AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)12/06 Report--

Before the US stock market opened on December 5th, Weilai released its third-quarter 2023 results. The financial report shows that during the reporting period, Weilai realized operating income of 19.07 billion yuan, an increase of 117.4% from the previous month, and an increase of 46.6% over the same period last year, of which automobile sales revenue was 17.41 billion yuan, an increase of 142.3% from the previous month, an increase of 45.9% over the same period last year. During the reporting period, the gross profit margin of the whole vehicle returned to double digits, 11.0%, down 5.4% from the same period last year, and an increase of 4.8% from the previous month.

Weilai still unexpectedly suffered huge losses. During the reporting period, Weilai posted a net loss of 4.56 billion yuan, an increase of 10.8% over the same period last year, but narrowed compared with the second quarter of 2023. Weilai said that with the breakthrough in sales and revenue, a number of core indicators reflecting the business situation, including gross profit margin, have been improved in an all-round way. As of September 30, 2023, Fulai cash and cash equivalents were 45.2 billion yuan.

During the reporting period, Xilai delivered 55432 new cars, an increase of 135.7 percent over the previous month and 75.4 percent over the same period last year, setting a record high for a single quarter. However, we have to admit that the gap between Weilai and its competitors is widening. In November, the ideal car successfully achieved its annual sales target of 300000, and Xiaopeng's monthly delivery volume continued to be stable at more than 20, 000. October and November delivered 16074 and 15959 respectively.

Price war is still the main theme of the market. According to incomplete statistics of "Automotive Industry concern", more than 15 car brands have launched various preferential policies to try to get an impulse at the end of the year, of which Ji Yue 01 dropped 30,000 yuan in January alone. Even BYD, the leader of new energy cars, has launched different preferential policies for car purchases for Chaozhao and Oceannet models. However, on the conference call, Li Bin stressed that he would not exchange prices for the market. Li Bin said that the price war in the fourth quarter is very fierce, but Weilai will not reduce gross profit margin / price reduction in exchange for sales, the long-term strategy is still to maintain price stability and improve sales capacity and efficiency.

During the conference call, Li Bin revealed that the new flagship model would be unveiled on NIO DAY on Dec. 23, but gave no further details. In addition, the first model of the Alps sub-brand of Ulai has completed the trial production of VB (Verification Build certified prototype). 'This is the best state of our new model VB in history, 'Mr. Li said.' NIO doesn't plan to share stores with Alps, but it will share part of the service network, 'Mr. Li said. The power exchange business will be divided into private network and shared network, in which the private network serves the Weilai brand, the shared network is shared by the Weilai brand and the second brand, and is also open to third parties.

Over the past month or so, the focus around Weilai is not without optimization and adjustment. In early November, Li Bin released an internal letter from "organizational Optimization and two-year Priorities", confirming that Weilai will lose about 10% of its jobs in November, attracting market attention. Li Bin stressed on the conference call that in order to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs, the power exchange mode has reached the stage of openness. In addition, Ulai will postpone or cut investment in projects that will not improve the company's financial performance for three years.

On the day when Weilai released its financial results, Jianghuai Automobile issued an announcement to disclose the latest progress in the sale of assets. Lulai Automotive Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lai Automobile") became the transferee of one package of assets and three packages of assets. among them, the transaction price of one bag of assets is 1.666 billion yuan, and the transaction price of three packages of assets is 1.492 billion yuan, totaling 3.158 billion yuan.

It is understood that JAC transferred one package of assets, three packages, in fact, is the Xilai F1 factory / F2 factory, these two factories are built by Wei, but the production qualification comes from Jianghuai Automobile. Earlier, Lailai Automotive Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd. appeared in the credit information management system of vehicle manufacturing enterprise, which is the government service platform of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which means that Lailai Motor acquired Jianghuai automobile assets at a price of 3.158 billion yuan, so as to build cars independently. On the conference call, Li Bin also responded, "from the manufacturing point of view, if we produce entirely independently, manufacturing costs will be reduced by 10%."

For Weilai, the realization of independent car manufacturing can better produce products, not only to facilitate the rapid iteration of the model, but also to carry out major and deep-seated reforms in the future, but also improve efficiency. For JAC Motors, the asset sale is more like a "farewell" with Weilai, because in addition to Weilai, JAC is working with Huawei to launch the "Boundary" brand to create a million-level MPV for Standard Maybach, and the "Huawei" label is far more attractive than it has been.

In fact, from the point of view of product strength, service level or corporate culture, Weilai can indeed be regarded as the target luxury brand with BBA, but from the point of view of enterprise management, Weilai always seems to be wavering. At present, although Xilai has achieved mass production and listing of eight models, it does not have much advantage over its competitors in terms of delivery volume, and it has suffered huge losses every quarter. Even though it has 45.2 billion yuan in cash flow, it has lost 15.35 billion yuan in the first three quarters. Weilai still needs an unburned salary.

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