running Cars not only launching too late, but also selling bleak sales. According to official information, in 2019, Zero Run S01 only delivered about 1,000 units, and only 915 units were delivered in 9 months in 2020.

Of course, the experience of the ideal car also illustrates that when you miss the window period, the brand may not be "overwhelmed." Zero Run S01 instead of losing to time, it is better to lose on the product power. This smart pure electric coupe positioned for 100,000 yuan, NEDC has a range of less than 500km, the wheelbase is 2500mm, and the acceleration of 100 kilometers is 6.9 seconds. The comprehensive configuration is even compared to Xiaopeng G3, which is not listed in the first half of the year.

Subsequently, zero -run cars began to change their ideas and tried to make a difference in the low -cost small electric vehicle market. In this regard, Zhu Jiangming, the founder and chairman of the zero -run car, said: "There are fewer companies doing car now, I believe this is only a sequential issue. In the future, Zero running will also be done, and Xiaopeng and Weilai will also be a car."

In May 2020, Zero Running Cars launched a mini -car zero -run T03. The product was equipped with the L2 intelligent auxiliary driving system with a range of 403km and a starting price of only 68,900 yuan.

With extremely high cost performance, Zero Run T03 began to sell. According to official information, in 2020, the total sales of zero -run cars were 11,391 units, an increase of 1700%year -on -year, of which T03 sales were 10,682 units, accounting for 93.78%of the total sales.

In fact, even today, Zero Run T03 is the facade of the zero -run car. According to official information, in the first half of 2022, zero -running car sales reached 5,1944 units, an increase of 265%year -on -year, of which Zero -run T03 sales were 33058 units, accounting for 63.64%of the total sales.

Picture source: China Business Intelligence Network

In July 2022, a total of 12044 vehicles were delivered, an increase of over 177%year -on -year, surpassing the "Wei Xiaoli", ranking second in China's new forces of the new forces in China.

The truth about the "mid -to -high -end" car companies

In contrast to the continuous selling of low -end products, Zero Running Motors defines itself as "mid -to -high -end" car companies.

From the perspective of the product echelon, Zero Running Car does have mid -to -high -end products. So far, Zero Running Cars have delivered three cars, namely S01, T03, and C11, with the price of about 150,000 yuan, about 100,000 yuan, and about 200,000 yuan. But as mentioned earlier, the real relying on the zero -run car is actually a low -end T03. Picture source: prospectus

Although low -end products can bring good sales data, it is difficult to effectively boost the profit of the enterprise. The prospectus shows that from 2019 to 2021, the gross profit margin of zero-run cars was -95.7%, -50.6%, and -44.3%, respectively. Although it decreased year by year, it was still in losses.

Despite Q1 2022, the gross profit margin of zero-run cars was further reduced to -26.6%. However, during the same period, Weilai, Xiaopeng, and ideal gross profit margin were 18.1%, 10.4%, and 22.4%, respectively.

The most direct impact that the gross profit margin continues to be negative, and the most direct impact on the zero -run car is that it is still "burning money" and cannot stop. From 2019 to 2021, the loss of zero-run cars was 901 million yuan, 1.100 billion yuan, and 2.846 billion yuan, respectively, with a cumulative loss of nearly 5 billion yuan in three years.

Picture source: prospectus

However, the problem is that the low -end electric vehicle market has long been killed into a red sea. Compared with traditional car companies, the advantages of zero -running cars are not obvious.

Official data show that in 2021, Wuling Hongguang MINI EV sales were 426,500 units, and Euler's sales were 135,000.

Judging from the timeline, in the past year, the single -month sales data of Zero Run T03 has been hovering around 5,000, and the monthly sales of Wuling Hongguang MINI EV have already been close to 30,000.

Behind this is actually the shortcoming of zero -run cars at the supply chain level. The reason why Hongguang Mini EV was created by SAIC -GM Wuling was not accidental. Throughout the deepening of commercial vehicle tracks, SAIC -GM Wuling already has a complete and mature, focusing on high -quality, low -cost component supply chains.

Due to the thinner profit of low -end electric vehicles, the upstream industrial chain fluctuates slightly, which may affect the profit of car companies. Even the old -fashioned car companies such as Great Wall have lost their forefoot in the low -end electric vehicle market. In February 2022, the Euler officials passed the notification of black cats and white cats to stop receiving orders.

