Backed by Geely, it’s like a controversial “rich second generation”. At the beginning of the month, it publicly submitted its IPO prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and in less than three years, it knocked on the door of the NYSE, making it the only one in the entire car industry. The new car, Geely 007, also shone at the Guangzhou Auto Show the day before yesterday, claiming to be a killer of mid-to-large-sized pure electric sedans, with pre-orders exceeding 10,000 units within three hours. According to official information, the dual-motor version of the Geely 007 can achieve a fastest acceleration of 2.84 seconds per 100 kilometers, while the single-motor version can also have a 0-100 km/h time of 5.4 seconds. This is undoubtedly a major selling point that attracts consumers’ attention. Before its public debut, the official released a promotional video of the Geely 007 “wiping out” Tesla models in an acceleration test, which was quite a spectacle. However, ‘Tech New Knowledge’ found some hidden “tricks” in the video. The Geely promotional video showed the Geely 007 racing against the entire Tesla lineup, and planned the topic of “one car PK Tesla’s entire lineup”. According to the video, the four Teslas are the Model Y, the high-performance version of the Model 3, as well as the dual-motor versions of the Model S and Model X. Although it doesn’t include the Model S Plaid in the 2-second club, it still covers the mainstream products of Tesla.
As a promotional video, the result of the race can be imagined. The Extreme Krypton 007 was significantly ahead, ending the race with a drift and a “taunting” moment. But what’s interesting is that the Tesla Model 3 Performance version, which appeared on the “participant list,” was equipped with standard rims in the video. There are two possible explanations: either the Performance version of the Model 3 was modified with standard rims, or the car was directly replaced with the standard Model 3. “Tech New Knowledge” sought confirmation from Zhao Chunlin, the vice president of Extreme Krypton, through social media platforms, and he said, “The rims were replaced, but it’s definitely the Performance version.” Another point of doubt is that during the acceleration race against Extreme Krypton 007, the high-mounted brake lights of the Model 3 and Model Y lit up in the final stage. It’s hard to call it fair if a competitor brakes during an acceleration race. Of course, it can also be understood as a staged scene in the promotional video, and it’s normal to accidentally reveal behind-the-scenes details. However, more onlookers believe that Extreme Krypton’s actions are not sophisticated, and instead are seen as helping to advertise Tesla. Some Extreme Krypton owners even said, “It’s quite embarrassing to watch, I don’t know how this promotional video passed inspection.” The Tesla official, who felt “unfair treatment,” also took a dig when promoting the Model S package in the future.
The netizen’s mocking of “007 Jike has not sold yet, but bought four Teslas first” is a misjudgment of “new technology”. In the exchange with Zhao Chunlin, it was learned that the Tesla was obtained from the market lease, which may also be the reason for the replacement of the P-version Model 3 hub. In fact, as the first pure electric luxury sedan of Jike, 007 has been given high expectations, and is also labeled with “the strongest electric sedan” and “the new king is about to rise”. Its 2.84-second zero to one hundred acceleration and a price of 229,900 yuan (32170$) have brought considerable shock to the market. If it weren’t for the “accident” in this promotional video, 007 as Jike’s first sedan would indeed be outstanding enough, but the criticism of “wiping out Tesla” inevitably raises doubts about the authenticity of other parameters. Regarding this, “New Technology” asked relevant personnel in Jike’s product marketing, and received a reply stating that they were not sure, but the zero to one hundred acceleration should not differ much from the official standard. Zhao Chunlin also said that he would do another live broadcast in a few days. The small actions in the promotional video may have been unintentional, but Jike’s product sales have also seen many operations that have damaged customer trust in the past. In July 2021, several car owners on the Jike APP reported that the Jike 001 motor was downgraded, with the original supplier being Japan’s Denso Automotive Motor Co., Ltd., but later adding Weirui Electric Vehicle Technology Co., Ltd., resulting in reduced torque. The oil-cooled heat dissipation of the new Jike motor was also changed to water-cooled heat dissipation. “To put it bluntly, before I bought the 001, the supplier promoted by Jike was also something I valued, but later they started changing suppliers. Of course, I can understand, but if you’re going to change, then don’t use the supplier as a promotional point from the beginning. This practice is quite unfair.” At that time, many potential car owners began to waver in their purchasing decisions. The newly released Jike X this year has also been questioned. Its use of CATL’s batteries has always been a focus of promotion, and the official website also clearly states that the batteries come from CATL. However, later in the owner’s group, someone revealed that Jike X will be replacing the batteries with those from Chint New Energy. The relevant content about CATL batteries was also deleted from the official website. Subsequently, the Jike official came forward to state that the battery cells come from different manufacturers, and the cells produced within 2023 will be from CATL, but they guarantee consistent performance, actual