Recently, the shared power bank has been named "assassin" and rushed into the hot search. It used to charge 50 cents per hour, but now it charges 4 yuan or even 10 yuan per hour. The shared power bank that can be seen everywhere in life has become the focus of public opinion due to the price increase. Many netizens complain that "this is to encourage everyone to buy their own power bank".

A few years ago, under the name of "sharing economy", shared power banks were favored by capital. In just 10 days, the amount of financing reached 300 million yuan, and more than 20 institutions entered the market. At that time, smartphones were fully functional, power consumption was getting faster and faster, and charging had become a high-frequency demand. With the trend of "sharing economy", shared power banks quickly entered the market. According to public data, as early as 2020, the number of users of shared power banks was close to 300 million.

At present, the shared power bank market is showing a concentration of leading companies. In 2021, Monster Charging will go public, Street Power Search will merge, and Xiaodian will also sprint to IPO, forming a pattern of "three power and one beast". However, under the epidemic, the shared power bank companies that focus on offline scenes are actually under certain pressure. The competition at the channel end is increasingly fierce, and the battle for points is intensifying.

According to a third-party report, based on the operating income of shared power banks to calculate the market size, it is expected that the average annual compound growth rate will reach 20.8% in the next five years. In the case of better prospects, prices have risen, but losses have increased. Services have been complained by users, and shared power bank companies still cannot find business growth. The current situation is very embarrassing.

Charge up to 10 yuan for 1 hour

"I am a big user of electricity," a shared power bank user from Beijing told China News Weekly. Due to the frequent need to participate in business activities, he has become accustomed to borrowing shared power banks when his mobile phone is out of power, but recently the price after being used has "stung": "It takes less than half an hour to charge 4 yuan."

In addition to questioning the recent increase in the price of shared power banks, the above users also found more details. When he checked past usage orders, he found that a shared power bank using small electricity once took 2 hours and 5 minutes and charged 12 yuan. However, the charging standard is 4 yuan per hour, and it will be returned free within 3 minutes. Less than 1 hour is calculated as 1 hour.

"This means that I charged 4 yuan more for an extra 5 minutes, is that reasonable?" the user questioned.

According to public research, among the users of shared power banks, business people, young women, car users, game users and video users use shared power banks more frequently. These people often become a loyal paying client base because of the long use of mobile phones, the inconvenience of carrying their own power banks and the low price sensitivity. However, recently these users with low price sensitivity also feel that they can’t afford to share power banks.

Previously, according to media reports, in many cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing, the price of shared power banks has risen to about 4 yuan per hour, and some popular scenic spots have reached as high as 7 or 8 yuan per hour. Reporters visited and found that in major business districts in Beijing, the charging standards for shared power banks vary. Shopping malls, bustling tourist attractions and streets in the core business district often charge more, generally 4 yuan to 6 yuan per hour. At individual points, the price is higher, reaching 10 yuan per hour, such as in some scenic spots and high-end sales offices.

In fact, different shared power banks may have different prices and charging standards in the same place. Looking at the Mini Programs of various power bank manufacturers, taking the area near a core business district in Beijing as an example, most monster charging charges 2 yuan every half hour, and it is free to return within 3 minutes. Less than half an hour is calculated as half an hour; most small electricity charges 1.5 yuan or 2 yuan every half hour, and it is free to return within 3 minutes. But the difference is that in some places, less than 30 minutes is calculated as 30 minutes, and in some places, less than 1 hour is calculated as 1 hour, and the difference between these two places is often only a few hundred meters.

A staff member of the shared power bank revealed to China News Weekly that there has been no uniform price for the shared power bank, and the price of each point is different, because there are direct sales points and agent points in the middle, and different people and merchants negotiate the price, and the final price will be different. "Many times, the company’s control over the price is not so strong, and the room for human manipulation is relatively large," the staff member stressed.

Shi Songpo, vice-president of Rock Capital, pointed out that "in the early days, the price of power banks was mostly charged 1 yuan per hour, but now it is mostly concentrated at 3 to 4 yuan per hour. This kind of price increase is not an isolated case in the sharing economy industry, and the price of shared bicycles is also rising. At present, there is no unified pricing rule in the industry, especially in the case of the increasing proportion of the agency model, the price control of power bank manufacturers has actually become weaker. The phenomenon of random pricing by agents and point merchants is relatively common, and there is often chaos of different prices for the same brand on the same floor."

