AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/20 Report--

Since Geely and Baidu jointly formed a joint venture, Jidu Motors, Jidu Motors has decided to launch its first new car in the next three years. On July 20, at the media communication meeting, Jidu Automobile announced the latest development of the new car. Jidu Motors said that its first car robot concept car, the ROBO- 01 production version, is scheduled to be unveiled at this year's Guangzhou Auto Show and is expected to be delivered in 2023, when the design of the second production model will also be announced at the Guangzhou Auto Show. The second model may continue 01's design style and elements, and delivery is expected to begin in 2024. In addition to product-related information, Jidu Automobile also re-emphasized the incident of "Geely withdrawing from Jidu Automobile Investment": "the industrial and commercial change is a normal adjustment based on the needs of business development. Jidu is still jointly owned by Baidu and Geely, and the shares held by both sides remain unchanged, and Geely's SEA vast platform and Baidu Apollo self-driving technology will still be adopted."

However, according to the latest report today, Xia Yiping, CEO of Jidu Automobile, told the media: "in fact, Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd. is an early domestic company registered by Geely and Baidu. With the restructuring of our structure, we will not want this company." Now our employee relationship has been transferred to another company. " Another media said that a Jidu Automobile insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Jidu Automobile is indeed preparing to land in the capital market, and that US stocks, Hong Kong stocks and A shares are all possible, depending on the specific circumstances. In addition, Jidu Automobile will not be limited to Geely and Baidu, the future will also consider the introduction of new shares Oriental.

According to public data, Jidu Automobile was founded on March 2, 2021 and is a smart car company jointly established by Baidu and Geely Holdings with a registered capital of 2 billion yuan. Baidu and Geely own 55% and 45% respectively. Based on Geely's latest global leading pure electric architecture, the vast SEA Intelligent Evolutionary experience Architecture, the two sides work closely together to build smart cars.

On June 28, industrial and commercial changes took place in Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd. Shanghai Huapu Automobile Co., Ltd., an affiliated company of Zhejiang Geely holding Group, withdrew, and Baidu's stake in Dazi County Bairuixiang Venture Capital Management Co., Ltd. rose to 100%, with the latter's contribution from 1.1 billion to 2 billion. Xia Yiping, CEO of Jidu Automobile, stepped down, the legal representative was changed from Xia Yiping to Liang Zhixiang, and an Conghui resigned from the director. The incident immediately attracted the attention of the industry. according to the initial plan, although Jidu Automobile is a company jointly established by Baidu and Geely, Baidu will dominate the definition of the product. The withdrawal of Shanghai Huapu Automobile Co., Ltd., an affiliated company of Zhejiang Geely holding Group, may mean that Baidu will have more dominance. In response to the industrial and commercial changes in Jidu Automobile, Jidu Automobile made a quick response on Weibo at that time: "this is a normal adjustment made by the company based on business development needs. Jidu is still jointly owned by Baidu and Geely, the shares held by both parties remain unchanged, and the CEO of Jidu is Xia Yiping." At the same time, Xia Yiping also refuted the rumor on Weibo: "Thank you for your attention, this is the normal adjustment of the company due to business development, Jidu is still jointly owned by Baidu and Geely, the shares held by both parties remain unchanged, and Uncle Xia is still Jidu CEO."

As for Jidu's first car product, Baidu founder Robin Li has previously revealed that Jidu's first car product will be mass produced in 2023, priced at about 200000 yuan, and the target market is family cars. Xia Yiping, CEO of Jidu Automobile, also said in an interview with the media: "the first mass-produced model of Jidu locates a medium-sized SUV, directly aligns Tesla and Model Y, and surpasses Tesla's generation in intelligence." At this media communication meeting, Xia Yiping pointed out that the price of the first car will not be about 200000, but 200000. At present, production of Jidu production cars is starting at Geely's Hangzhou Bay factory, and Xia Yiping revealed that Jidu Automobile's first store will open in Shanghai in October this year.

In fact, whether Baidu can build a car has been the focus of the industry since it announced in January last year that it would enter the auto industry as a vehicle manufacturer. Baidu as one of the earliest Internet companies involved in self-driving business in China, before the establishment of Jidu Automobile, Baidu had begun to lay out the field of auto self-driving, including a series of cooperation with BAIC, Great Wall Automobile, Jianghuai Automobile, Changan Automobile, Chery Automobile and other car companies, but in spite of this, Baidu's output in Apollo self-driving technology is not ideal. There are very few models fully equipped with its technology and mass-produced on a large scale, so it is generally believed in the industry that the existence of Jidu Automobile is mainly to demonstrate Baidu's self-driving technology, so Jidu Automobile will not pay too much attention to the problem of profitability. it may even lose money and yell. In response to this view, Xia Yiping explained to the media that Jidu definitely does not build cars to "sell one at a loss". Jidu attaches great importance to the issue of profit, and will strive to balance costs and prices, and do a good job at the operational level.

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