usage, and quality assurance standards for different cell suppliers. The reason for adding a new cell supplier is to ensure the stability of the supply chain. “From the current situation, the extermination of 007 and the previous battery change of X by Tesla both have the suspicion of ‘Spring and Autumn style’ in their publicity,” an industry insider told ‘Tech New Knowledge,’ “But it is highly likely that it will not affect the listing process and the attitude of the capital market.” If nothing unexpected happens, Jikua will successfully ring the bell at the NYSE in the first half of next year, and the disclosed prospectus has made the envy of peers eager to learn more. Financial data shows that from 2020 to 2022, Jikua achieved revenues of 3.185 billion yuan, 6.528 billion yuan, and 31.899 billion yuan respectively; net profits were 104 million yuan, -4.514 billion yuan, and -7.655 billion yuan respectively. In the first half of this year, Jikua’s revenue reached 21.27 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 136%; net loss was 3.871 billion yuan, compared to 3.085 billion yuan in the same period last year; in other words, a total loss of 15.936 billion yuan in the past 3.5 years. Jikua’s CEO, An Conghui, proudly stated that the company’s vehicle gross profit margin is 12.3%, making it the best pure electric vehicle brand in terms of gross profit margin after Tesla. The company’s gross profit margin target for this year is to reach a double-digit percentage. Jikua is confident in becoming China’s fastest-growing new energy vehicle company. In fact, the reality is that although the sales of new energy vehicles from various domestic brands are very hot, most car companies are caught in a “quantity without profit” curse. The “price war” is escalating, making it extremely difficult for any company to make a profit. Jikua, however, relies on the scale effect of Geely’s SEA architecture and the strong support of the group’s system power. The positive vehicle gross profit margin during the initial stage of the company’s establishment is indeed worthy of capital favor for a new force that has just been established. It is also worth noting that, compared to many new forces that go public to raise money, most of which are focused on research and development, Jikua’s listing is mainly aimed at sales and services, which means brand expansion. The prospectus shows that approximately 45% of the funds raised by Jikua this time will be used to develop more advanced BEV technology and expand the product portfolio; approximately 45% will be used for sales and marketing, as well as expanding the company’s service and charging network; and approximately 10% will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital requirements to support the company’s business operations and growth. Unlike other new forces that have gone public, which have more than 40% of the funds raised explicitly earmarked for research and development, Jikua’s research and development investment can reveal its secret. According to the prospectus, the R&D investment of Xpeng in the fiscal year 2021-2022 and the first six months of 2023 were 3.16 billion yuan, 5.446 billion yuan, and 3.189 billion yuan respectively. The R&D to revenue ratio is above 15%, which seems not low. However, it can be seen from the outsourced R&D expenses that close to 50% of the expenses during the reporting period are consulting fees, SEA license fees, and verification and testing fees. In other words, Xpeng has directly paid most of the money to Geely. In fact, for Xpeng, which has not yet turned a profit, the core of the evaluation by more investors is not the current income, but how to make up for the shortcomings in intelligence in the future. After all, the technological content of the entire vehicle is an important factor in determining sales and the capital market valuation of the car company. Although Xpeng is ahead of many traditional car companies in terms of intelligence, there is still a gap compared to the first-tier companies such as Tesla, “Weimar”, and Huawei. The unavoidable autonomous driving function, the Xpeng P7, which sells for as much as 300,000 yuan (41990$), has just been equipped with the “Highway NZP” using Mobileye’s solution. Earlier, according to Anconghui, the Mobileye solution uses a pure visual system and a low-power chip, which can achieve a very good experience. The newly released Xpeng P5 has been changed to a self-developed solution based on the Nvidia Orin chip, along with a lidar. In actual scenarios, Xpeng’s NZP currently only supports 5 cities, while Xiaopeng’s XNGP can already seamlessly connect highways, cities, parking lots, and other scenarios, completing uninterrupted assisted driving from start to finish. The ideal plan is to open NOA functions in 100 cities by the end of the year. Huawei’s Hongmeng Intelligent Travel is available in 45 cities, which means that models such as the Alfa and Wanjie will jump to the forefront. In addition, Zhiji also cooperates with Momenta to launch high-speed NOA navigation assistance. Compared to existing products on the market, Xpeng’s current level of intelligent driving is only equivalent to models priced at 200,000 yuan (27990$) or less, or even some at the 100,000 yuan (14000$) level. Whether it’s product updates, performance parameters, or corporate management, Xpeng’s focus is on speed. It is precisely this “Xpeng speed” that allows it to take the lead. However, it is necessary to slow down and stabilize after the market enters the white-hot stage. Only by making intelligent, user marketing, channel construction and other aspects more refined and detailed can we live up to the high-profile publicity.