AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/02 Report--

This year, Baitang officially announced that the Baiteng M-Byte will be launched globally in the third quarter of 2019 and will be available at the end of 2019. Now it has been less than half a year since the production car M-Byte went on the market, but there has been a problem with Baiteng's funds. FAW Xiali disclosed in the "notice of reply to the 2018 Annual report" that the repayment amount of Baiteng parent Nanjing Zhixing's purchase of 100% equity interest in FAW Huali, a subsidiary, did not reach the agreed amount as of April 30. Nanjing Zhixing still has 310 million yuan overdue.

In September 2018, FAW Xiali transferred 100% of its subsidiary FAW Huali to Nanjing Zhihang, which is the car brand of Baiteng at a price of 1 yuan.

Although the equity transfer fee is only one yuan, Nanjing Zhixing still has to pay the 800 million debt owed by Huali and the salary of its employees 54.62 million yuan. After the completion of this payment, Baiteng can obtain the car-building qualification of FAW Huali. However, in view of payment expectations, financing and other issues, the relevant person in charge of Baiteng did not give a corresponding answer.

It is understood that at present, Baiteng will set up its factory in Nanjing, covering an area of 1200 mu, with a total investment of more than 11 billion yuan. The foundation of the first phase of the factory was laid in September 2017. In April 2019, the trial production workshop of Baiteng Nanjing Factory was officially opened, and the first batch of trial production sample cars were put off the line.

Baiteng CEO Dai Lei said that Baiteng's first production car, the M-Byte, will be launched globally in the third quarter of 2019 and the pre-price will be announced. Mass production will be achieved by the end of the year and will be delivered at the beginning of 2020, starting with a price of about 300000 yuan. And whether you can get the qualification to build a car has become a prerequisite for Baiteng production. FAW Xiali said: "Nanjing Zhixing has been actively communicating with our company on the repayment schedule and has made corresponding arrangements in its new round of financing."

However, the reporter found that compared with the new car-building forces that have already achieved delivery, the amount of financing of Baiteng is not optimistic. At present, Baiteng has completed three rounds of financing, including $240 million in round A financing in 2017 and $500m in round B financing from FAW Group, Enlightenment Holdings, Ningde Times and Jiangsu "Belt and Road Initiative" investment fund in June 2018, totaling more than US $700 million.

At present, the Baiteng self-built factory has not yet been fully completed and put into production. In terms of channels, Baiteng plans to build 25-30 offline stores in China by the end of 2019, while following up on foreign markets and setting up stores in major cities in North America and Europe. Whether it is to build a factory or lay a channel, a lot of money is needed. In this context, a new round of financing is crucial for Baiteng. In May 2019, Baiteng officially announced that it would complete round C financing in the middle of the year, which has been supported by a number of powerful institutions. Subsequently, it was reported that the Baiteng C round of financing would be completed by the end of June, bringing in about $500m, with the proceeds mainly used for the research and development and mass production of the first electric SUV. However, the news of Baiteng's new round of financing has been delayed.

Industry insiders believe that in the case of the need to burn money in self-built factories, R & D and production, channel laying and other links, Baiteng's financing progress obviously failed to keep pace with the pace of the company's car construction. Li Bin, CEO of Xilai, said that a car company needs to invest at least 20 billion yuan to reach mass production, which is almost a consensus in the industry. Compared with the new power enterprises, such as NIO and Weima, whose cumulative financing amount has already exceeded 10 billion yuan, the financing amount of Baiteng 5.6 billion yuan is not sufficient. At present, it is less than half a year from the planned time for mass production, but the car-building qualification has not yet been obtained, and whether it can be delivered on time has become the biggest problem for Baiteng.

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