Recently, the news of Changan Automobile's imminent acquisition of Gaohe has swiped the network, which has once again triggered the industry of the new energy track.
From the announcement of the loss-making operation of NIO, the leading brand of new energy vehicles, in 2020, to Musk's Tesla Motors' strong entry into the inland market, even Changan Automobile, an old state-owned enterprise, has to come in and take a piece of the pie.
Where are China's new energy vehicles going?
Can Changan Automobile's entry rejuvenate the sluggish Gaohe and inland new energy industries?
With the aggravation of environmental pollution and the gradual scarcity of natural resources. The new energy industry is bound to become the general trend in the future.
The capitalists with a keen sense of business have already spied on this opportunity and have joined the development of the new energy industry, among which Musk, the world's former richest man, is currently the most successful businessman in the new energy industry.
In 2022, his new energy vehicle brand Tesla ended perfectly with a revenue of 12.5 billion US dollars, and behind Tesla's success, it shows the lack of China's automotive industry in the field of new energy.
With Tesla cars in the Chinese market, the situation is frequent and the responsibility for maintenance is cumbersome and complicated. The people's demand for independent research and development and production of new energy vehicles is also getting higher and higher.
In fact, since 2014, some car manufacturers have begun to enter the field of new energy. For example, Li Bin, the owner of NIO, who "bought" a number of Chinese billionaires to raise funds, is one of the representatives.
When NIO first went public, it was once sought after by the people as being able to surpass Tesla's dominance in the Chinese market.
But the good times didn't last long. Only a year later, NIO suffered operating losses one after another due to the wrong market positioning.
The audience is sighing at the heroic end of NIO, and at the same time lamenting the difficulties in China's new energy vehicle field.
What kind of market crisis is hidden behind the failure of Gaohe Automobile
Who can nibble on this hard steamed bun?
Ding Lei, chairman of Human Horizons, also raised such a question?
As the former general manager of Shanghai General Motors, the global chairman of LeEco Group.
Ding Lei, who has been working hard in the automotive field for half his life, chose to establish the Chinese new energy vehicle brand Human Horizons in the year of no confusion. In Lei Jun's words: "This is the last time I start a business in my life. ”
But the Human Horizons, which has poured Ding Lei's life's hard work, is so "muddy can't support the wall".
In just a few years, it was in debt, and even had to announce a shutdown in 2023.
As a state-owned enterprise that has been favored by countless people, how did Human Horizons go from the limelight to a miserable end?
It all started in 2017, when Human Horizons was officially registered in Yancheng, Jiangxi Province under the leadership of Ding Lei.
A year later, Human Horizons, which has "fresh blood", was bought by Qingdao State-owned Assets and China Insurance Co., Ltd., and officially became a large enterprise with 10 billion yuan of financing.
As the chairman, Ding Lei is also confident in the future of Human Horizons. At the same time, Apple CEO Tim Cook is also developing new energy vehicles.
As a practical talent, Ding Lei's speed is never inferior to Cook's.
In just one quarter, Human Horizons has successfully landed five models, the most representative of which is HiPhi.
And Ding Lei is also worthy of being an old man who has been working in the automotive field for many years, with the contacts accumulated over the years, Gaohe Automobile is almost impeccable in terms of cost performance and appearance.
At its peak, sales reached an astonishing record of 1,000 units per month, which is not comparable with fuel-powered agricultural vehicles, but it is enough to see as a commercial vehicle.
According to Gaohe's insiders, maintaining such results can keep the company's monthly turnover at about 6.8 billion, which is enough to keep the company running normally for a year after removing various costs.
But running doesn't mean making a profit. With Tesla, a strong opponent, the product advantages of Gaohe Automobile could not be brought into full play, and it was soon on the edge of the market.
Even when capital turnover is difficult, Ding Lei needs to go to the marketing department every week to issue KPIs.
Until 2023, he will no longer be able to receive financing, and can only be forced to embark on the fate of being acquired.
According to ** news, Ding Lei officially met with Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, in Chongqing this month, and the purpose of the two sides should be for the next acquisition plan.
In this regard, Yicai said: "Let's talk about it, but it is still far from success."
At the same time, there was also news from overseas that Cook had given up the plan for new energy vehicles, and all core members had switched to AI.
Now it seems that the track of new energy is very likely to remain Tesla's home field in the next few years.
Those contestants, whether it is a veteran player with strong self-care like Apple, or a rookie like Gao He. None of them were able to get an entry card in this field.
In the final analysis, the failure of new energy vehicles can be attributed to the following three reasons.
First, the market recognition is low. Clause.
