[Introduction: Under the effect of the continuous and rapid increase in sales, Chery Automobile's revenue in the first three quarters of this year exceeded 200 billion yuan, exceeding last year's annual revenue with a growth rate of more than 47%. Coupled with its excellent performance in overseas markets, Chery Automobile has rekindled its confidence in IPO listing. Chery Automobile in 2024 may be very busy, while "not welcome" in the field of new energy vehicles, while impacting the IPO to fulfill the dream of many years. 】
Written by |Zhang Dachuan, editor|Grass.
In the snowy Wuhu, the "tide box electric SUV" iCar 03 opened its global pre-sale on December 18, and on the same day, it was also the open day of the iCar zero-carbon smart factory.
As Chery's first "unwelcome" new energy vehicle, the pre-sale price of the iCar 03 is 12Starting from 980,000 yuan, you can immediately enjoy the pre-sale rights and interests worth 38,888 yuan. icar 03 The whole body reveals the fashion sense of "tide", "really white, really black, a little gray, really annoying silver, I'm so blue, not banana green", these new terms about the appearance of color, trying to send a signal that it is closer to young people. At the press conference, the iCar 03 equipped with L2++ intelligent assisted driving was "on the stage" in an unmanned way, and this "good-looking, easy-to-drive, and fun" pure electric vehicle also drove into the inner world of young people.
As the "new force" of Chery Group, the icar brand is its first new energy brand and a brand that is clearly aimed at young people. The surging automobile market in China and even the world, whether it can break through on the track of electrification and intelligence is a big test for Chery, the former "independent boss". Whether ICAR can break new ground on the smart electric track is very important for Chery's transformation and upgrading. Chery aims to squeeze into the head of domestic new energy vehicles in 2024, and whether this wish will come true is inseparable from whether the first "unwelcome" iCar 03 can sell well.
At present, as much attention as Chery's new energy vehicle "how to be welcome", there is also whether Chery Automobile will restart its IPO next year. According to Bloomberg, Chery Automobile is looking for an IPO next year. IDG Capital, an internationally renowned company, is considering buying up to RMB7 billion of Chery Holding Group's shares from existing shareholders and is raising funds from investors for this potential transaction. As one of the independent brands that are in the limelight in China, Chery will be like a tiger with wings once it IPO.
The automotive industry, as a capital-intensive industry, requires a large investment of capital. Therefore, having a relatively stable financing channel is the key to the sustainable development of enterprises. As the former leader of domestic independent brands, Chery has planned to go public several times, and the most recent impact IPO was in 2019, when Chery, which launched the mixed reform, introduced Qingdao Wudaokou to invest 19.6 billion yuan to acquire 51% of Chery Holdings' shares and Chery shares 3558% equity. After Apple Automobile, one of the major foundry enterprises in China, Lixun Precision, when there was a funding gap in Qingdao Wudaokou, with 1005.4 billion yuan to purchase Chery Holding 1988% equity, Chery shares 787% equity and Chery New Energy 624% of the shares, becoming Chery's new strategic investor, and even rumored that Luxshare Precision intends to reserve vehicle technology for the later OEM Apple car. The entry of two strategic investors has gradually brought Chery Automobile out of the trough. However, due to various reasons, Chery Automobile has not been able to complete the IPO and successfully land in the capital market. At present, Chery is in the best period in history in both domestic and foreign markets, and once the sales of new energy vehicles rush up again, this will undoubtedly give Chery Automobile's IPO another bargaining chip.
In the past November, Chery's monthly sales exceeded 200,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 111%. The cumulative sales in the first 11 months of this year were 16660,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 478%。
Chery has been able to achieve its current monthly sales results, and the overseas market has made a huge contribution. In 2022, Chery Automobile exported 450,000 vehicles, accounting for 39% of Chery's cumulative annual sales. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November this year, Chery Automobile's vehicle exports reached 8370,000 units, accounting for more than 50% of total sales, making it the second largest company in export sales of its own brand, second only to SAIC. Behind SAIC's achievement, there are two brands with high brand awareness overseas, MG and MAXUS, and at the same time, SAIC-GM's models with the Chevrolet logo have entered GM's overseas network sales. Therefore, in comparison, Chery's export performance has a higher gold content.
In the future, if Chery wants to maintain its current performance, especially in overseas markets, it will need to invest more. On the one hand, the current serious overcapacity of domestic automobiles has led to the departure of independent brand car companies from overseas markets, and the involution of the domestic market is likely to spread to overseas markets in the futureOn the other hand, we should not underestimate the best barriers built by some countries to China's manufactured cars, and weaken the competitiveness of Chinese cars in the local area through tariffs and other means. Therefore, while Chery is actively expanding its sales channels overseas, it has also laid out more factories overseas, and continuously improved its brand appeal and customer service level in the local area have become the key to stabilizing and increasing its market share. And behind these is inseparable from the investment of a lot of resources.
