Author: Dazhao
Focus Overview
If you asked which new force brand had the most impressive performance in March, there is no doubt that it was Leapmotor. Not only did they release their March delivery data first, expressing immense happiness, but they also broke through the 10,000-vehicle threshold for the first time, marking a new stage in brand development.
However, when the actual on-risk data for the terminal was released, we found some discrepancies. The data shows that in March, Leapmotor had only 7,747 on-risk vehicles, which is a far cry from the official announced delivery of 10,059 vehicles, a difference of up to 2,312 vehicles.
We have reviewed the trend of Leapmotor’s on-risk and delivery data over the past year, from April of last year to February of this year, with a difference between the two of up to 650 vehicles and as low as 20 vehicles, while in March of this year, it suddenly increased to 2,312 vehicles.
Why is Leapmotor’s delivery data so much higher than its on-risk data in March? A reliable explanation is that Leapmotor’s delivery data is not “real delivery,” but rather wholesale data in the traditional sense, that is, data from the manufacturer to the dealer, not from the dealer to the user.
Excluding February of the Chinese New Year, from December of last year to March of this year, Leapmotor’s terminal on-risk vehicles were approximately 8,000, which is not bad for a new brand. As for why they significantly increased their “wholesale” by forcing their “delivery data” to exceed 10,000 in March, perhaps they had other motives.
On March 17th, Leapmotor officially submitted an IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Obviously, in such a crucial moment, the confidence boost of breaking through the 10,000-vehicle sales threshold was what Leapmotor urgently needed. However, whether such a fake boost can have any actual impact is worth debating.
On April 15th, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued feedback regarding Leapmotor’s overseas listing, in which the second item clearly stated: According to publicly available reports, your company’s main products have problems such as frequent malfunctions, hidden safety hazards, delayed delivery, collective recalls, and repeated consumer complaints. Please explain whether they have a significant impact on this issuance and listing, and whether the related information disclosure is true, accurate, and complete.
In accordance with the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s opinion, the obstacle for Leapmotor’s listing is not poor sales but rather poor product quality and sales chaos.
Therefore, for Leapmotor, the most important thing at present is to improve product quality, enhance user protection, and improve sales chaos, in order to enhance the overall system’s strength. Of course, this is not easy.
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.