Author: Wang Yi
Recently, Beijing Automotive Blue Valley New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. announced that its subsidiary has changed its business registration information.
According to the announcement, Beijing Lan Gu Ji Hu Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Beijing Automotive Blue Valley New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., has changed its legal representative and business scope. Fan Jingtao has been replaced by Zhang Guofu as the company’s legal representative.
Industry insiders interpreted that this means Zhang Guofu may take charge of the sales work of Ji Hu Automobile.
Beijing Lan Gu Ji Hu Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. was established in July 2018 and is an affiliate company of the new energy vehicle brand Ji Hu Automobile, held by Beijing Automotive Blue Valley New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. It shoulders the responsibility of realizing the high-quality development goal of Beijing Automotive Blue Valley.
However, the financial performance and market performance of Beijing Automotive Blue Valley in recent years have been unsatisfactory.
Previously, Beijing Automotive Blue Valley announced on the Shanghai Stock Exchange that the company is expected to have a net loss of RMB 5.2 to 5.8 billion in 2022. Coupled with the net loss data in 2021, the company’s losses have reached hundreds of billions in the past two years.
Beijing Automotive Blue Valley also gave two reasons to explain this. On the one hand, the rise in raw material prices has squeezed the company’s profit margins. On the other hand, the company’s product sales are in the stage of rapid growth, and the scale effect is not obvious. In addition, the company continues to invest in technology research and development, brand channel construction, in order to improve its core competitiveness, all of which have had an impact on the company’s performance.
In the past few years, the fluctuating epidemic and the downward economic trend have had an impact on all industries, including the new energy vehicle industry. Although the overall environment is like this, the competition in the entire market is still fierce.
Therefore, Ji Hu Automobile’s high-end intelligent transformation is even more eye-catching in the current market environment. As the official statement, Beijing Automotive Blue Valley is working hard to develop its channels and continuously promote product innovation.
As of December 2022, Ji Hu Automobile has opened and operated 186 stores and plans to increase to 279 stores in 2023, with 33 directly operated stores planned to be added, and to achieve a marketing and service network covering 100+ cities and 380+ sites in 2025.At the same time, Jihoo Auto has established 112 authorized service centers covering 70 cities nationwide, and the self-operated charging network has been preliminarily completed, with partial coverage of the key areas of the super charging network. It has been launched in 23 cities nationwide.
Despite the booming channel strength, Jihoo’s market performance is still not satisfactory.
In 2022, Jihoo Auto sold 11,900 cars, an increase of 144% year-on-year, but with monthly sales of less than 1,000 vehicles, only completing less than 30% of the target.
In the same year, BAIC Blue Valley accumulated sales of 50,200 vehicles, an increase of as much as 92.06% compared to the previous year. The growth rate data is inspiring, but the actual situation is that BAIC Blue Valley had too low a base in the past.
In this case, the three major factories of BAIC Blue Valley have also appeared idle or even abandoned production capacity. In 2022 alone, BAIC Blue Valley had a design capacity of about 500,000 vehicles, with 240,000 vehicles being idle.
At the same time, BAIC Blue Valley’s liabilities are gradually increasing. Including the loss amount in 2020, BAIC Blue Valley’s net loss in the past three years is between RMB 16.926 billion and RMB 17.526 billion.
This continuous huge loss may also be one of the reasons for Jihoo Auto’s change of legal person. Jihoo Auto urgently hopes for a bigger breakthrough in the market.
Data shows that new forces such as Li Auto, NIO, XPeng, and Leapmotor all had annual production and sales of over 100,000 vehicles last year, while Jihoo Auto’s annual production volume is only 22,200 vehicles, which highlights the urgency of the situation for BAIC Blue Valley.
In 2023, a new year, new personnel changes, and new market tests will continue. Despite the difficulties, BAIC Blue Valley is still vigorously supporting Jihoo Auto’s high-end intelligent transformation.
In terms of product matrix, Jihoo Auto will continue to launch several new models this year. For example, the world’s first intelligent parent-child car, Jihoo Auto Kaola, has just been released, and products such as the Alpha S new long-endurance version of the HI model will also be unveiled in 2023.
However, there are some controversies within the industry about the arrival of Jihoo Kaola, which is considered as Jihoo Auto making an unwise move.
# The road of the new energy vehicle industry has always been full of ups and downs, filled with unknowns and difficulties, as well as unlimited expectations and challenges. Whether the Lynk & Co brand can break through the obstacles and explore a new path will not only determine the life and death of the brand, but also affect the future trend of BAIC Group.
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.