Wanxiang New Energy Vehicle Progress Enigma Competition White-hot Breakthrough Waiting

On May 25, the National Development and Reform Commission stated that the "Regulations on Investment Management of the Automobile Industry" issued by the relevant authorities had been issued (draft for solicitation of opinions). The current stage of soliciting opinions has been completed and will be formally introduced during the year. For a time, the industry generally believes that in the future, if companies want to obtain new energy vehicle production qualifications, the difficulty will be greatly increased.

Of the 15 new energy vehicle production licenses issued earlier, only 7 have achieved “double access”, and the remaining 8 are in the process of building factories in the early stage. There is distance.

The Times Weekly reporter found that since the demolition of the sixth license for the production of new energy vehicles approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in December 2016, the progress of Wanxiang Group's vehicle construction has disappeared to the public. Until the eve of the Beijing Auto Show this year, a person named Zhou Liang attended the China-US Automobile Forum as the CEO of Karma Automotive, and the progress of Wanxiang’s construction was again concerned. This auto executive who left Beijing's Futian Daimler in January this year said that Karma is from California. The team has more than 1,000 people and will soon enter China.

Some analysts have pointed out that the progress of Wanxiang’s carmakers has kept a low profile externally, perhaps related to the resurrection of “Karma” in the United States, which was first resumed in the United States and then related to global sales. However, Times Weekly reporters found that Karma Revero, which is currently sold in the United States and Canada, is hard to find bright spots in both sales and products. This will be a huge challenge for the localization of Wanxiang Future in China.

Times Weekly reporter on May 23 issued an outline of interviews with relevant persons of the Wanxiang Group on the development of Karma related localization work. As of press time, no reply was received.

It is worth noting that in February this year, the “Beijing News” reported that the progress of Wanxiang’s “Universal Creative Energy City” project, which was invested in a total of RMB 200 billion, was a mystery. This project located in the South Bridge City, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, is not only the key to the realization of the dream of making cars by the universal founder Lu Guanqiu who passed away last year, but also the trial ground for Wanxiang to enter the blockchain and try to lead a new round of technological revolution. .

Some industry insiders who declined to be named told the Times Weekly reporter that after the new "Regulations on the Administration of Investment in the Automotive Industry" was issued, both those who had obtained qualifications or had not yet obtained qualifications would face two core issues. One is whether there will be enough capital investment to ensure the project operation in the future; the second is whether the car can be successfully sold through the market after the listing. "Wanxiang is very likely to be the first one, and it's worth it. But dare to dare to continue to vote is a problem. It's possible to do something to lose the main business. The same is true of Jin Kang. There are land local boats, etc." Said the above sources.

In the United States

In May 2017, the first batch of Karma Revero was officially delivered in California, USA. This high-power hybrid sedan, priced at as much as $130,000, not only carries the desire for the 2012 Fisker Karma revival, but also determines that Wanxiang will be able to Whether it breaks through the new energy automobile market, which is already fiercely competitive now.

Although the time for launching new cars has been delayed, Karma has re-verified all parts of the car before the launch of the new car in order to make the car even better, from powertrains to engine covers and doors. sealing strip. At the same time, the company invested in the construction of a new production plant in Moreno Valley, California, to prepare for the mass production of the car.

However, Karma after the “resurrection” seems to be still lagging behind in terms of production rhythm and marketing. According to official reports, the Karma plant is now producing 1 vehicle per day, and by the end of production capacity, it will reach 3 vehicles per day by the end of the year. In 2018, Karma hopes to produce 150 cars, and by 2019 it can reach 200 to 300 cars.

Times Weekly reporter tried to find Karma Revero's sales data on the Internet in 2017. However, the online news was basically stuck in its report on the new car's listing in May last year. Reports on market sales were almost invisible.

However, Times Weekly reporters found that, according to a previous evaluation of Revero by the EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), Revero is not a cruising range and fuel economy as a plug-in hybrid vehicle. This is a major obstacle to sales.

The EPA estimates that Revero’s actual cruising range is only 240 miles (approximately 482 kilometers), far from its claimed 300 miles, and because Revero uses a relatively expensive gasoline, plus its fuel tank capacity is only 10 gallons (approximately 45L), so Revero will not bring fuel savings to consumers in the actual use of the process, but will give them an additional $500 in fuel costs over a five-year period of use. This is a comparison of other similar plug-in hybrid competitors, and even some of today's conventional fuel vehicles, Revero can say no advantage.

