In 2024, new energy vehicles will usher in a new round of fighting.
Author |Wang Siqi.
* |Investor (ID: touzijias).
In 2024, new energy vehicles will usher in a new round of fighting.
When the outside world thought that the domestic new energy vehicle map had been decided, only the Red Sea was left to fight, and the weak were eliminated, the market was born a new upstart. Investor.com learned that Zhiji Automobile, the "implementer of travel reform in the intelligent era", recently announced that it has received more than 8 billion yuan in Series B financing led by Bank of China Financial and followed by Bank of Communications, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, SAIC, and CATL.
According to relevant information, Zhiji Automobile was established in 2020 and is a car-making brand jointly created by SAIC, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech, and Alibaba. In the shareholding structure, SAIC Motor invested 5.4 billion yuan, holding 54% of the shares; Zhangjiang Hi-Tech and Alibaba each invested 1.8 billion yuan, holding 18% of the shares respectively, and Zhiji Automobile has also become a representative of SAIC's incubation of new brands. With the support of all capitals, Zhiji Auto has successively obtained 10 billion yuan in angel rounds and 3 billion yuan in Series A financing, and has been promoted to the unicorn sequence of new energy vehicle manufacturing in two years.
In the past year, domestic new energy vehicles have been surging and desperately involution, but Zhiji Automobile is like an "outsider" and is not in a hurry to release new products. Now it seems that Zhiji Auto is not slow-paced, but is preparing big plans and bringing in an army of banks to help.
This contributed to the shocking scene of new energy vehicles: large state-owned banks joined forces to build cars.
One. Seeing that Zhiji Automobile received 8 billion yuan in Series B financing, I felt a little sorry for Gaohe Automobile, which fell at the beginning of the year.
In the year, the automobile market is crazy, and the domestic new energy vehicles under the leadership of BYD and Tesla, the "volume king" BYD, Tesla, the volume of the configuration of the volume, the volume of the volume continues to be configured, and the foreign fuel vehicles will be reduced together. Also last year, these two new energy leaders car companies each set new records, and BYD was rolled overseas and won the first crown in new energy sales.
But what the author wants to say is not BYD or Tesla. These two car companies have already set an example image at home and abroad, and are the focus of global capital, car owners, and netizens. Any action by BYD and Tesla will cause an uproar in the market.
In particular, the dimensionality reduction blow to other car companies is unintentional, but it is accurate. For example, Gaohe Automobile. When BYD's high-end models are not released, the "luxury pure electric ceiling" Gaohe Automobile can move its muscles and bones. After all, there are almost no domestic new energy models that will be able to reach the ceiling, Tesla has two ultra-expensive X and S, which are classified as imported models, and Weilai's car is very expensive, difficult to touch 700,000 yuan, to some extent, Gaohe Automobile alone occupies the "luxury pure electric ceiling".
Relying on the temperament of "leading the best", Ding Lei, the founder of Gaohe Automobile and Human Horizons, got 5 billion yuan in financingThis money is the "pit fee" of various capitals in the high-end market of the new energy vehicle segment. A well-known VC founding partner once said, "Sometimes when you make an investment, you have to learn to seize the opportunity, and you would rather make a mistake than let it go, and investing right is the first in the industry." ”
The investor said that "there is nothing wrong", and many areas are "preconceived". I remember that Yang Haoyong, the founder of Guazi second-hand cars, had a similar feeling, "Back then, I was half a beat slower than others to do Ganji.com, but after the merger, I left." "Logic is this logic, but logic has some premisesThere are two points to be had, "one is rich, and the other is an unshakable barrier." ”
There are two points to be possessed, which Gaohe Automobile does not have. The financing of 5 billion yuan seems not small, but it can be placed in the new energy automobile industry with capital and factories, which is not large. In 2021, Xu Jiayin, a "negative country" who wants to transfer Evergrande's debts and sight through car manufacturing, will get 26 billion Hong Kong dollars in financing for Evergrande Automobile, and the collapsed "old man" Reading Automobile claims to have burned 20 billion yuan.