Why become an "assassin"?

Around 2017, it was in the period of perfect development of smart phone functions and the prevalence of various large-screen applications. At that time, people used mobile phones for an average of 1.86 hours a day, but the power problem of mobile phones has not been solved. Shared power banks have become a trend, and players from all walks of life have poured into the industry, occupying major shopping malls, stations and other traffic-intensive places. Capital has also entered the market, and the amount of financing has reached 300 million in just 10 days.

Within a year, the leading companies announced profits one after another: Caller first announced a break-even, and then Street Power and Small Power announced profits respectively. The financial data of Monster Charging showed that the net profit in 2019 and 2020 reached 166 million and 75.40 million yuan, respectively. In 2021, Monster Charging was listed in the United States, demonstrating the business model of sharing power banks. In 2021, the industry concentration was further enhanced, and Small Power Technology submitted a prospectus to seek listing; Street Power and Soo Power merged into Bamboo Mang Technology, forming a pattern of three "small bamboo beasts" competing.

According to a public report, in the first half of 2022, the number of devices, transaction volume, and order volume in the shared power bank industry increased compared with 2021, with CR4 (the top 4 share concentration in the industry) exceeding 90%. In fact, the price of shared power banks has increased several times in the past few years. In the second half of 2019, the price of shared power banks increased to 2 yuan per hour. In the second half of 2020, the average charging standard of major platforms increased to 3 yuan, and this year it reached 4 yuan per hour.

Shi Songpo said that in the sharing economy, the price increase of shared power banks is still relatively fast, and the primary factor for collective price increases is that the industry reshuffle period of low-price drainage has passed, and the tail players have been cleared and entered the oligopoly stage. These companies originally pursued market share, but now turn to profit.

"In fact, the price of the shared power bank is not expensive, such as taking the bus and subway, it is normal to spend a few dollars for five minutes, but the shared power bank has caused so much controversy, or there is a problem with the service." Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Consulting, stressed that if the quality can be improved, it does not matter if the price is a little more expensive.

In the media report, a user rented a shared power bank from a hospital in Kunming, Yunnan, but when he returned it, he found that the warehouse was full and could not be returned, and there was no return point nearby. The user didn’t know what to do for a while. In addition, there are two models of shared power banks displayed in the Mini Program. These two models do not support mutual return. The user asked the customer service about this situation, and the customer service asked to return it by mail and asked the user to bear the cost. The user expressed dissatisfaction, and the company that owns the power search did not give a solution.

Previously, the regulatory authorities conducted a survey on the pain points of shared power bank services, and the survey showed that billing was not stopped after return, renting was easy to return, difficult to return, and the price logo was not significant, and the charges were unreasonable. On the Black Cat complaint platform, there were as many as 70,000 complaints about incoming calls, 25,000 complaints about small electricity, and 15,000 complaints about monster charging, including malicious deductions, failure to return, and false propaganda.

A picture circulating on the Internet shows that a user has purchased more than 40 shared power banks in the past two years. Generally, shared power banks have a "buy-out" mechanism, which stipulates that if they are not returned for a long time (about 7 days) after charging, the full deposit of 99 yuan will be deducted. Many users who borrowed the power bank and forgot to return it often "lost" 99 yuan to take the shared power bank home.

"Recently, shared power banks have been controversial, and the core problem is that the price has risen to a certain extent, but the product service and quality have generally shown a downward trend, and the price and service are far from consumers’ expectations." Zhang Yi told China News Weekly that the most widely criticized power bank is the slow charging speed, so it is not high in terms of consumer satisfaction.

The dilemma of a single profit model

In the past two years, affected by the epidemic, the business of sharing power banks is not easy to do.

According to the financial report data, Monster Charging’s revenue reached 1.427 billion yuan in the first half of this year, and 1.819 billion yuan in the same period last year, a significant decline year-on-year. In fact, Monster Charging has experienced a year-on-year decline in revenue for three consecutive quarters. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Quarter 1 of 2022 and the second quarter of 2022, revenue declined by 9.7%, 13% and 29% respectively.

In terms of profit, in the first half of the year, the monster charging loss reached 280 million yuan, while in the monster charging profit in 2019 and 2020, the net profit added up to 242 million yuan. At present, the monster charging has lost money for four consecutive quarters, and the loss is expanding.

According to the financial report, the entrance fee and commission paid by Monster Charging to merchants have increased year by year. In 2019, this expenditure accounted for 48.2% of the revenue of the power bank, and in 2021 this data reached 61.1%. Shi Songpo believes that the reason for raising prices and pursuing profits is not only because of the increase in market concentration and oligopoly, but also because of the single profit model of shared power banks, serious losses and fierce competition.

"We can see that companies such as Monster Charging are paying more and more commissions to third parties. This is because of the compromises that manufacturers have to make during the winter under the pandemic. Under the situation that the industry’s profits are further under pressure, high-quality points are the focus of the efforts of shared power bank companies. The intensification of competition for high-quality points has led to the increase in the cost of distribution venues, and both the entrance fee and the commission are increasing, further boosting the price of power banks."

The above-mentioned sharing power bank staff pointed out that the business of sharing power banks is "cannibalism", and the increase in the frequency of renting power banks will increase the income, so the point is very important. The demand for renting in crowded places is relatively large, so the price of these places will be higher. If it is a direct operation, it is very expensive to raise a very large ground team. Therefore, this year, companies such as Monster Charging have turned to agency operations. In this case, they mainly rely on renting machines to make money, but this has led to the result that the pricing power is controlled by the agent.

Zhang Yi said, "In recent years, shared power bank companies have encountered great pressure to lose money, mainly due to the competition for channels. Everyone is overdrawing prices and profits, and stimulating channels through third-party commissions, entering a vicious circle."

According to public data, it is expected that by 2025, the market size of shared power banks will reach 27.80 billion yuan, and users will break through 700 million. Zhang Yi believes that the current mobile end point intelligence is getting higher and higher, the demand for electricity consumption is also increasing, and the battery life problem has not been fundamentally solved, so there is still room for the future development of shared power banks. He also stressed that only by improving products and services can we win the favor of consumers.

At present, Zhumang Technology is developing new businesses such as shared charging stations for motorcycles and smart retail containers. Monster Charging has also relied on millions of power banks to incubate the Baijiu brand through private domain traffic. Xiaodian also revealed in its prospectus that it wants to enter the short video field.

"Shared power banks have actually become large-scale, and the popularity of first- and second-tier cities is already very high. However, under the cold winter, the problem of profitability is prominent, and even if it expands, it will not increase profits." Shi Songpo said that now companies are looking for different profit models, trying to bring new increments, but whether it can really solve the single profit model still needs time to verify.

We went to see SU7, who put his personal reputation on the line.

At 9: 00 am on March 25th, Weibo, the official of Xiaomi Automobile, announced that Xiaomi Automobile will be officially listed at 7: 00 pm on March 28th (this Thursday). At the same time, Xiaomi SU7 opened a tasting meeting in 60 stores in 29 cities to welcome the press conference on the 28th.

The odd-even school also made a special trip to Xiaomi’s home, Chuhe Hanjie Automobile Experience Store, Wuchang District, Wuhan City, to find out. Although the shower didn’t stop early that morning, it still failed to stop customers’ enthusiasm for watching cars. Nearly 50 people were crowded in a place of about 15 square meters, and basically every customer or team was equipped with special technicians to explain and watch.

Source: parity shooting

The on-site staff said, "At present, there is basically only one car in each store. The tasting meeting before the car is officially listed is limited to watching the shape of the vehicle and understanding the relevant configuration parameters. Without the power system and the door, it can’t be opened."

Since the beginning of this year, the whole automobile industry has been seriously involved. BYD took the lead in pushing down the "domino" of price reduction. Tesla, Geely and other brands arrived with flattery, hoping to try their best to hold one position, and Xiaomi, as a late "placement student" at the end of the semester, can rush out from a group of car companies?

There are many rice noodles, and the specific configuration is open and the price is not open.

Many customers who look at the car revealed to the odd-even school that Xiaomi’s sales staff basically called to confirm the time and purpose of the visit. Some people made an appointment in the field on March 22, and they made an appointment only on the evening of the 24 th. The staff still contacted me as soon as possible to ensure the stability of the scene and the smooth flow of people.

At the scene, a female car buyer said at the scene, "I pay more attention to the design and color matching when buying a car. Although only three color matching are exposed at present, the overall streamline of Xiaomi SU7 is very sporty, especially after the tail LOGO is made small, it looks more advanced. If you have cherry blossom powder, you will definitely rush."

