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Text / Zhang Yu
Source: DoNews (ID: ilovedonews)
01. G9 was complained and the organizational structure was adjusted
Due to sluggish sales and weak stock price, Xiaopeng Motors has set off the largest organizational structure and personnel adjustment since its establishment.
On October 21, He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, issued an email to all staff, announcing the establishment of five virtual committee organizations and three product matrix organizations. The first is to ensure that the customer and market orientation are the main, end-to-end responsible products (including service products) full business closed loop.
It is reported that the five virtual committees include the strategy committee, the production planning committee, the technical planning committee, the production and sales balance committee and the OTA committee. President He Tao and Xiaopeng Motors Vice President Chen Yonghai, they report directly to He Xiaopeng.
The three product matrices are the E platform, the F platform and the H platform, which are responsible for the horizontal E, F, and H model product platforms respectively. And Jiao Qingchun, senior director of interior and exterior decoration, is in charge, and the three responsible persons also report directly to He Xiaopeng.
According to industry insiders, the organizational structure of Xpeng Motors and the scale and strength of personnel adjustments may be related to its SUV model Xpeng G9, which was launched on September 21.
Xpeng G9 is the most important flagship model of Xpeng Motors and shoulders the heavy responsibility of brand improvement. At the press conference, He Xiaopeng said confidently that the Xiaopeng G9 is “the best SUV within 500,000 yuan”, and will take over from Porsche as a benchmark, surpassing Audi Q5 in sales next year. Previously, He Xiaopeng even promised investors on the earnings conference call that he would increase the price of bicycles through models such as the Xiaopeng G9, thereby improving the company’s gross profit margin.
However, He Xiaopeng was quickly slapped in the face by reality. After the release of Xiaopeng G9, its strategy of high price and low allocation and complicated product configuration immediately attracted a flood of bad reviews, causing a serious word-of-mouth crisis. Xiaopeng Motors urgently adjusted its market strategy after the press conference, and announced a new plan on the third day. Compared with the original plan, the new plan not only changed the model configuration, but even reduced the price by 20,000 yuan in disguised form. Less than 48 hours after the launch, the pricing of all products was overturned, and Xiaopeng Motors set a record for the fastest price reduction after a new car was launched.
However, compared with product failure, Xpeng Motors’ stock market performance is more indescribable. As of the close of U.S. stocks on October 28, the share price of Xiaopeng Motors fell 7.5% to an all-time low, with a cumulative decline of 16.2% in the week.
The fact reflected behind all the signs is that Xiaopeng Motors may have entered a cold winter period.
02. In the past, the sales were the best, but the current sales are sluggish
According to the September 2022 delivery list, Xiaopeng Motors delivered 8,468 vehicles, of which 4,634 were delivered by the Xiaopeng P7, 2,417 by the Xiaopeng P5, and 1,233 by the Xiaopeng G3i. From January to September 2022, Xiaopeng Motors delivered a total of 98,553 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 75%, exceeding the full-year delivery in 2021.
On the surface, Xpeng Motors’ deliveries do not seem to be bad, but if it is specific to the delivery volume in the past two months, its performance is hardly optimistic, and the signs of falling behind are becoming more and more obvious.
In August, Xiaopeng Motors delivered 9,578 vehicles, ranking behind Nezha, Leapmotor and Weilai; in September, Xiaopeng Motors’ deliveries fell further, down 18.78% year-on-year and 11.6% month-on-month, not only inferior to GAC Aian, Nezha Auto, Li Auto, Leapmotor and Weilai, and even AITO, became the only new energy vehicle manufacturer whose delivery volume fell, and was also squeezed out of the first echelon.
According to the plan of Xiaopeng Motors, its delivery target in 2022 is 250,000 vehicles, and it strives to reach 300,000 vehicles. However, the first three quarters of 2022 have passed, and the delivery volume of Xiaopeng Motors is still less than 100,000 vehicles. 39% of the target, with its current delivery level, there is a big gap between Xiaopeng Motors and the delivery target of 250,000.
If you go further, from January to June 2022, the deliveries of Xiaopeng Motors, Nezha Auto, Li Auto, Leapmotor and NIO will be 68,900, 63,100, 60,000, and 51,900 respectively. And 50,000 vehicles, at that time Xiaopeng Motors became the top-selling new force in car manufacturing with a slight advantage.
However, in the third quarter, Xiaopeng Motors gradually declined. From January to September 2022, Nezha Automobile, Xiaopeng Automobile, Leapmotor, Lili Automobile and NIO will be the top five new car manufacturers, with deliveries of 111,200, 98,500, 87,600, and 8.69 million respectively. With 10,000 and 82,400 vehicles, Xiaopeng Motors not only lost the top sales, but was also surpassed by the second-tier Nezha Motors.
