AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/17 Report--

According to domestic media reports, the public relations team of Star Motor in China has been temporarily disbanded, and the follow-up public relations docking work has not been arranged for the time being. At the same time, the staff of many departments in the flying book of Star Technology have been cleared, including the brand marketing department and the public relations department.

Polar Star responded to this. At present, all departments of Polar Technology, including the public relations team, are in normal operation. The relevant external communication and communication work is also being carried out normally. Ji Xing also said that in order to better plan the business development of the Ji Xing brand in the Chinese market, with the support of the Nanjing Municipal Government and other parties, the headquarters of Ji Xing Science and Technology in China was relocated to Nanjing, which involved some team relocation and personnel changes. This process will communicate frankly with employees and respect each other. At the same time, outstanding talents are also welcome to join the star.

Not long ago, it was revealed that Star Technology would cut about 30% of its workforce by the end of September, the first major layoff in the history of the Chinese market. Subsequently, Star Technology responded that the content of "about 30% layoffs" was false information. "with the support of the Nanjing Municipal Government and various parties, the relocation of the headquarters of Star China to Nanjing involves organizational structure adjustment and team relocation. In this process, Star Technology will strictly abide by the relevant national laws and regulations, fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of relevant employees, and communicate frankly with employees, respect each other, and make a two-way choice."

The headquarters of Star China has been transferred from Shanghai to Nanjing, and the personnel structure has been adjusted as expected, but all members of the front-line market team represented by public relations have gone offline to express concern about the future market of Star Technology. In addition to moving its headquarters to Nanjing, it was revealed that the factory in Chengdu was closed and production was transferred to the factory in Chongqing and Geely, but the news has not been confirmed.

As an independent electric high-performance car brand, Ji Xing has been on Standard Tesla from the very beginning and imitated Tesla's development route. At that time, Polestar 1, the first model launched by Ji Xing, was a two-door sports car with a positioning price of 1.45 million yuan, but the performance of Polestar 1 was really ugly. According to the data of the Federation of passengers, only 24 Polestar-1 vehicles were sold in China in 2020. It is generally believed in the industry that Star 1 is not for sales, but to create a high-end brand image.

In February 2019, Polar launched its first pure electric car, Polestar 2, which is based on the Volvo CMA architecture. The current single-motor standard endurance version costs 258000 yuan, the single-motor long-endurance version costs 282800 yuan, and the dual-motor long-range version costs 338000 yuan, directly matching the standard Tesla Model 3, which is considered to be the volume model of Polar Star. However, the Polestar 2 has not become a competitor to Tesla Model 3, but has become a popular model in the Chinese market. Data show that Polar sold 29000 vehicles worldwide in 2021, while relevant data show that only 2048 vehicles were sold in the domestic market that year, accounting for 7% of the total global sales. In 2022 and 2023, the star also did not report specific market sales, of which 54600 cars were delivered worldwide in 2023, only 91 per cent of the reduced target. Terminal sales show that Polar Star sold only 983 vehicles in China in 2023 and 1717 in 2022.

In addition, the star is also in the red. In 2021 and 2022, Polar lost 1.007 billion yuan and 466 million yuan respectively. In 2023, the gross profit margin of polar star sales changed from positive to negative, to-17.44%, and its net loss increased to 1.173 billion yuan. It is estimated that the loss of each car sold by Ji Xing in 2023 is 21500 US dollars, or about 150000 yuan. In addition, as of December 31, 2023, the cash and cash equivalents of Polar Motor have dropped to US $769 million. According to the performance of the market, the cash flow currently held is difficult to support the layout of the coming year, and there is an urgent need to speed up market financing.

However, capital markets are also worried about the future of Star Motors. Polester Star was listed on the Nasdaq in June 2022 under the ticker symbol "PSNY". It reached listing requirements through a merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Gores Guggenheim. Polar took over Gores Guggenheim's share price, closing the day up 15.76%, closing at US $13.00 per share, with a total market capitalization of US $27.5 billion. By the end of the recent day, the share price of Ji Xing had fallen to US $0.9730, down more than 90% from the time of listing. It has been below $1 for 38 consecutive trading days and faces delisting risk.

In the face of the current depressed stock prices and persistent losses, Ji Xing has also put forward many self-rescue plans. The first is to speed up the geographical expansion plan to enter the seven new markets of France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Thailand and Brazil in 2025, and through local distribution partners and strengthening the sales management team to increase market share. However, the lack of accurate insight into the market and the formulation of localization operation strategy is a major problem in the development of Polar Star.

As China's new energy vehicle industry enters a periodic reshuffle stage, manufacturers should not only roll up their online marketing capabilities, especially the entry of Xiaomi SU7, Lei Jun's strong marketing ability has pushed this volume to a new height, and many traditional car companies and new power executives have come off the live broadcast one after another. Shen Ziyu, CEO of Star Technology, pointed out in an interview with Interface News and other media at the Beijing Auto Show that Star Automobile needs to take brand courses, sales courses, and intelligence courses, and will account for more than 30% or even 40% of sales in the Chinese market in the future.

It is understood that Star Meizu has now applied the Flyme Auto intelligent cockpit operating system to Polestar 4, but the stimulating effect on brand sales is not obvious. According to the data of the Federation of passengers, 1065 cars were sold in the first half of this year, of which 926 were sold in Polar 4 with a guide price of 339900-399900 yuan.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat