Source: Kingfisher Capital
March twenty _ fifthGyruss, Xiaopeng Motor (XPEVGyrussN) announce that its "land aircraft carrier" is about to enter the airworthiness approval phase. According to the plan, Xiaopeng's land aircraft carrier will start booking in the fourth quarter of 2024, and delivery is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025.
At a time when everyone cheered Xiaopeng to be certified by the Civil Aviation Administration, Xiaopeng entered the game of life and death.
On March 19, Xiaopeng released its annual results for 2023. In addition to the fact that losses are still rising, Xiaopeng's gross profit margin has also fallen off a cliff.
In 2024, what else can Xiao Peng rely on to fight back and start the next strong product cycle year?
Multiple financial indicators are under pressure
On March 19, Xiaopeng released its 2023 results. According to the financial report, Xiaopeng Motor achieved 306 revenue in 2023.Gyruss80 million yuan, an increase of 14.2% over the same period last yearGyrussThe net loss was 10.38 billion yuan, a record high, and the extent of the loss further widened.
In addition to rising losses, Xiaopeng's gross profit margin has also fallen off a cliff. Xiaopeng's annual gross profit margin was only 1.5% in 2023, compared with 11.5% in 2022.
This year, Xiaopeng Motor faces not only sustained losses, declining gross profit margin and other problems, but also the pressure of reduced delivery.
Xiaopeng has been in a state of lagging sales since the first half of 2023, the financial report said. Throughout 2023, Xiaopeng delivered a total of 142000 vehicles, an increase of 16.7% over the same period last year, but did not meet the company's target. The company has said that the original delivery target of 200000 vehicles in 2023 was actually completed by 70%.
Even the company's annual sales growth rate has not been able to outperform the "market". According to the China Automobile Association, in 2023, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 9.587 million and 9.495 million respectively, an increase of 35.8% and 37.9% over the same period last year, with a market share of 31.6%.
The cash reserves are not that large. By the end of 2023, Xiaopeng had a cash reserve of 45.7 billion yuan, compared with an ideal cash reserve of 103.67 billion yuan and 57.3 billion yuan.
Affected by the performance, Xiaopeng's share price fell sharply. Since the beginning of this year, it has fallen sharply by more than 38%, once again approaching the record low price. If you calculate from the high price of HK $220 set in the year of listing, there is only one big 10 left now, which means a round of "ankle chopping".
How to fight a turnaround?
Xiaopeng Motors launched the largest organizational structure and personnel adjustment since its inception in October 2022.
He Xiaopeng said in a full email that five virtual committee organizations and three product matrix organizations will be established. The former aims to open up the communication channels of the company's various business lines and improve the efficiency of cooperation. The latter is to ensure that customer-oriented and market-oriented, end-to-end responsible products (including service products) full business closed loop.
In January 2023, Wang Fengying, former general manager of Great Wall Motor, officially joined Xiaopeng Motor as president, taking overall charge of product planning, product matrix and sales system of Xiaopeng Automobile, and reporting to he Xiaopeng.
However, Xiaopeng Motor has not completely got out of the predicament after a series of drastic reforms, and it is still facing great pressure on its performance in 2023.
In fact, Xiaopeng's turnaround is not easy to fight. In the final analysis, the new power of car building is facing the impact from traditional car companies.
In 2024, new energy car companies began an upsurge of price reduction.
First, BYD announced on Feb. 19 that the price of its glorious version of Qin PLUS and Destroyer 05 was cut directly to 79800 yuan, a drop of more than 20, 000 yuan. Then, Changan also joined the "price game". On March 1, Changan Qiyuan Guan Xuan, the Q05 long-lasting version of the 125km model, dropped to 96900 yuan, a startling 26.5% drop from the previous starting price of 131900 yuan. Consumers can buy an electric car with longer mileage at a lower price.
Geely, Chery, Tesla and other brands are not to be outdone, have launched a different intensity of price reduction promotion activities.
In the 2024 Spring car purchase Festival launched in March, Geely offered cash discounts of up to 47000 yuan, plus a replacement subsidy of 10, 000 yuan. Chery subsidizes a number of models of its four major brands, of which Ruihu 8-Series and Star era ES trade-in for up to 40, 000 yuan.
Even Tesla, who has always been aloof and aloof, launched a time-limited car purchase policy on March 1, with a limited-time insurance subsidy of 8000 yuan for the rear-drive version of the Model 3CMY, and a designated car paint benefit of up to 10,000 yuan for all models, coupled with a time-limited and low-interest financial policy, you can enjoy a discount of up to 34600 yuan.
According to the data, Xiaopeng's sales fell 59 per cent in January to 8250, while sales halved to 4545 in February, down 44.9 per cent from the previous month, and fell again in March, delivering only 7002 new cars, down 54.6 per cent from a year earlier. For comparison, ideal cars and Lulai cars, which are also new forces in car building, delivered 20823 and 10378 vehicles respectively, up 88.7% and 3.9% respectively over the same period last year.
In April, BYD's new energy vehicle sales broke the 300000 mark, reaching 313200 units, ranking first in a row of new energy vehicles. Among the new car-building forces, ideal cars, Lulai and zero-running cars also announced their sales in April, which were 25787, 15620 and 15005 respectively, up 0.41%, 134.6% and 71.69% respectively over the same period last year. Xiaopeng sold a total of 9393 cars in April, up 33% from a year earlier, but still under pressure.
This price war for car companies, the already low profit margins have been further compressed, relying on small profits and quick sales to offset sales, it is difficult to say how far they can go. Of course, this is a good time for consumers to buy a car they like at a lower price.
The uncertainty of Flying cars
It is worth noting that under the background of financial losses and financial constraints, Xiaopeng Motor chose to invest in the cutting-edge technology field of flying vehicles, trying to open up new growth points through technological innovation, and occupy a first-mover advantage in this field.
At the CES exhibition in 2024, Xiaopeng Huitian showed its integrated flying car, which attracted wide attention in the market. Meanwhile, Wang Tan, co-founder and vice president of Xiaopeng Huitian, announced that another "land aircraft carrier" split flying car will start booking in the fourth quarter of this year, and mass production is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Flying car as a cutting-edge technology, for Xiaopeng automobile, is an opportunity, but more is a challenge.
In fact, Xiao Peng Huitian has made some progress in the field of flying cars. On March 21, 2024, the application for the Model Certificate (TC) of the flying vehicle of Xiaopeng Huitian "Land aircraft Carrier" (code: X3MurF) was officially accepted by the Central and South Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China. This is the second track player after Yihang Intelligence obtained this certificate.
However, the next major difficulty in the commercialization of Xiaopeng flying cars is route approval, which involves complex policy and regulatory processes. At present, local governments are cautious about approving new flight routes, which limits the commercial operating space of flying cars.
In addition, although the implementation of the interim regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned aerial vehicles provides a legal basis for regulating the flight of unmanned aircraft, there is still uncertainty about the market acceptance and practical application of new things such as flying vehicles.
Generally speaking, it will take time to verify whether flying cars can become the saviors of Xiaopeng cars. Before that, for Xiaopeng, how to balance R & D investment and financial situation, and how to deal with market and technological uncertainty are the main challenges.