It is rumored that BYD will acquire a new car company, it is definitely not NIO, who do you think it will be

Recently, a very "explosive" piece of news came out in the automotive industry. It is said online that BYD is now planning to acquire a leading new power. The relevant news on a certain website even published some specious content, which triggered crazy speculation among netizens. Many netizens believe that new energy brands such as HiPhi and Nezha may become BYD's targets.

Regardless of the truth of this news, if BYD really has plans to acquire the leading new forces, what are the chances that the car companies speculated by netizens will be "taken down" by BYD?

Some people speculate that HiPhi is having a hard time now, with constant news of "running away" and failed bankruptcy reorganization, so it is just the right time to find someone to take over. At first glance, this is true, but being willing to sell does not mean it is worth buying. HiPhi was very popular two or three years ago. When it was first launched, the price of the car was as high as 600,000 or 700,000 yuan. Many bloggers have done reviews, and it was even called "China's electric Porsche" by netizens at the time. But making a car is not that simple. Funding, technology, marketing and other aspects are extremely important. Therefore, even though HiPhi's cars are remarkable in design concept and performance, they "tear a hole" in the high-end pure electric market right from the start. The lack of support for the core three-electric technology has become a key reason for HiPhi's ups and downs.

From a practical point of view, HiPhi is facing the risk of delisting and is in urgent need of capital and technology injection. BYD has made significant breakthroughs in new energy vehicle technology in recent years and is currently developing its own high-end series, which coincides with HiPhi's high-end brand positioning.

However, one thing that needs to be considered is that the current predicament of HiPhi may not exceed its "value" for BYD. Previously, in order to make progress in sales as quickly as possible, HiPhi even started selling its vehicles at a 50% discount, and its high-end positioning itself has been greatly discounted. Whether these effects can be eliminated after the acquisition is still unknown.

In addition, the acquisition of HiPhi requires a huge capital investment, and will also face a series of complex follow-up issues. If things go wrong, it will become a burden for BYD and affect the influence of the entire brand. From this perspective, using a large amount of money to acquire a car company with such a high risk is too costly and unlikely.

In addition to HiPhi, another car company that is more likely to be acquired is Nezha. Nezha's products are good and now have a certain influence in the market. It is a high-cost-effective brand in the minds of many people.

However, Nezha cannot be considered a leading new force, and now it has many internal problems. We often hear negative news about Nezha's wage arrears, store closures, layoffs and salary cuts. It is obvious that Zhou Hongyi has been trying to pull it up for so long but has not been able to do so. It is estimated that the funding gap must be quite large. On the positive side, Nezha's factory has some value, and BYD can use it to expand production capacity.

Overall, if the acquisition of Nezha is basically a mixed bag of advantages and disadvantages, the time and energy required to deal with its mess is also a problem that BYD has to consider. Therefore, Nezha may be a possible candidate for BYD, but the hope is not very high.

In addition to the above two companies, more netizens believe that if BYD is to acquire the leading new forces, Wei, Xiaopeng and Li Auto are the best. The influence of these three new forces in the market is unquestionable. If BYD can acquire them, it is more likely to achieve technological complementarity and market expansion opportunities.

Of course, this is just speculation. After all, the current strength of these three companies is not bad, and the possibility of being acquired is very small. Ideal's market value is hundreds of billions, and it has been developing extended-range vehicles, which is completely inconsistent with BYD's pure electric route. BYD is unlikely to spend so much money to acquire a car company that is contrary to its own development route.

The second is Xiaopeng. Although BYD has done well in other aspects, its intelligent driving technology is relatively weak. Xiaopeng's most impressive feature is intelligent driving. Its intelligent driving system and power consumption control capabilities are well-known in the market, which is indeed tempting for BYD. For BYD, the acquisition of Xiaopeng Motors can not only obtain its advanced intelligent driving and power consumption control technologies, but also further expand its market share.

However, it should be noted that Xiaopeng Motors is still in its growth stage. It just sold 2,008 flying cars at the air show, which brought in 4 billion yuan. It can be seen that Xiaopeng Motors itself has good strength and it is basically impossible to be acquired.

Relatively speaking, among the three companies that are rumored to be acquired, NIO is considered to be the most likely to be acquired. A few days ago, a WeChat Moments post by a suspected BYD employee was circulated online, which stated that BYD and NIO Group would cooperate to establish BYD Future Automotive Group, with BYD holding 51% and NIO holding 49%. BYD Future Automotive Group acquired NIO for 16.5 billion, and BYD provided financial and technical support.

As soon as the rumor came out, BYD and NIO immediately communicated with each other to confirm the source of the information and quickly refuted the rumor. NIO's Ma Lin said, "The company is doing well recently. Cash flow turned positive in the third quarter. Gross profit increased further in October and earned an extra 100 million yuan. Ledao will exceed 10,000 yuan in December. Thank you friends for your concern and support. We will continue to power up."

Li Yunfei also posted on Weibo: "The investment and cooperation information between BYD and NIO that has been circulated online is seriously untrue. Please do not believe in rumors or spread them."

Judging from the performance of the two, this news is undoubtedly a rumor.

However, it is not the netizens' fault that they have "opened their minds". The cash flow problem raised by Ma Lin has provided netizens with divergent ideas. On November 21, NIO just released its financial report. The data showed that its operating income in the third quarter of 2024 was 18.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.1% and a month-on-month increase of 7%; the net loss expanded to 5.06 billion yuan year-on-year, compared with 4.557 billion yuan in the same period last year, and the adjusted net loss was 4.412 billion yuan, compared with 3.953 billion yuan in the same period last year.

On the other hand, BYD has been ranked first in domestic electric vehicle sales, and its development trend is good. According to the third quarter financial report released by BYD in 2024, its operating income in the first three quarters was 502.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.9%; its net profit reached 25.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.1%.

One has cash flow problems, and the other is rich, which really makes people have to guess. I can only say that the acquisition should be nonsense. If they can reach cooperation in some aspects and enhance the strength of both parties' products, it may be something that everyone likes more.

At present, BYD may have an acquisition plan, but it is still unknown who it will acquire. What is certain is that no matter who or which car company it acquires in the end, BYD's main consideration should be whether both parties can achieve a win-win situation.