Compared with the recent monthly sales of more than 200,000 yuan, Chery's sales in the field of new energy have been much colder.
In the first three quarters of this year, Chery's wholesale volume of new energy vehicles was only 8210,000 units, while Chery's new energy vehicle sales have exceeded 130,000 units in the first seven months of last year. The reason for this is mainly related to Chery Automobile's layout in the field of new energy vehicles. Previously, Chery only had micro pure electric vehicles such as QQ ice cream and little ant in the field of pure electric vehicles. At the moment when smart electric vehicles are emerging in China, especially after the cancellation of national new energy vehicle subsidies, the entire market segment of micro pure electric vehicles is getting smaller and smaller, and these models are almost of little help to enhance the brand positioning of the entire Chery. After completing the historical mission of earning new energy credits, Chery is readjusting the layout of new energy vehicles.
Not long ago, Yin Tongyue, the head of Chery, said that Chery will definitely enter the head of the country in the ranking of domestic new energy vehicles in 2024, and it will not be as polite as this year. What gives Yin Tongyue such great confidence is that Chery has made concerted efforts in the field of new energy vehicles.
Like other domestic independent brands such as Cialis and JAC, Chery has already cooperated with Huawei in the smart car business. Before Huawei's smart car model, now renamed Hongmeng Travel's first sedan model, Zhijie S7, has been unveiled. With the product strength of the Model S, but only the pricing of the Model 3, the Zhijie S7 received more than 20,000 orders soon after its launch.
At the same time, Chery released the "Yaoguang 2025" strategy, planning to build three major vehicle platforms, namely the high-performance intelligent pure electric platform E0X, which is mainly for the mid-to-high-end marketThe C0X, a pure electric platform for light commercial vehicles, mainly provides commercial mobility solutions for urban logistics and mobility marketsand the high-performance hybrid platform T2X, which mainly serves the development of all conventional vehicles. In the fourth quarter of this year alone, Chery has released or launched a number of new energy models such as the ICAR 03, Xingtu Xingyuan ES, Jietu Shanhai L9, and Chery Fengyun A8. In the next five years, Chery will invest more than 100 billion yuan in the research and development of three electric vehicles, intelligent driving, ecology and other technologies to help itself occupy a place on the domestic and global new energy vehicle stage.
As we all know, whether it is the introduction of Huawei's smart car model or independent research and development, it requires a lot of investment. In particular, Chery is still advancing both at the same time, and even in the field of self-development, Chery is pure electric and plug-in hybrid in parallel. Not to mention the need to invest a lot of money to build self-research capabilities of related underlying core technologies such as intelligent networking, as well as to further expand their overseas channels and continue to increase overseas sales. Therefore, if the IPO can be successfully completed, it will not only be able to raise valuable development funds, but also find a stable financing channel for future business development.
But for Chery, the biggest problem with the current IPO is whether it can achieve a better valuation.
From a policy perspective, the current domestic IPO review continues to tighten, and many companies are queuing up for listing, and there is still some uncertainty about whether Chery can successfully IPO in 2024. With the current prosperity of the market, and Chery's own killer feature in the more imaginative smart electric vehicle business for the time being, it is difficult for Chery to win a relatively high valuation and price-earnings ratio for itself through the existing business. After all, behind the A-shares, which have repeatedly launched a 3,000-point defense war, is actually the current situation of insufficient market funds and confidence. According to online rumors, Chery Automobile seeks a valuation of up to 150 billion yuan, which is close to the current valuation of SAIC in A-shares. The latter is not inferior to Chery in terms of overall volume, overseas business, and even smart electric vehicles and underlying core technologies. The GAC Aion brand, which ranks among the best in the new energy market, has not yet been able to complete its listing. In order for Chery to succeed, there must be many difficulties to overcome.
Comments. Chery's biggest advantage lies in the traditional fuel vehicle market and the overseas market layout that is one step ahead of most domestic independent brands, and if it wants to reach a new level, it must make a beautiful comeback in the field of new energy vehicles, especially in the field of intelligent electric vehicles. Zhijie S7 has made a good start, but behind Zhijie S7 is more the blessing of Huawei's halo. Whether Chery's own new energy vehicle project can be recognized by the market will directly determine whether it can complete its listing at a satisfactory valuation in the future. But from another point of view, if the IPO cannot be completed, then the investment of up to 100 billion yuan in five years will be a big test for Chery's capital pool. How to solve this problem depends on what cards Yin Tongyue can play.
This article is the original of "Heyan Reading Cars", and it is not allowed to be unauthorized **).