Weekly Index
Weekly News
GAC NIO releases its brand name – HYCAN Hechuang
On the evening of May 20th, GAC NIO held a brand launch event in Hangzhou. The new brand was officially named “HYCAN Hechuang”, and unveiled its first concept car. According to the plan, the mass-produced version of this new car will be officially launched at the end of this year and will begin delivery in the first half of next year.
GAC NIO was established in April 2018 with a registered capital of 500 million yuan. GAC Group and GAC New Energy each hold 22.5%, NIO and Hubei Changjiang NIO New Energy Industry Development Fund Partnership Enterprise (limited partnership) New Energy Auto Technology Co., Ltd. holds 22.5% respectively. The remaining 10% is held by the company’s founding team and employees through the holding platform “Guangzhou Open Joint Investment Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership)”.
Brief Comment: GAC NIO has launched a new cooperation model for auto companies, “Hechuang” instead of “Joint Venture”. Simply put, the two sides share resources, complement each other’s advantages, and take what they need. GAC will mainly be responsible for the research and development and production of the entire vehicle, while NIO will provide intelligent networked technology and energy support system. Although the “Hechuang” model sounds new, from the perspective of consumers, it is not important whether it is a “joint venture” or “Hechuang” as long as it can create excellent products and a complete service system.
Tencent Releases WeChat for Cars
On May 22, Tencent announced the launch of WeChat for Cars at the Global Digital Ecology Conference. It is expected that there will be “ecological connected car” models with WeChat for Cars in the second half of this year.
WeChat for Cars service is tailored for driving scenarios and can achieve full voice interaction. With the combination of car hardware, it can be activated by the steering wheel button, and through mobile Bluetooth sensing, it can automatically log in and log out. It provides functions such as quickly sending location information through WeChat and initiating navigation.> Quick Review: WeChat for cars is finally coming. Although the current features of WeChat for cars are limited, mainly focusing on voice messaging, calling, and quick navigation from received locations in WeChat, considering the early version of WeChat only had chat functions, we believe that with the gradual upgrade and improvement of WeChat for cars, it will become an important carrier of Tencent’s Internet of Vehicles. Then, the car may truly become a mobile phone.
XPeng Motors sets up a real estate development company
XPeng Motors has established a real estate development company with a registered capital of RMB 474 million. Guangzhou XPeng Automobile Investment Co., Ltd. is the largest shareholder, holding 73.84% of the shares. The legal representative is the founder and CEO of XPeng Motors, He XPeng. The company’s business scope: real estate development and operation; undertaking municipal projects; water, electricity, heating and air conditioning engineering installation and maintenance; property management; construction decoration engineering; enterprise management services; commodity information consulting services; self-owned capital investment by enterprises; investment consulting services; real estate leasing management; real estate consulting services.
Quick Review: XPeng Motors just entered the online car-hailing market less than a week ago, now they’re entering the real estate market? There’s been quite a bit of crossover news from XPeng Motors recently. Fortunately, XPeng Motors official response stated that this company was established to prepare for the daily operation of the Zhaoqing factory in the future. Otherwise, we would really worry about XPeng Motors.
BYD receives 3.458 billion yuan in national new energy vehicle promotion subsidies
“BYD Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”)’s controlling subsidiary BYD Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. received RMB 3,458.14 million of national new energy vehicle promotion subsidies today from the Pingshan District Finance Bureau of Shenzhen City, of which RMB 3,126.28 million is for 2016 new energy vehicle subsidy liquidation and additional liquidation funds and RMB 331.86 million is for 2017 additional liquidation funds.
The national new energy vehicle promotion subsidies received this time will enhance the company’s cash flow, reduce the company’s interest expenses, lower financial expenses, and have a positive impact on the company’s asset-liability ratio reduction.”
Quick Review:
Upon hearing that BYD received a huge subsidy, many people scoffed at it. Although BYD’s car models had a mediocre product power back in the early years, in recent years, with the push towards electrification, their triple-electricity technology has become the leading level in the industry. Besides Tesla, only BYD’s triple electric technology is completely self-developed in the world. With the arrival of this huge subsidy, it is hoped that BYD will continue to focus on the research and development of core technologies, bringing better and more competitive products to consumers.
Next-gen Audi A8 may launch a pure electric model
Bram Schot, Chairman of the Audi Board of Directors, announced at the annual shareholder meeting that the next-generation A8 may introduce a pure electric model, but no decision has been made yet. The D5 generation A8 was only released in 2017, and there is still a long time before the next generation.
In addition, the next generation of TT will be replaced by an electric sports car.
This shareholder meeting also revealed that Audi will release 30 new energy vehicle models and plan to sell 1 million units by 2025, accounting for 40% of the total sales.
One-Week Little Survey
Since May 1st, when the first Ideal Exhibition Hall opened, most of the intended users have visited nearby cities to visit and experience the Ideal ONE exhibition vehicles. Based on the topics discussed in the 42HOW Ideal Interest, the interior of the Ideal ONE has been criticized the most. Both the workmanship and the design seem too plain. Many users hope that the interior of the Ideal ONE can be adjusted before delivery.
Last Thursday, we conducted a survey on “What improvements do you think can be made to the interior of the Ideal ONE?”
Please scan the following QR code for specific results:
Over two-thirds of the users hope to improve the styling of the steering wheel and the overall workmanship, indicating that these two points are really difficult for everyone to accept.On the evening of the second day after the release of the survey, we found the official response of “Ideal ONE’s steering wheel can be adjusted” in the Ideal APP. Although this steering wheel adjustment should have already been decided, it can also be seen that Ideal, as an Internet company, still understands the evaluations and opinions of its users very well. However, as the Ideal ONE is already close to mass production, it is unlikely that there will be major changes to the steering wheel. So let’s wait and see what the final version will be.
- Mercedes-Benz EQC formally rolls off the production line; Volkswagen ID.3 starts pre-orders | E Weekly* Tesla’s V3 Supercharger to enter China by the end of the year; Nissan joins the autonomous driving camera camp | E Weekly News
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.