Source: parity shooting

Another car buyer directly said that he was a rice noodle and spent at least 500,000 yuan on millet products every year. This time, he took a fancy to the SU7 MAX version of Xiaomi. If the price can be announced at the scene below 300,000 yuan, he will not hesitate to place an order directly at the scene, but the staff said that the new car has not yet arrived at the store.

Curious about the authenticity of the information transmitted online, the technicians at the scene confirmed most of the information to us except the price.

For example, the standard model of Xiaomi SU7 does not have a fast charge of 800V, and it is equipped with a 73.6-degree lithium iron phosphate battery provided by Xiangyang Fudi Battery. This company is a subsidiary of BYD. The new car uses a single motor, with a peak power of 220kW and a maximum speed of 210 km/h. On the other hand, the SU7 Max adopts Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited’s 101-degree ternary lithium battery with dual motors. The peak power of the front and rear drive motors is 220kW and 275kW respectively, and the maximum speed can reach 265km/h..

The wheel hub is also equipped with Bridgestone TURANZA 6 in the standard version, Michelin E PRIMACY in the PRO version and Michelin PILOT SPORT EV in the MAX version. The super motors V6 and V6s of Xiaomi are jointly developed with UMC and Huichuan respectively, and V8s is the self-developed result of Xiaomi Automobile.

Source: parity shooting

Although the interior and operating system have not yet been officially disclosed, the on-site technicians are very excited to say that 澎湃 OS, as a part of Xiaomi’s ecological chain, will realize the information flow and sharing of mobile phones, automobiles, Internet of Things and other terminal devices, and Xiaomi SU7 can bind charging piles and avoid the charging peak through remote control through networking.

"Imagine that you can reserve a charging point just after work. After parking the car, you can directly call Xiao Ai to turn on the air conditioner and sweeping robot at home. Once you get back, you can rest on the sofa."

However, when we asked about the most extreme trigger range of cars and other terminals, the staff said with regret: "At present, the whole house intelligence is still realized through WIFI connection. The company should not have conducted experiments on this, and the specific data is not clear here."

Parity sent a number of sales staff of Xiaomi Auto to learn about the specific pricing of Xiaomi SU7, but they were told that it was still in the confidential stage. "Our store staff also have loyal rice noodles. Everyone hopes that the final price will be lower than Model 3 and Extreme Krypton 007, and the best standard version will be less than 220,000, but the headquarters did not disclose the specific information, and it will not be known until the market was released on the evening of March 28."

At present, the biggest suspense of Xiaomi SU7 is still "price".

What is the price of Xiaomi’s car to "serve" for dinner?

Although the various advanced technologies displayed at the conference and the real cars that appear repeatedly in many "spy photos" can make people excited. However, when consumers calm down and make purchase decisions, it is crucial for consumers’ final choice, and it may be the price of Xiaomi still hiding half her face from us behind her guitar.

In fact, in view of the topic of price, Lei Jun said frankly in Weibo a few days ago that "the standard version of Xiaomi SU7 is far more configured than (Tesla) Model 3", and said that the purchase cost of SU7 is very high, which will not lead to a low price for external sale.

Source: Lei Jun Personal Weibo

However, it is generally regarded as a precaution for Xiaomi SU7 to appear at a high price, or to raise consumers’ psychological expectations first, and then "persuade" executives overnight to launch products with extremely high cost performance. But in either case, consumers’ money is not blown by strong winds, and the yardstick of market measurement has always been there. If Mr. Lei wants to play the banner of Xiaomi Automobile, he must do better than competing products from friends at the same price.

Looking at the competing products of friends (that is, Krypton 001, Krypton 007 and Model 3), in fact, the price of SU7 has already been blocked. Compared with the Krypton 007, which adopts 800V electrical architecture, single and double motors and is known as the "200,000-yuan tram gatekeeper", the entry-level SU7 without 800V overcharge and without Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited’s 100-degree battery is simply difficult to parry.

Source: Extreme Krypton 007 Conference

Therefore, even if Mr. Lei denies it, in the current market environment, the starting price of 199,000 yuan is not only a zero probability event, but may become the best price for Xiaomi SU7 to detonate the market.

However, if the starting price is set at 209,900 yuan as the Krypton 007, then the SU7, with its larger measurements, is expected to match Huawei’s smart cockpit strength, still compete with Krypton 007, and even stabilize other competing products in the market. However, if the starting price reaches 229,900, then facing the extremely krypton 007 with 100-degree Ningde battery and 800V fast charge, the SU7 may really have only one way to choose.