Under such conditions, the desire of Karma and his “enemy” Tesla to compete in the US market is clearly failing again. In fact, Fisker Karma, who was led by Fisker earlier, has been unable to guarantee production quality. This has also led to his loss to Tesla. According to relevant data, Fisker Karma sold a total of 1,800 vehicles from the start of sales in 2011 to the suspension of production in July 2012. During this period, Fisker has been unable to successfully open up the sales situation due to problems such as spontaneous combustion, fire, recall, "consecutive minor problems" in the drive system, and costs even exceeding the price.

Therefore, this has also forced people to question the future of Karma's work in China.

Domestic fog

In December 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission approved and approved the "Wanxiang Group's annual output of 50,000 units of program-extended pure electric passenger vehicles." This means that Wanxiang Group is expected to become the new energy source for Beiqi, the Yangtze River, and the future. After the automobile, Chery New Energy, and Minan Automobile, they acquired the sixth company to qualify for pure battery passenger vehicles. Previously, Wanxiang Group had owned the qualification for the production of new energy commercial vehicles, and the annual output of 5000 new energy passenger car projects was also approved. At this point, Wanxiang's dream of building a car finally has a key foothold.

According to statistics, Karma has established a headquarters, design center and production base in California since the establishment of the company; at the same time, it has established a supply chain management and engineering center in Detroit; in the hands of Wanxiang, the company has established a company in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. R&D, engineering, supply chain management center. Now Karma has developed into a fully functional new energy vehicle R&D, design, and manufacturing company.

According to the production plan of Wanxiang's Xiaoshan plant in Hangzhou, the extended-range version of Karma Revero and Atlantic will be the two main forces, with a total capacity of 45,000 units. In 2018, the pure electric version and extended-range version of Revero and Atlantic will also be the products of Wanxiang's first launch to the Chinese market. However, until today, China has not yet made any publicity on Karma's localization work.

It is certain that Wanxiang has now registered several trademarks of “Karma”, “Kai Lai” and “JieNeng Zhidong” in China. “Kai Lai” is the Chinese name of Karma Automobile, and “Jie Nengzhi "Moving" is the trademark of Wanxiang Jieneng Motor Company. Times Weekly reporter dialed the phone of Wanxiang Jieneng Motors Co., Ltd., intending to tell the other party about the progress of Karma's domestic-related issues, but the other party said that the company was responsible for Karma's localization work and refused to disclose more information. Ask Wanxiang Group.

In fact, Wanxiang, which is one of the main industries of auto parts business, should have certain capabilities in building vehicles, especially after acquiring the bankrupt Fisker Motor Company and its battery supplier A123. The car industry chain should already be relatively complete.

“At present, major new car manufacturers have been completely homogenized. Suppliers are the same. Why not win with no core advantages?” said the industry insider who declined to be named to the Times Weekly reporter. Wanxiang’s current advantages in batteries have been eliminated. In 2017, the installed capacity of universal batteries has already fallen out of the top ten. "Operating investment is too big, dozens of billions of dollars to enter, may not be able to get out of the car." He said.

It is worth noting that Wanxiang Qianchao and Chengde Lulu and other companies have experienced a recession in their three major businesses.

According to data from Oriental Wealth.com, the revenue growth of Wanxiang Qianchao in 2014 and 2016 was 6.12%, 4.20% and 5.31%, respectively, while the increase in net profit declined gradually, being 33.2%, 10.29% and 7.08%, respectively; Chengde Lulu, which exists in the role of “cash cows” of Wanxiang Group, saw net revenues for 2017 revenue decline, including revenue of RMB2.112 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 16.22%; net profit attributable to mothers was RMB418 million, a year-on-year decrease of 8.3%. At the same time, since 2010, Chengde Lulu’s net profit on its revenue has declined for the third year, and the company’s operating net cash flow has also been greatly diverted from the peak of 830 million yuan. In 2017, it was only 149 million yuan.

To this end, it can be imagined that in the case of such a tight capital chain, investment in the automobile industry with a level of 10 billion yuan is generally required, and there is still considerable doubt about the prospect of Wanxiang's construction.

Perhaps fortunately, Fisker was applying for a patent for a solid-state battery, saying that the battery could increase the cruising range of electric vehicles to 800 kilometers, with the focus on charging time reduced to 1 minute. According to the company, this battery can be mass-produced in 2023. "If this is really the case, then Wanxiang may be able to grasp the next wave of opportunities to achieve an outbreak." The analysts said.