Compared with the above two car companies that are not doing business, the 5 billion yuan in Ding Lei's hands is very small. So, are there any other barriers to Gaohe Automobile?This barrier is not only a technical barrier, but also a resource barrier, a market barrier, etc. At the technical level, Ding Lei has never been able to explain clearly his grievances with FF. Jia Yueting once commented in the circle of friends, "Gaohe Automobile plagiarism is a shame for the industry." ”
As for the resource, market level,Gaohe Automobile lacks advantages and does not have the endorsement of the big guy, the so-called "luxury pure electric ceiling", occupying the high-end market, can only be regarded as "first-in" failed to "dominate". Take a look at the junior of Gaohe Automobile, Lotus, which was established in 2020, directly entered the high-end market and achieved the IPO of US stocks in just a few years. Gaohe Automobile watched its juniors surpass and could not do anything.
If you were capital, would you vote for a "luxury electric ceiling" that has no prospects and is limited to the name?With the IPO of Lotus U.S. stocks, some analysts believe that "before BYD fully enters the high-end market, this is the last chance for other brands." ”
This is the end of a car company's loss of hope, but I feel sorry for Gaohe Automobile, just because of the lack of a big guy.
Two. According to the above logic,The survival difficulty of Zhiji Automobile should be greater than that of Gaohe Automobile.
At the very least, they will meet a group of opponents in the ** range of high-end cars. Moreover, Zhiji Automobile was established in 2020, and it is considered a novice in the industry, and they have far more enemies than their Lotus counterparts, not only to deal with "Wei Xiaoli", but also to worry about the dimensionality reduction of BYD and Tesla, but Zhiji Automobile has shown calmness, like an "outsider" fighting in the Red Sea.
According to the 2023 sales data of Zhiji Motors circulating on the Internet, they sold more than 380,000 vehicles, including the Zhiji LS6, Zhiji LS7, and Zhiji L7, increased by 665% year-on-year. According to Autohome's monthly sales list (December 2023), the Zhiji LS6 sold 9,878 vehicles, ranking 27th;The LS7 sold 534 vehicles and came in at 151st. Peer Ideal L7, Ideal L8, and Ideal L9 occupy the 12th, 16th, and 17th places respectively, and the Volkswagen ID. is not optimistic3 in 19th place.
The sales of Zhiji cars are obviously not as "ideal" as imagined, and the category gap spans wide, but they are not in a hurry. A factor that cannot be ignored isWith the support of the big guys, it belongs to "making cars.""The brand in the era, that is, the incubation and reinvestment projects of traditional car companies. Founded in 2020, Zhiji Auto is jointly built by SAIC, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech, and Alibaba. In the shareholding structure, SAIC Motor invested 5.4 billion yuan, holding 54% of the shares; Zhangjiang Hi-Tech and Alibaba each invested 1.8 billion yuan, holding 18% of the shares respectively.
With the support of all parties, Zhiji Auto has successively obtained an angel round of 10 billion yuan and a round of financing of 3 billion yuan. Compared with other new car-making forces,"Build a car"The biggest advantage is that with the endorsement of the big guys, it is easy to get big capital (national team, guidance at all levels) to increase holdings. Dongfeng's VOYAH Automobile and GAC's Aion are both "car 3."0".
Some people also call the new brands incubated by traditional car companies "the second generation of cars". At present, the domestic new energy vehicle map has been determined, and the only ones who can continue to fight and resist may be the head car companies and the "second generation of cars"., most of the new car-making forces like Gaohe Automobile may not escape the tragic ending. This is not alarmist, before the collapse of Gaohe Automobile, the life of NIO, the representative of the new car-making forces, was worried, and they were rumored to be in the "ICU" many times, and the Middle East gold owner first aided 3 billion US dollars before temporarily getting out of the "ICU".