The odd-even faction also communicated with a power battery practitioner, and the other party was more direct. If the starting price exceeds 210,000 yuan and the relevant intelligence does not have the ability to shine, then the high probability will not be in the consumer’s choice range.

In addition to the entry-level models, if the SU7 Pro, SU7 Max and even the highest-equipped SU7 FE are all like online pictures, then it is not difficult to understand the way Xiaomi plays.

Source: Net transmission Xiaomi car configuration table

For consumers who want to experience SU7, the most standard version can become "the first car for young people", while the two advanced versions are for middle-class people who really want to experience the new technology released at the Xiaomi technology conference, but I don’t know whether it is the real FE version, that is, to create high-end "toys" for the big shots.

But what exactly is the landing price? Is the SU7 series really stuffed into three models? What is the consumer’s evaluation after listing? It will take until March 28 to see the results.

03 written at the end

On March 25th, Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, sent a message in Weibo with emotion: "How to introduce Xiaomi SU7 in one sentence? I asked myself this question for three years. My final answer: The goal of Xiaomi SU7 is to be the best-looking, best-driving and most intelligent car within 500,000. "

Although talking about ideals and marketing are Xiaomi’s strengths, the competition between car companies ultimately depends on sales and production capacity.

At present, Xiaomi Automobile has not announced its production capacity. Xiaomi Automobile has signed contracts with 14 sales and service partners, and also listed a list of 59 stores. The channels are mainly divided into flagship centers, sales and service centers, experience stores and delivery centers. Of the first 29 cities, 17 have only opened delivery centers at present.

Some media have reported that Xiaomi Automobile Factory will be built in two phases and completed in 2025, with a total annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The first phase was completed in 2023. At the end of February this year, a research document on Xiaomi Automobile was circulated on the Internet. According to the disclosure, Xiaomi Automobile will be delivered in April. It is estimated that the vehicle output will be about 2,000 vehicles in the first quarter after listing, with an output value of 400 million yuan. In response to this news, Xiaomi officially came out to rumor.

It is not difficult to see that all preparations for Xiaomi Auto are made on the premise that Xiaomi SU7 will explode when it goes on the market. It’s just that this bet on the whole personal reputation of Lei Zong, and then bet on the future gambling of the whole Xiaomi Group. What is the chance of winning?

On February 27th, LI released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2022.

Data show that in the fourth quarter of last year, LI achieved revenue of 17.65 billion yuan, and the annual revenue of 45.29 billion yuan, up 67.7% year-on-year, but the operating loss in the same period was as high as 3.65 billion yuan, up 259.3% year-on-year.About every LI sold, the net loss is 27,000 yuan..

At the same time, the gross profit margin rose to 20.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022, butThe annual gross profit margin dropped to 19.4%.In 2021, the gross profit margin was 21.3%, down 1.9 percentage points year-on-year.

In 2022, the company’s operating expenses and R&D expenses were 12.45 billion yuan and 6.78 billion yuan respectively, up by 83.6% and 106.3% year-on-year, and other expenses related to employee management were 5.67 billion yuan, up by 62.2% year-on-year.

By the end of 2021, the number of employees in LI was 11,900, and by the end of 2022, this number had increased to 19,300, with a year-on-year increase of 62.2%.

However, as of the end of the fourth quarter of last year, the ideal book cash flow was still as high as 58.45 billion yuan. For the company, there is not much pressure on future R&D and management expenditures.

It generally takes a long period of loss for new forces to build cars. Even Tesla only turned losses into profits in 2020, and its annual gross profit margin during 2012-2022 experienced repeated fluctuations.

From 7.3% in 2012 to the peak of 27.6% in 2014, it then fell all the way until it stabilized and rebounded in 2020, and remained above 21% for three consecutive years.The gross profit margin in 2022 was 25.6%.

Therefore, the increase in operating losses is not a problem in the short term. It depends on whether the brand can shorten the time of profit through product layout. For capital, long-term interests can be considered, but patience is limited.

For LI, in 2022, it stopped production in Li ONE decisively, introduced L9, L8 and L7 in reverse order, and broke through the 20,000-vehicle mark in December, which also proved the correctness of its product strategy.

If the previous ideal was only individual combat, then the next step was the wolf tactics, and it didn’t give itself too many price barriers, unlike Wei Lai’s rigid high-end work, butThrough the iteration of new products, it gradually penetrated into the market space of 200,000-300,000 yuan..