In March 2022, in the announcement, Euler said: "Although the Euler brand has the advantages of the industrial chain behind, this fashionable car still brings huge losses to the company! Taking Black Cat as an example, 2022 in 2022, in 2022, in 2022, in 2022, in 2022 After the price of raw materials rose sharply, the black cat lost more than 10,000 yuan. "

According to official information, in 2021, the sales volume of Euler brand was about 135,000 units, an increase of 140%year -on -year. Among them, the total sales of black cats and white cat models exceeded 80,000, accounting for about 60 % of the total sales of the Euler brand. Great Wall Motor Eula brand CEO revealed: "Euler's industrial chain integration capability based on Great Wall has achieved the extreme, but it is still losing money."

Compared with the accumulation of the industrial chain of SAIC -GM and Great Wall Motors for decades, there is an advantage in zero -running cars.

Where is the worse than "Wei Xiaoli"?

After realizing that low -cost miniature products are difficult to bring bright profits, the subsequent planning products planned by zero -run cars are "normal body type" models.

The prospectus shows that Zero Running Automobile plans to launch one or three models each year, and 8 new cars will be launched by 2025, covering cars, SUVs and MPV categories.

Picture source: prospectus

For example, in May 2022, Zero Running Motors officially launched a smart pure electric medium -large car C01. The range of this product is about 700 kilometers and the acceleration time of 100 kilometers is less than 4S. It supports Leapmotor Power. The pre -sale price range is 180,000 yuan -27 million yuan, it is planned to be delivered in Q3 in 2022.

This also means that Zero Running Automobile will directly directly decide with "Wei Xiaoli" and even traditional car manufacturers in the mid -to -high -end market.

In the mainstream price segment and the competition with manufacturers with the first advantage, not only the products of the new forces have core competitiveness, but also require new forces companies to have higher financial resources, resource integration capabilities, and more differentiated technical strength.

Although self -proclaimed as "a technology -based smart electric vehicle company with self -developed self -research and self -research", in terms of horizontal comparison, the investment of zero -running cars in research and development is compared to "Wei Xiaoli", and there is still a lot of large gap.

The prospectus shows that from 2019 to 2021, the R & D expenses of zero-run cars were 358 million yuan, 289 million yuan, and 740 million yuan, respectively. The total research and development costs in three years were only about 1.4 billion yuan. In comparison, in 2021, Weilai, Xiaopeng, and ideal R & D expenses were 4.59 billion, 4.14 billion, and 3.29 billion yuan, respectively.

Picture source: prospectus

Although technical competitiveness is a key consideration for consumers to buy products, but sales promotion and subsequent services are also an important means to seize the consumer's mind. The sales and management fees of zero running cars are also behind the same industry players.

According to the financial report, in 2021, the sales and general management costs of zero running were 825 million yuan. In terms of comparison, the sales and general management costs of Weilai, Xiaopeng, and ideal management were 6.878 billion yuan, 5.305 billion yuan, and 3.492 billion yuan, respectively.

This also explains why Weilai can gain a number of loyal fans with the "Haidilao" service and unique power replacement mode. According to the power change alone, in Q1 2022, Weilai built 107 power stations. According to official information, the construction cost of a Weilai second -generation power station was 1.5 million yuan. For the user experience, Weilai can be described as a lot of money.

In comparison, the prospectus of Zero Running Car shows that customers can only use household charging or third -party charging network charging. "We plan to further expand our coverage to other third -party charging networks." Third -party charging networks, very much It is difficult to bring a faster charging experience to the owner.

Although on the surface, the sales of zero -running cars have surpassed "Wei Xiaoli", but companies with real prospects in the automotive industry are often "all -talented". They need to be differentiated in terms of products, user experience, technology, etc. The experience can be based on the top of the times.

Comprehensive competitiveness does not come out of thin air, but requires the investment of real money. This may also be the primary purpose of the zero -run car landing in the capital market.

The prospectus shows that zero -running cars are expected to use 40%of the fundraising for new models, autonomous driving technology, and three -power system technology; 25%will be used to enhance production capacity; 25%will be used to expand business and enhance improvement. Brand awareness; 10%for operation and general company use.

But the question is, can the zero -run car behind "Wei Xiaoli" attract investors' attention?

*This article is based on public information, which is only used as information exchange, and does not constitute any investment suggestions

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