AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/25 Report--

In early April, Tencent released sales figures for March 2023, in which 10398 new cars were sold that month, up 42 per cent from a month earlier. Relevant data show that since the start of delivery in October 2022, Tengli car sales have increased steadily, from 3451 and 6002 in November and December in 2022 to 6438 and 7325 in January and February in 2023, which has not been affected by the off-season. In particular, it is reasonable to expect that the first sales exceeded 10,000 in March.

At present, Tengli N9 is the only model on sale, which is located in large MPV and offers DM-i hybrid and EV pure electric versions with a price range of 335800 yuan to 465800 yuan. Competitive products include Buick GL8, Toyota Sena, Lantu Dreamer, Polar Krypton 009 and other models. Retail data show that the Tengli D9 sold 24161 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, ranking first in the MPV rankings and higher than the Buick GL8, which had 23777 vehicles.

The Teng Teng D9, the first model to be launched after the Tencent refurbishment, now occupies a certain market position in the MPV market, and who would have thought that the early momentum was not popular with the market, and even Daimler himself did not lead the way.

In 2010, Daimler and BYD signed a cooperation agreement to set up China's first new energy joint venture in Shenzhen with a 50% stake, and Daimler also took the opportunity to enter China's new energy market. Two years later, the momentum brand was born, and the first concept car was officially unveiled at the 2012 Beijing International Auto Show. According to the agreement between the two sides, the Tengli brand will be provided by BYD with Sandian technology, while Daimler will be responsible for the production and manufacture of the whole vehicle. In September 2014, Tencent 300, the first volume production car, was officially listed, and BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. changed its name to Shenzhen Tengli New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd.

In order to support the new car, Yu Chengdong and Li Xiang successively became the owners of the car and were the first public figures on the platform of the brand. However, a few years later, the ideal car founded by Li became the head of the new power and shouted the slogan "the best SUV under 5 million", while Yu Chengdong and United Cyrus launched the AITO boundary brand, which was "far ahead" for a long time.

By contrast, relying on Daimler and BYD has gradually become the "outcast" of the market. According to the data, about 32700 units were sold in 2015-2022. Excluding the 9803 Tengli D9 sales in 2022, Daimler's dominant brand sold only 22900 units, including the car rental platform represented by IGO Travel and the mass purchase of hundreds of operating vehicles by local taxi companies.

In order to reverse the booming market situation, BYD and Daimler have also made efforts, with Beijing Mercedes-Benz sales and Service Co., Ltd. directly responsible for the operation of the brand, including sales, marketing and brand communication, customer service, etc., while BYD is in charge of manufacturing. In November 2019, Tengli X officially appeared on the market, the price of pure electric model is 31.98-357800 yuan, and the price of plug-in model is 28.98-319800 yuan. At that time, Daimler Chairman and CEO Kanglinsong said of the future of Tengli: "the success of Tengli X, a crossover model launched by Tengli, will determine the future of the brand. Daimler's cash investment in Tencent has been completed, and we will continue to monitor its development before making a decision." However, Tengli X still failed to reverse the disadvantage, with sales of 4175 vehicles in 2020 and 4783 in 2021, still not as Daimler had hoped.

The efforts of both shareholders failed to achieve the revival of the momentum brand, and finally Daimler announced its "withdrawal", with BYD fully leading the development of the brand.

In July 2022, Tencent completed a new round of enterprise change. The chairman of Tencent Automobile was changed from Hubertus Troska (head of Mercedes-Benz Greater China-Tang Shikai) to BYD Wang Chuanfu, and the legal representative was also changed from Hubertus Troska to Ai Fengjie. At the same time, BYD's stake in Tengli New Energy has also increased from 50% to 90%, while Daimler's stake in Tengli has fallen to 10%. At this point, BYD took full control of Tengli Automobile, and Daimler also shifted from strategic investment to financial investment that was abandoned.

In May 2022, at an one-and-a-half-hour new product launch, Wang Chuanfu personally took the stage to point out the new direction of the development of the new brand, which also completely ended the ten-year history of car-building dominated by Daimler. Yang Dongsheng, vice president of BYD Group, promised at the press conference: "BYD will inject momentum with the best new energy power and intelligent technology, and use high-end technology to interpret and lead the new definition of luxury."

After the brand rejuvenation, Tencent Automotive is more focused on the new energy vehicle market. The first Tencent D9 DM-i EV powertrain based on e-platform 3.0 and blade batteries for safety and battery life merger have solved many problems such as short battery life and poor power under the past trend of "changing oil to electricity". In addition, after BYD dominates Tengli cars, it has more room for development and will not be limited by the existence of Daimler, which is more conducive to the development of Tengli cars.

BYD has high hopes for the new momentum, and the new brand will carry the upward high-end market of BYD dynasty series and ocean series. Combined with the current release of the million-level new brand "look up", the existence of momentum will fill the dynasty, ocean net and look up the luxury brand market in the middle of the brand.

The next step of Tengli is even more ambitious. Tengli will continue the combination of English letters and numbers, using capital letters "N" + numbers as the naming method for SUV series models. Three new models will be launched in the first quarter, namely the big 5-seat SUV--N7 and the 6-big 7-seat optional large SUV. Among them, the momentum N7 was officially released and opened blind booking at the 2023 Shanghai International Auto Show. According to Zhao Changjiang, general manager of the sales department of Teng Teng, the Teng Teng N7 opened blind bookings for 6 hours and the order has reached 5367.

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