Why should BYD break through the price bottom line at all costs? The purpose is to take the volume, and then share the total cost based on the general volume, and finally achieve the goal of quick turnover and small profits.

Ideally, to reduce the loss, it is difficult to rely solely on high-end products, and the real volume is concentrated in the range of 150,000-300,000 yuan.

Li Xiang, CEO of LI, once said that it is not a dream to sell 30,000 vehicles a month if the L7 Air version is delivered.

In January of this year, Ideality became the only car company with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 with 15,141 vehicles. The sales of L9 and L8 were hot, and the L7 was scheduled to be optimistic. This is also the reason why Li wants to have the confidence to achieve monthly sales of 30,000 in the future.

Ideally, the analysis of the product array is more accurate, such as the L9 (459,800 yuan) with the highest price, which is aimed at potential customers with sufficient budget and BBA. They hope to experience the fun completely different from the traditional high-end fuel vehicles, and at the same time, the six-seat layout meets the needs of Chinese family travel scenes.

The guide price of L8 is 339.8-399.8 thousand yuan, which is a reduced version of L9, and it is also six seats, but the price has dropped by 60-12 thousand yuan to meet those groups who want to buy L9 but have insufficient budget.

L7 focuses on five luxury SUV markets, with a guide price of 31.98-37.98 million yuan, which is cheaper than L8, making up for the gaps in five markets and directly grabbing customers from Audi Q5L and Mercedes-Benz GLC. This kind of consumers don’t care about six, which is more pragmatic and has limited budget.

But from that ideal background display,LI car owners used the smart big screen for more than 6 hours/week during parking.It also reflects from one side that people who choose LI have a high demand for entertainment functions of new energy vehicles, which is becoming a breakthrough to help new forces rapidly expand their market share.

In addition, the new forces also have great advantages in intelligence. They can rely on large-capacity batteries to achieve rich car experience, which traditional fuel vehicles can’t do at all.

In 2023, for the new forces, the cost of power batteries is expected to be greatly reduced. For example, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited has launched a half-price cooperation idea for large customers, and LI will be one of the cooperative car companies.

With the improvement of product structure and the initial effect of function optimization, the expenditure on R&D will also decrease in the future. LI is waiting for the mass production of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, and the car system experience will be promoted by leaps and bounds.

Full text summary:Under the background of frequent negative news and employees blowing their own dirty linen, it seems that LI’s counter-attack road has not encountered much resistance, and the market of high-end intelligent new energy vehicles is still a blue ocean, which is also the basis for many new forces to dare to burn money. However, this year’s new energy market will usher in a cruel price war. Fortunately, it has not yet reached the high-end market. For new forces, adhering to the product concept of high scarcity and exclusiveness may be the key to avoiding strangulation.

introduction

At the beginning of December, the share price of Xiaokang shares went up and down after Celeste released a brand new high-end brand AITO, but after Huawei’s press conference appeared in AITO M5 yesterday, Xiaokang shares went down on December 24th. Economic analysts believe that this is due to Huawei’s increasing participation in AITO and M5, which broke the expectation that Xiaokang shares are Huawei’s automobile partners. This means that the Celeste SF5 blessed by Huawei is also afraid of being uncompetitive in front of the M5. However, from the perspective of the whole new energy track, it is still unknown how Huawei AITO asks about the future of M5.

01

On December 24, Xiaokang shares opened at 70.68 yuan. As of 10: 15, Xiaokang shares fell by 10% to 63.19 yuan, hitting the limit, with a turnover of 1.323 billion yuan.

Combing the car stocks in the secondary market today, the overall car sector fell, especially Xiaokang shares. CRRC called the secretary of Xiaokang shares, saying that this was caused by various factors in the secondary market and it was impossible to determine the specific reasons.

On December 23rd, Huawei unveiled two AITO cars at the flagship product launch conference in winter. At the beginning of December, Sailis, a subsidiary of Xiaokang, released a brand new high-end brand AITO. According to the official statement, AITO is a high-end smart car brand deeply empowered by Huawei. Compared with Sailis SF5, the R&D, manufacturing and sales services of AITO are deeply involved by Huawei, and Sailis also given great autonomy to Huawei. As soon as the news came out, Xiaokang shares had a daily limit on December 13, and its market value once again stood at 100 billion market value.