The old generation of new car-making forces are worried, but the new generation of car-making "second generation" has risen, which is a big change in the domestic new energy vehicle industry in 2024. AbsolutelyThe core driver behind the change is the influx of big capital, just like Zhiji Auto's Series B financing.
A rare joint effort from a major state-owned bank. According to the information, Zhiji Automobile recently received 8 billion yuan in Series B financing, led by Bank of China Financial, followed by Bank of Communications, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, etc. BOC Financial Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of China and is responsible for VC PE investment business. A large state-owned bank, 3 of which invest in car companies together, is not very common.
Does this also send a super signal: in 2024, banks are going to rush into building cars?
Three. There is no doubt that the army of banks is treating new energy vehicles as a major value depression.
Who were the bank's B-end (corporate) customers in the past? Real estate enterprises. According to incomplete statistics, in 2022 alone, more than 30 real estate companies will cooperate with banks and get more than 2a credit line of 2 trillion yuan; Who are the C-end (individual) key customers? People who pay off their mortgage. Also in 2022, the balance of personal housing loans reached 388 trillion yuan. So, the house is the most profitable business of the bank.
But everything has changed in 2023. The three companies that have attracted the most attention in real estate have jumped one after another, and their debts have been concentrated and thundered. "Negative country" Xu Jiayin entered, Yang Huiyan made a senior executive's salary cut, and Wang Jianlin called a friend to rescue the "bet". In the past, the bank that "made the best friend" with the real estate company was scared, and some banks directly jumped out and explained, "It will not provide loans to the real estate companies in question." ”
This is the first time that the bank has broken the intimate relationship with a real estate company. Losing unreliable B-end customers, banks have been looking for new big customers. In fact, as early as 2020, prescient banks set their sights on the new energy vehicle industry.
The beneficiary is CATL. This year, they successfully applied for 110 billion yuan of bank credit, expanded production capacity, and established the status of "Ningwang" power battery king. Also this year, 6 banks chose to smell business opportunities and cooperate with NIO, providing a total of 10.4 billion yuan of comprehensive credit to it, saving Li Bin, the "most miserable man in new energy". From 2020 to the present,Banks have gradually cultivated new energy vehicle companies as large customersAt the investment level, "conservative" banks have scattered actions.
An investor once said, "In the equity investment market, banks are stable wait-and-see." This sentence is understood as, "Banks pay attention to investment, but they are very cautious, even if they do not invest, they cannot make mistakes." "There is no way, the penetration of bank funds is the people's money, which makes its investment strategy must put stability in the first place. However, the bank is also afraid of investing money in new energy vehicles.
Afraid of what? I am afraid that the new energy vehicle industry will appear "the next Evergrande". The collapse of the Reading car, which is claimed to have burned 20 billion yuan, is another wake-up call for banks to make them aware of itInvesting in new energy vehicles should have a more reliable endorsement. As a result, banks have gradually set their sights on the "second generation of cars" with the shadow of industry leaders, which is definitely much safer than the new forces of car manufacturing.
This led to the participation of ICBC and other institutions in the A round 45 of VOYAH AutomobileWith 500 million yuan of financing, Aion obtained a round of 182 from Agricultural Bank of China and other institutions9.4 billion yuan of financing, as well as AVATR Technology, which was jointly built by Chang'an, CATL and Huawei, and the B round of 3 billion yuan financing has been supported by Bank of Communications and other institutions. It can be seen that banks favor the new energy vehicle industry and prefer the "second generation of cars".
In 2024, banks will become "bold", and major state-owned banks will invest intensively in Zhiji Automobile, which will also bring the most powerful funds to the new energy vehicle industry, accelerating industrial chain technology, product iteration and involution.
The new forces of car manufacturing are struggling, and a new round of battle between the leading car companies and the "second generation of cars" has just begun.