AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/03 Report--

At the beginning of this month, Geely released KuaiBao for production and sales in January 2024. Geely Holdings sold a total of 213400 vehicles in January 2024, up 110.5 per cent from a year earlier, according to data released by Geely Holdings. In terms of brands, the Geely brand grew 98 per cent year-on-year to 172800, polar krypton 302 per cent to 12500 and Lecker 155 per cent to 28200. It is worth mentioning that the "Tramway report" found that, unlike previous announcements, Ruilan's sales data have disappeared from Geely's production and sales announcement. Geely has not given an explanation for this situation.

Ruilan Automobile was founded on January 24, 2022, jointly funded by Geely Automobile and Lifan Technology. In 2017, Lifan Motor fell into a debt crisis due to transformation failures and investment losses, assets were mortgaged, and vehicle production and sales business basically stagnated. In 2019, Lifan began to restructure under the leadership of the Chongqing government. In 2020, Lifan announced the success of the restructuring. Geely Technology Group joined the board through a partnership of Chongqing Manjianghong equity investment fund and became Lifan's largest shareholder. It later changed its name to Lifan Technology, with a stake of 29.99%. In January 2022, Lifan Technology and Geely announced the establishment of a joint venture, Chongqing Ruilan Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ruilan Automobile), to launch the "Maple Leaf" and "Ruilan" car brands and lay out the electric car track.

Maple Leaf is the earliest product series launched by Ruilan Automobile, including Maple Leaf 60s and Maple Leaf 80V, the former is a changed version of Dihao EV, the latter is Jiaji oil-to-electric model, Maple Leaf 60s mainly supplies the travel market, such as Cao Cao Travel of Geely Holdings. From the sales point of view, Maple Leaf 80v, Maple Leaf 60s can reach an average of about 6000 vehicles per month, which is undoubtedly a good start for the development of Ruilan. Such achievements are naturally inseparable from the "implementation" of Geely.

After that, Ruilan launched the Ruilan brand, which is different from the Maple Leaf brand in that the Ruilan 7 and Ruilan 9 are all electrified models. Ruilan 9 is the first medium-and large-scale SUV model under Ruilan Automobile, which officially launched on December 17, 2022. The new car launched a total of 4 configurations with a price range of 10.99-129900 yuan. In terms of power, Ruilan 9 is equipped with permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), maximum power 150kW, peak torque 310Nm, ternary lithium battery pack with 66.57kWh capacity, supporting charging and recharging modes, and pure electric mileage of 470km under CLTC condition.

According to Geely Holdings, wholesale sales of Ruilan cars in 2023 were 38001, down 32 per cent from 56140 in 2022. Retail data show that 16047 Ruilan cars were sold in 2023, of which the highest-selling model is Maple Leaf 60s, which mainly supplies the travel market, while other major models Ruilan 7 and Ruilan 9 sell poorly. Take Ruilan 9 as an example, monthly sales are basically in double digits, and the overall sense of market presence is not high.

Ruilan's performance has also been affected by continued weak sales. Data show that in 2022, Ruilan Automobile achieved an operating income of 5.839 billion yuan and a net profit of 15.59 million yuan. In the first three quarters of 2023, the company achieved revenue of 2.179 billion yuan and a net loss of 394 million yuan. It is worth noting that in the case of large capital increases by Lifan and Geely, Ruilan's asset-liability ratio still rose from 83.46% at the end of 2022 to 84.15% at the end of the third quarter of 2023, and its financial situation is also in jeopardy.

May Ruilan car become an "abandoned child"? In June 2023, the industrial and commercial change took place in Ruilan Automobile, the registered capital increased from 600 million yuan to 1.45 billion yuan, Lifan Technology's shareholding in Ruilan Automobile increased from 50% to 55%, and Geerun's shareholding decreased from 50% to 45%.

Lifan Technology said that this capital increase will help it optimize its asset-liability structure, enhance its financial strength and comprehensive competitiveness, promote sound operation and sustainable development, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the company's new energy vehicle business. in line with the company's development strategic planning and long-term interests. This capital increase is to further agree on the rights and obligations between Ruilan Technology shareholders, standardize the management of Ruilan Technology, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the company's automobile industry and the promotion of products in the passenger car market share.

But the move is generally seen by the market as a harbinger of Geely abandoning Ruilan, and Geely Holdings removed Ruilan from its sales volume of KuaiBao, which also increased market speculation. From the day Ruilan car was born, it signed a life-and-death contract with the power exchange mode, and Ruilan's success or failure will be anchored on the day when the power exchange mode is proved to be "true or false", and the market will eventually give the answer and wait and see.

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