In 2023, China's new energy vehicle market will once again hit a record high, with more than 20 million new energy vehicles rolling off the assembly line, with a market share of more than 30%, once again proving the global trend and future potential of electric vehicles.
2023 is also the year of the "big test" of China's new energy vehicle industry, with the gradual withdrawal of state subsidies and increasingly fierce competition, facing the constantly updated market, technology and consumer demand, bringing unprecedented challenges to car companies.
On December 24, a new energy vehicle brand from Zhejiang ushered in its eighth birthday. "It took us three years for the first 100,000 units, one year for the second 100,000 units, and less than half a year for the third 100,000 units. This fully reflects the acceleration of the development of Leaprun. On the internal letter of the eighth anniversary of "The Heart is Invincible", Zhu Jiangming, the founder of Leapmotor, who witnessed the development of China's new energy vehicles, was full of emotion.
On the turbulent track, this time the waves set off from Hangzhou.
The new local car-making forces are starting from scratch.
Eight years among the top echelon.
Recently, various car companies have announced the delivery data for November, and the monthly sales of Leapmotor increased by 130% to 18,508 units, once again setting a new high for monthly sales, and after half of December, Leapmotor is expected to achieve more than 20,000 deliveries. This data also makes it jump into the top echelon of China, the world's largest new energy vehicle market.
Entering the top three in the sales list for 3 consecutive months is undoubtedly the best birthday gift for the eight-year-old Leap.
In the face of the complex global economic and trade environment, how can Leaprun stand out from the encirclement and rise against the trend?In a letter to the eighth anniversary of Leaprun, Zhu Jiangming attributed the success to "continuously launching new products, bringing users products with high price-to-price ratio and over-the-top configurations, so as to redefine consumers' car selection standards." ”
Back in 2015, the production and sales of new energy vehicles accounted for more than 1% in China's automotive industry for the first time, and the domestic new energy vehicle industry began to attract international attention.
In the same year, Zhu Jiangming, who accidentally saw several electric cars while traveling in Spain with friends, sensitively captured this outlet. After returning to China, "Zero Run" came into being.
The start of the "zero run" from scratch was not smooth, the market feedback was poor, and the financing was basically stagnant, but the founder Zhu Jiangming did not change his original intention, "Building a car is a long-distance race, and Leap wants to be the turtle in the tortoise and rabbit race." "It wasn't until 2020 that Leap finally waited for the opportunity to overtake.
In May 2020, Leapmotor's second model, T03, was officially launched, which was a small car that looked like a "little turtle" to help Leapmotor open up the market, and the subsequent new cars C11 and C01 became market hits, which also allowed Leapmotor to be successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2022.
By the third quarter of this year, there was a "small" data that broke a record high in sales and revenue, which brought a lot of shock to the industry - the gross profit margin in the third quarter was 12%, achieving a positive gross profit margin one quarter ahead of schedule. For a large number of new car-making forces, due to the lack of industrial base and scale, they will inevitably experience a long night of bloody survival, and the positive gross profit margin also means that the company's operation has entered the right track.
Self-developed technology.
It is the key to achieving "corner leading".
Delving into the rise of Leapmotor, a sentence from founder Zhu Jiangming in his letter may be the secret.
What have we done right in 8 years?First of all, it adheres to the bottom line of global self-developed technology. In Zhu Jiangming's view, the development strategy of self-research in the whole field, such as three-electric technology, intelligent network technology and autonomous driving technology, is the key to the success of Leaprun.
As a brand feature since its establishment, Leapmotor has achieved self-research and self-manufacturing of core systems and electronic components such as batteries, electric drives, electronic controls, cockpits, intelligent driving, electronic and electrical, and lights, which account for 70% of the cost of the whole vehicle. With the vertical simplification of the first chain, in the face of the changes in market supply and **, Zero Run is even more light.
The industry's first mass-produced battery-free CTC technology, the industry's first variable architecture oil-cooled electric drive, and the first place in the Waymo Autonomous Driving Algorithm Challenge, with a solid technical foundation, enabled Leapmotor to quickly launch electric models with differentiated advantages with significant cost advantages.
Entering the era of intelligent electric vehicles, how to meet the data transmission and iterative upgrade needs of the next-generation intelligent network system has become the key to solving the problem of vehicle intelligence.
If the car is compared to the human body, then the mechanical structure is equivalent to the human skeleton, the power and steering system is equivalent to the human limbs, and the electronic and electrical architecture is equivalent to the human nervous system and brain, which is the key to information interaction and complex operation.
Compared with the traditional automotive electronic and electrical architecture, the number of electronic control units has been reduced by 4 times, and the wiring harness has been shortened by 4 times, but the communication transmission speed has been increased to gigabits/second. This means that while the signal transmission rate is higher, the cost and body weight can be further reduced, and for the future of smart electric vehicles, Leapmotor has undoubtedly achieved a breakthrough.
Layout of the international market.
Run out of the acceleration of globalization.
Beginning to "lead" the zero run, with the competitiveness of technology and products, it quickly won the favor of capital.
On October 26 this year, Stellantis Automotive Group (hereinafter referred to as "Stellantis Group") and Leapmotor announced a cooperation: Stellantis Group plans to invest 1.5 billion euros in Leapmotor.
You may not have heard the name of the world's fourth-largest car giant, but you are familiar with its car brands – Maserati, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Jeep and Dodge.
On November 20, the two parties announced the completion of the transaction, and the 25-day time not only refreshed the "speed" of cooperation between car companies, but also reflected the urgency of Stellantis Group to cooperate with Leaprun. This large investment in Leapmotor will be a key step in its journey towards electrification.
After the cooperation, the two parties will also establish a joint venture company, Leapmotor International, which will be exclusively responsible for the export and sales of Leapmotor brand vehicles in all markets except China, as well as have the exclusive right to manufacture Leapmotor products in China. Based on the joint venture, the Leapmotor brand will soon have a huge sales network covering the world.
With the help of this cooperation, Leaprun began to accelerate towards its original goal. Zhu Jiangming pointed out in the letter of the eighth anniversary of Leapmotor that it is necessary to continue to create maximum value for users' travel and life, and build Leapmotor into a respectable world-class intelligent electric vehicle company.
Behind Zhu Jiangming's confidence, this new energy vehicle brand from Zhejiang will go international in the near future. By the third quarter of next year, Leapmotor's first global model, the C10, will be delivered in the European market.
In recent years, China's auto industry has developed rapidly, especially in the field of new energy vehicles, and Chinese auto companies have achieved significant advantages. In the context of the rapid shift of the global automotive industry to new energy and electrification, the joint venture model between Leapmotor and Stellantis may also provide a new model for Chinese auto companies.