Second, the high cost. Clause.
Third, the imperfection of the new energy field.
At that time, Tesla's success was based on cutting-edge scientific and technological strength, which is precisely what we lacked.
It is hoped that in the future, Changan Automobile can rely on strong financial and technical support to truly put China's new energy vehicles on the road of benign development.
As the host of the field of new energy vehicles, why can't Gaohe Auto replicate Tesla's success in China?
The reason is simple, the popularity is obviously not enough.
Tesla's boss is Musk, the former richest man in the world, and he has no need to add a lot of marketing costs to his company.
Because his own success is enough to convince others that the cars he manufactures are leading the way in the industry.
However, the situation of Gaohe Automobile is the opposite.
New energy vehicles are originally in the situation of blind people touching elephants in the Chinese market, and many buyers are also in a wait-and-see attitude towards new energy vehicles.
However, the marketing cost of Gaohe Automobile is the weakest link in the entire production and sales process, and many sellers even heard about the brand of Gaohe Automobile for the first time when they even arrived at the store.
This can easily create various illusions such as third-rate cars and unguaranteed after-sales quality to sellers, thus affecting the sales performance of the brand.
Someone once commented on Ding Lei, the owner of Gaohe Automobile: "He is an excellent leader, but he is not suitable for entrepreneurship." ”
The translation of this sentence is: "He is suitable for talking about table tennis on paper, but not for practice".
Why? If you look at the market positioning of Tesla and Gaohe, it is clear.
At that time, with the immature self-driving function, Tesla successfully earned enough gimmicks in the Chinese market, and also left enough freshness for the majority of buyers.
Considering the pain points of powering cars, Tesla has put a lot of effort into the range of cars. From the perspective of consumers, try to solve his worries.
On the other hand, Gaohe Automobile is more like Ding Lei's dream.
Mr. Ding has a very high talent in art, and his extremely high attainments and pursuit of art force him to strive for excellence in the appearance of Gaohe cars.
It takes about 2-3 times from mold making to production for a general car, but because of the pursuit of the ultimate beauty, Gaohe Automobile has molded more than 70 times.
As a direct result, most of the sellers' impressions of Gaohe cars are only gorgeous appearances and gorgeous lighting effects.
In 2022, Mr. Wei, who is a professional investor, bought a Gaohe Hiphi X for his wife, landing about 600,000 yuan.
At that time, Mr. Wei was impressed by the lighting effect of this car, which his children liked very much.
The price of a flashy appearance is a sharp increase in production costs, but this is not trivial for the average seller.
A new energy vehicle with up to 600,000 yuan on the ground, its cost performance really cannot be compared with the low-end line of old manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Soon in 2022, the capital chain of Gaohe Automobile will gradually become tight.
At this time, the company's financing went wrong again, and the Saudi investor's failure became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
At the beginning, in order to enter China's new energy market, Saudi Arabia was willing to invest 5.6 billion US dollars to fund Human Horizons.
However, as the financier, Saudi Arabia has also put forward extremely harsh financing conditions.
First, Saudi investors should own 30 to 40 percent of Human Horizons.
The second point is to ask Human Horizons to set up a factory in Saudi Arabia.
As the promoter and chairman of the company, Ding Lei held 70% of the original shares of Human Horizons, which later shrank due to financing.
Therefore, the end result of his cooperation with Saudi Arabia was unhappy.
Without this life-and-death financing, Human Horizons' fate is to disintegrate after all.
After all, Ding Lei's family background is far from comparable with Musk.
One of the important reasons why Changan Automobile's acquisition of Gaohe Automobile has attracted widespread attention from the outside world is that it marks the broader direction of China's new energy vehicles to NIO.
It can be called a milestone turning point in the field of new energy vehicles.
Netizens also jokingly called this cooperation "a handshake between the past and the future." ”
Don't look at Changan Automobile, which has accompanied New China through decades of ups and downs, it can be called a well-known old domestic brand.
But digging deep into the background of Changan Automobile, it has a lot of origins.
The predecessor of Chang'an Automobile Factory was the Shanghai Ocean Artillery Bureau founded by Mr. Li Hongzhang, which has a history of more than 100 years.
As one of the four major camps of China's automobile manufacturing industry, Changan Automobile can be said to have won many awards, not only has its own R&D center and scientific research team.
It is even equipped with a professional experimental base.
Any seasoned grower knows that fertile land is essential for seedlings and fruiting.
Although the exploration of new energy is still extending, I believe that Chinese automakers who have gone through several times and various tests will be able to break through the technical barriers and make China's new energy vehicles successfully go global.