AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/24 Report--

On February 23, GAC GROUP announced that the board of directors approved the proposal to increase capital to Hechuang Automobile, agreeing that the company and its subsidiary GAC Ean should increase capital to the participating company according to the current shareholding ratio of 4.46% and 20.54%, respectively. the amount of capital increase is 107 million yuan and 493 million yuan respectively.

It should be noted that Guan Dayuan, a non-executive director of the company, abstained from voting in the "proposal on increasing Capital of Co-Chuang Automobile" on the grounds that there was uncertainty about the future development of Co-Chuang Automobile and suggested careful investment. According to the data, Guan Da was elected as a director of GAC GROUP in October 2021 and served as chairman of Wanxiang Qianchao Co., Ltd., supervisor of Shunfa Hengye Co., Ltd., chairman of Wanxiang Resources Co., Ltd. In May 2022, he stepped down as the legal representative of Wanxiang Qianchao and will no longer hold the post of chairman. As to why the director abstained, it may have something to do with the current performance of Co-Chuang Motor in the auto market.

When it comes to Co-Venture, people who don't pay much attention to the auto industry may not be familiar with it. after all, its own brand is not well-known in the market, but its predecessor is well known. Hechuang Motor, formerly known as GAC GROUP and Lai Motor, formerly known as GAC NIO, was established in April 2018 and is jointly owned by GAC GROUP, GAC Ean, Lulai Fund, Lai Automobile and the founding team. According to the division of labor, GAC GROUP is mainly responsible for the research and development and production of the whole vehicle, that is, the hardware part, while NIO provides intelligent network technology and energy support system, and the sales channel is expanded by Guang Qi Wei.

In December 2019, Guangqi Weiwei officially launched the new new energy vehicle brand "Joint Venture HYCAN". Then in early 2021, GAC Wei came to introduce war investment and financing totaling 2.405 billion yuan. Among them, GAC Ean increased its capital by about 482 million yuan, and Guangdong Pearl Investment Intelligent Technology Investment Co., Ltd. increased its capital by about 1.923 billion yuan as a strategic investor. after this round of capital increase, Lulai's equity was diluted to 4.46%. After that, GAC NIO also made a series of changes, including the renaming of GAC NIO to Hechuang Automobile.

In August 2022, the shareholders of Hechuang Automobile changed, Shanghai Ulai Automobile Co., Ltd. withdrew from the ranks of shareholders of Hechuang Automobile, and the cooperation between Ulai Motor and GAC GROUP came to an end. Tianyancha equity penetration shows that Hechuang Automobile is currently jointly owned by five companies, of which Guangdong Zhutou Intelligent Technology Investment Co., Ltd. holds 68.55%, GAC Ean New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. is the second shareholder, followed by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., which own 4.45% and 4.46% respectively. In addition, Guangzhou established a joint investment partnership (limited partnership) with a stake of 1.98%.

Since its launch in 2019, Hechuang has sold a total of 007, Z03 and A06 models.

On April 10, 2020, Guangzhou Auto NIO's first model, Hechuang 007, was officially launched, with a current price of 299800 yuan, focusing on the high-end electric market. GAC is responsible for vehicle research and development and production. NIO is responsible for providing intelligent network technology and battery energy support system. Guangzhou Auto Wei to provide sales channels. Although the car was endorsed by two major car companies, Guangzhou Automobile and Xilai, it failed to stir up waves in the market. New car traffic insurance data show that Hechuang 007 sold only 395 vehicles in 2021, down 16.14% from a year earlier.

Or affected by the poor market performance of Hechuang 007, in the first half of 2021, Guang Qi NIO CEO, Lvlai Chairman Li Bin, Gu Huinan General Manager of GAC Ean, GAC R&D CENTER Dean Wu Jian and other important positions all withdrew from GAC NIO. In May of the same year, Guangqi NIO officially changed its name to Hechuang Automobile and launched its second production model, Hechuang Z03, which is located in the compact electric SUV and focuses on the middle and low end of the market. The current price range is 13.28-178800 yuan, and its sales volume is much higher than that of Hechuang 007, but it is still not competitive compared with the same class of models. Traffic insurance data show that Hechuang Z03 sold only 1046 vehicles after its listing in 2021.

Shortly after NIO withdrew its shares, Hechuang launched its third model, the Hechuang A06. On December 3, 2022, Hechuang A06 was launched, and the new car was positioned as a medium-sized pure electric sedan, with a total of three models with front-drive 550A, front-drive 630C and four-wheel-drive performance, with a price range of 179800-269800 yuan. The car is based on Hechuang H-GEA pure electric exclusive architecture to build the first model, the power provides single and dual motor versions, the entry version is equipped with a front single motor, the maximum power is 135kW and 160kW, the peak torque is 225N ·m, the maximum CLTC mileage is 550km and 630km respectively; the top four-wheel drive performance version is equipped with dual motors, equipped with 71kWh ternary lithium battery pack, CLTC pure electric mileage exceeds 560km.

In terms of the founding background, Co-Chuang does have a good background support, but the development of Co-Chuang, which was born with the golden key, is not smooth, or even difficult, and gradually marginalized. New car traffic insurance data show that Hechuang sold only 13897 vehicles in 2022, of which the Hechuang Z03 accounted for the vast majority of total sales, while Hechuang sold only 13527 vehicles, which is almost negligible.

As an automobile brand, consumers pay more attention to the product power. "Automotive Industry concern" believes that Co-Chuang Automobile has failed to stand out in the auto market, which is related to its brand market positioning, unclear company structure and frequent changes in senior management. With the withdrawal of the shares of Xilai, co-chuang may face more difficulties, and the listing of the co-chuang A06 is a "savior" mission for co-chuang. The latest figures show that in January 2023, the co-chuang A06 sold only 65 vehicles. Obviously, it is unlikely that Co-Chuang wants to rely on the Co-Chuang A06 to grab market share.

Judging from the 600 million yuan blood transfusion by GAC GROUP and GAC Ean to Hechuang, it means that GAC still intends to support Hechuang, but whether "continuous blood transfusion" can pull Hechuang back from the edge of the cliff still needs more time to verify. At present, what Hechuang urgently needs to solve may be the problem of product power, and only by solving the problem of product power can we improve the market volume of the brand. As for the fate of Co-Venture Automobile after GAC GROUP and Guangzhou Auto E'an increased their assets by 600 million yuan in the future, let's wait for the market to give an answer.

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