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In August, the acquisition of MORNING STAR AUTO INC. (hereinafter referred to as "Maolin Sida") by Kaixin Motor, a listed company in the United States, finally ushered in new progress. On July 11, Kaixin announced that it had signed a supplementary M & An agreement with Maolin and planned to complete the M & A delivery in August this year.

In fact, Happy Motors partnered with Maulinstad as early as 2022. In November 2022, Kaixin signed a merger agreement with Maolin Sida shareholders, which will issue an additional 100 million common shares to acquire 100% stake in Maolin Sida, which wholly owns Wuxi Maolin Sida Technology Company and Henan Yujie time Automobile. Hebei Yujie time Motor owns the punk new energy car brand.

With the completion of this merger, Happy Automobile will have all the assets and business operations of punk Electric vehicle (POCCO EV), which also means that Happy Automobile will officially enter the field of new energy car manufacturing.

Data show that Maolin Sida is a company registered in the United States in 2012, the actual control is Gu Ra, which has worked in Chery, BAIC and other car companies. In September 2022, the industrial and commercial change took place in Henan Yujie, and the original investor Hebei Yujie Times withdrew, with new shareholders Mengzhou Enbowei Automotive Technology Company and Wuxi Maolin Sida Technology Company, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maolin Sida. Tianyan check shareholder information shows that Henan Yujie time Automobile Co., Ltd. is currently jointly owned by the above two companies, with a shareholding ratio of 60% and 40%.

As for Happy Automobile, it is a used car dealer, formerly known as Renren Automobile. In 2015, Kaixin Auto entered the used car industry with auto finance business. Two years later, it entered used car retail, focused on used car trading services, and became one of the major dealer networks in China's used car market.

In May 2019, Happy Motor was listed on NASDAQ, but the performance of Happy Automobile in the capital market was amazing. It was broken on the day of listing, and then it was in a depressed state for a long time, even facing the risk of delisting. In August of the same year, Kaixin Motor announced that it would stop its used car distribution business affected by the epidemic.

The disruption of the used car business has also caused Happy Motor to lose money year after year. According to the data, from 2017 to 2020, Kaixin's total revenue was $117 million, $431 million, $335 million and $33.16 million, respectively, and its four-year net losses were $28.695 million, $89.532 million, $69.068 million and $53.32 million, respectively.

In this context, Happy Automobile has to seek transformation. On August 6, 2021, Kaixin Motor announced its entry into the new energy vehicle market, and plans to set up a new energy vehicle department and a new energy vehicle R & D, production and marketing team, headquartered in Suzhou City, Anhui Province. During the same period, Kaixin Motor plans to acquire a 100% stake in Henan Yujie Times Automobile Co., Ltd. Henan Yujie is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hebei Yujie, early production of three-wheeled motorcycles, four-wheeled electric vehicles and other mini electric vehicles, followed by the transformation to the status of a regular car dealer, so it obtained the production qualification of new energy vehicles and began to produce mini electric vehicles. Kaixin hopes to enter China's small electric car market through acquisitions, but in the end, Kaixin's acquisition of Henan Yujie has been shelved, and Kaixin's plans to enter the small electric car market have stalled.

Since then, Happy Automobile has set its sights on the field of new energy commercial vehicles. In early 2022, Happy Automobile established Anhui Suzhou New Energy vehicle Company, focusing on the development of new energy commercial vehicle business, and released the TECROLL new energy commercial vehicle brand in July of the same year. It should be noted that Happy Automobile did not have production qualification at that time, and the first new energy logistics model of Tanlu brand had to adopt customized production mode, that is, chassis procurement plus customized modification mode.

To this end, Happy Automobile began to seek to acquire a new energy passenger car company. According to reports, in addition to Maolin Sida mentioned at the beginning of the article, the target of the merger and acquisition of Happy Motor also includes Baiteng Motor, which filed for bankruptcy not long ago.

In May 2022, Happy Automobile announced that it had hired Gu Rum as the company's strategic consultant to lead the development direction of new energy vehicles, and Gu Rum was the founder of Maolin Sida. In September of the same year, Maolin Sida wholly acquired 100% of Henan Yujie Times. Make it a controlling subsidiary. The completion of this merger means that Happy Motor will own all the assets and business operations of punk Electric vehicle (POCCO EV).

Lin Mingjun, chairman and CEO of Kaixin Motor, said: "the two sides have reached more flexible terms on the merger plan, which will greatly accelerate the development of Kaixin Automobile's new energy vehicle business." The follow-up Maolin Sida mainly produces mini electric vehicles. At present, Happy Motor has received procurement demand for at least 50,000 various types of electric vehicles. After the acquisition of Maolin Sida, it will also focus on automobile export as one of the business priorities and vigorously promote the layout of overseas business. In addition, Lin Mingjun revealed that Happy Automobile may continue to copy Maolin's merger and acquisition model in the future, managed by Maolin's team. "now we are already talking about the cooperation of the second factory."

It should be noted that the current A00 pure electricity market competition is extremely fierce. According to the latest data from the Federation of passengers, 82000 A00-class wholesale vehicles were sold in June this year, accounting for 16% of the pure electric market. As for Happy cars that switch from used car dealers to the new energy car track, can they get a piece of the A00 pure electricity market? There is a view in the industry that even if Happy Motor acquires Maolin Sida, considering the fierce competition in the current new energy passenger car market, Happy Automobile will face greater competitive pressure in the future.

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