The bad situation of Xiaopeng Motors has long been shown in its financial report.
In the first half of 2022, Xiaopeng Motors’ losses further expanded. Its net loss was 4.402 billion yuan, an increase of 122.21% compared with the same period in 2021, which means that the average loss of each car sold in the first half of the year was 63,800 yuan. It is worth mentioning that the net losses of Xiaopeng Motors in 2020 and 2021 are 2.7 billion yuan and 4.9 billion yuan respectively, and the cumulative net loss in two and a half years is 12 billion yuan.
A major reason for the loss points to its low gross profit margin. In the first half of 2022, Xiaopeng Motors’ gross profit margin is 11.6%, which is the same as the same period in 2021. Horizontal comparison, Li Auto’s gross profit margin is 22.09%, far Much higher than Xpeng Motors.
In this context, Xiaopeng Motors once pinned its hopes on Xiaopeng G9, “Xpeng G9 will not only help Xiaopeng Motors achieve rapid sales growth, but also help the company’s gross profit margin increase.” He Xiaopeng once said, “With the With the launch of the G9 and subsequent new platforms and new models, we will structurally improve the gross profit margin of models. Our mid- to long-term goal is to increase the overall gross profit margin of the company to over 25%.”
At present, the hope of Xiaopeng Motors has obviously been dashed, and there are various signs that Xiaopeng Motors is on the verge of falling behind. Next, whether it can survive the increasingly fierce knockout competition, this organizational structure and personnel adjustment may be a turning point.
03. Competition in the new energy vehicle market intensifies
In fact, not only Xiaopeng Motors, but also the new car-making forces represented by “Wei Xiaoli” are facing the impact from traditional car manufacturers.
For example, AITO Wenjie delivered 10,142 vehicles in September, continuing the growth momentum in August, and the delivery volume reached a new high, achieving more than 10,000 monthly deliveries for two consecutive months; another example is Jikr Automobile, which delivered 8,276 vehicles in September. The new car increased by 15.5% month-on-month, and the cumulative delivery exceeded 45,000 units, setting new records in a row and setting a new high for monthly delivery. From the perspective of delivery volume, the new energy brands that traditional car manufacturers have paired have had a huge impact on “Weixiaoli”.
On September 6, at the 4th Global New Energy and Smart Vehicle Supply Chain Innovation Conference, Miao Wei, Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said: “The target of the penetration rate of new energy vehicles reaching 25% is likely to be advanced in advance. 3 years, that is, this year.” Previously, the “New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)” proposed that the penetration rate of China’s new energy vehicles should reach 25% by 2025.
The achievement of the penetration rate target of new energy vehicles ahead of schedule also means that the new energy vehicle brands of traditional car manufacturers are ushering in a breakthrough window period.
At present, the progress of traditional car manufacturers to fully turn to the new energy vehicle track has been accelerated, and the competition pattern of new energy vehicles is being reshaped. On October 20, GAC Aian has completed the A round of financing. According to the plan, GAC Aian originally planned to raise 15 billion yuan when it was listed, but the final total financing has exceeded 18 billion yuan, and the scale of fundraising has exceeded the original plan by 22%.
In addition, Chery Automobile also accelerated the pace of listing. In 2020, Chery Automobile proposed an accelerated listing plan, with the goal of landing in the capital market in 2022. In September 2022, Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Holdings and Chery Automobile, said on listing matters: “After the completion of capital increase and share expansion, Chery has put accelerated listing work on the important agenda.”
“In contrast, ‘Weixiaoli’ has inherent deficiencies, such as its lack of funds and its small scale. Compared with traditional car manufacturers, new car manufacturers do not have an advantage in supply chain and other aspects. At the same time, with the The new energy vehicle brands of traditional car manufacturers are listed one after another, and the difficulties faced by new car manufacturers will be even greater.” A person in the new energy vehicle industry told DoNews (ID: ilovedonews).
From the perspective of delivery volume, Xiaopeng Motors has been hit far more seriously than its competitors. At this stage, the main sales model of Xiaopeng Motors is still the Xiaopeng P7 launched two years ago, but with the new energy vehicle track It is getting more and more crowded, and Xiaopeng Motors urgently needs new models to undertake sales growth to prove that it has sufficient product competitiveness and market sustainability.
Undoubtedly, in the face of changes in the market environment and the pressure of competitors, Xiaopeng Motors has come to the point where it has to break the boat.
This article is reproduced from: https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/csj/2022-11-05/doc-imqqsmrp5020720.shtml
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