At the press conference, Huawei unveiled the first model of AITO brand-Wenjie M5, and started the pre-sale. The new car is positioned in a medium-sized luxury electric extended-range SUV, which is the first car equipped with a Harmony OS smart cockpit. The new car will be exhibited in 180 stores in 42 cities of Huawei. This is the second new car exhibited in Huawei stores after Cyrus SF5.

The appearance of AITO did not drive the share price of Xiaokang shares to rise, but plummeted. Shen Meng, chairman of chansons Capital, told CRRC: "Huawei released auto products based on its own system, but it did not involve Xiaokang shares, breaking the expectation that Xiaokang shares are Huawei’s auto partners."

From the above, although the AITO brand belongs to Cyrus, most of what we see from the AITO brand and the M5 model in Wenjie is the shadow of Huawei, except that the model name does not carry the Huawei logo, which basically belongs to the car built by Huawei.

02

Xiaokang Co., Ltd. was established in 2007 and listed on the A-share market in June 2016. The company’s business scope includes R&D, production, sales and service of complete vehicles and their engines and parts. Before catching up with Huawei, Xiaokang shares had been in a marginal situation. From 2018 to 2020, the revenue and profits of Xiaokang shares showed a downward trend, and the accumulated losses in three years exceeded 1.6 billion yuan; At the same time, its capital-liability ratio is as high as 79%.

At the beginning of 2019, Xiaokang shares and Huawei signed a comprehensive cooperation contract to cooperate in the field of new energy vehicles. Since then, Xiaokang shares have gradually entered the eyes of investors in the capital market. In April 2021, Huawei Zhixuan reached a cooperation with Xiaokang, and Huawei said that it would sell the new energy Cyrus under Xiaokang in its sales channels; At this year’s Shanghai Auto Show, the Seles Huawei Smart Selection SF5 jointly built by Seles and Huawei was officially listed and jointly sold in both channels.

Regardless of the sales volume of Celestial SF5, the advent of Celestial SF5 blessed by Huawei alone made Xiaokang shares in the capital market. The share price of Huawei Xiaokang shares rose from 8.81 yuan/share at the beginning of November last year to 77.77 yuan/share around June this year, an increase of 782.75%.

Relevant data show that since the listing of Celestial SF5, its sales from April to November were 129 vehicles, 204 vehicles, 1097 vehicles, 507 vehicles, 715 vehicles, 1117 vehicles, 1926 vehicles and 2205 vehicles, with a total of 8,170 vehicles this year. Although compared with the past, Celestial SF5 has supported the sales of Xiaokang shares, this sales volume is not as good as when it first came out.

03

It is worth noting that China National Intellectual Property Administration showed that AITO was applied by Zhengde Electronics Co., Ltd. on March 29, 2021; On August 3, 2021, AITO trademark was transferred from Zhengde Electronics Co., Ltd. to Chongqing Haokang Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd. According to the data, the consulting company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chongqing Xiaokang Industrial Co., Ltd.

The trademark ownership of AITO high-end new energy brand, which is deeply involved by Huawei, belongs to Xiaokang shares, which also means that for Xiaokang shares, AITO brand models are "well-known".

Now, after Huawei-led AITO high-end brand M5 appeared, how to develop Celeste SF5 has become another problem. It is still unknown whether Xiaokang shares, which have entered the club with a market value of 100 billion yuan, can win the favor of investors with Huawei.

From the current point of view, if the dominance of Cyrus is still in the hands of Xiaokang shares, Huawei will be more and more involved in the appearance of the brand new AITO. Compared with Huawei, Cyrus has few chips left. In Huawei, well-off society is not the only choice. Now Huawei has cooperated with other automakers such as Auto and Beiqi Extreme Fox. But for Xiaokang, Huawei is the catalyst to promote it on the new car track.

Although Huawei has repeatedly denied that it will build a car next time, it is generally believed that it is only a matter of time before Huawei will build a car next time. Then, in the future Huawei stores, when Huawei’s smart selection of Celestial SF5 and AITO’s world M5 are placed at the same time, Celestial SF5 may not be competitive.

It is worth noting that AITO Wenjie M5, a new entrant of high-end new energy brand, is still facing competition in the face of new car-making forces such as Weilai and Ideality, which have already occupied a certain market share in the high-end luxury new energy market, and high-end brands that traditional car companies such as Zhiji and Lantu have devoted themselves to building, despite Huawei’s blessing.