Green Car is caught in a whirlpool of public opinion: Is it pushing a radical plan to build cars or just raising money?

A piece of news about the company's arrears of 27 million euros to an Italian company, I.DE.A., has put the low-key Green Car in the spotlight. Although Green Car has clarified the matter and announced its progress in car manufacturing, whether it is overly aggressive goals, pressure from competitors, or unresolved qualification issues, industry insiders have doubts about its ability to manufacture cars.

Caught in the whirlpool of public opinion

Since the beginning of this year, there has been news that Green Car owes Italy's I.DE.A company 27 million euros. In response to this, a relevant person in charge of Green Car recently responded that the rumor is not true. The so-called "27 million euros in arrears" is the cooperation project payment in the "A00 Agreement" signed by both parties but not officially effective.

While being caught up in the debt crisis, the media also exposed that Zhongneng Dongdao, the investor of Green Car, sold "original shares" to raise funds from the public "under the banner of listing". A company called Green Car Travel also raised funds by selling original shares, and the funds involved are unknown. In this regard, a senior executive of Green Car said that Green Car and Zhongneng Dongdao no longer have a shareholding relationship. Except for Green Car, other projects under the name of "Green Car" have nothing to do with Green Car.

According to information, Lvchi Automobile is a new energy automobile company jointly established by Zhongneng Dongdao and Zhongneng Capital. Zhongneng Dongdao has provided a lot of support to Lvchi Automobile during its development.

In December 2015, Green Car was established. In April 2017, Green Car's parent company Zhongneng Dongdao signed cooperation agreements with a number of internationally renowned automobile industry chain companies. In January 2018, Green Car launched its first coupe concept version - Uranus.

However, there have been recent reports of a "breakup" between Green Car and Zhongneng Dongdao. Liang Xiao, vice president of Green Car, said that Zhongneng Dongdao was once a major shareholder of Green Car, but Green Car will have no relationship with Zhongneng Dongdao in the future.

Industry insiders believe that both the debt crisis and the rumors of money-raising have had a very adverse impact on Green Car in public opinion. If Green Car wants to gain a foothold in the field of new energy vehicles, it must come up with competitive products in the market as soon as possible.

Radical goals

It is reported that Green Car has officially announced its future product plan. A relevant person in charge of Green Car said that the company will build products at the level of micro cars and compact cars through the three architecture platforms of CC, M and S.

Green Car will launch its first compact SUV in June 2019, its first 4-seater microcar and mid-to-large coupe in November 2019, a 2-seater microcar in April 2020, a compact car in September 2020, a small SUV in February 2021, a large SUV in May, and an MPV in August 2021. This means that a new product will be launched almost every 6 months.

At the same time, in terms of production capacity, the relevant person in charge of Green Car said that in the future, four major production bases will be formed in Changchun, the east, the central region and Italy. By 2023, the four bases will be able to reach an annual production capacity of 550,000 vehicles.

In order to support its car manufacturing plan, Green Car has also set bold sales goals. Recently, Green Car's internal data showed that Green Car plans to sell 5,000 vehicles in 2019, and from 2020, annual sales will almost double.

According to industry insiders, it usually takes at least five years to develop a traditional fuel vehicle. However, it took Green Car only two years from its establishment to the launch of its first concept car, and only about half a year from the start of cooperative research and development with foreign companies to the debut of the concept car.

Industry insiders believe that although the fledgling Green Car has made specific plans in terms of products and marketing, there are still many uncertainties before this plan can become a reality. At present, Green Car has not been able to prove its strength with only a concept car.

Financing and listing plan

Corresponding to the aggressive production and sales targets is Lvchi's ambitious financing and listing plan. According to Ren Yahui, executive vice president of Lvchi, in 2018, Lvchi will complete a round B financing of 2 billion to 3 billion yuan and introduce 2-3 strategic investors. At the same time, Lvchi has started listing guidance, with the goal of listing between 2020 and 2021, and the destination will be Hong Kong or Nasdaq.

Although Green Car has denied the accusation of raising money, as a new car manufacturer that has only been established for more than two years, Green Car's radical future planning is obviously inseparable from the promotion of capital.

In fact, due to overly aggressive car-making targets, many new car-making forces have encountered problems with timely mass production and delivery this year. He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xpeng Motors, also said something quite meaningful, "No one will be able to deliver on a large scale this year, because the difficulty of large-scale delivery is higher than we imagined."

At the same time, Beijing Business Daily reporters also found through Tianyancha that Green Car's business scope only includes technology development and car sales in the field of automotive technology, and does not include car manufacturing. This means that Green Car has not yet obtained the qualification to manufacture cars.

Automobile analyst Jia Xinguang said that Green Car, which does not yet have the qualifications to manufacture cars, is quite aggressive in its manufacturing process and may encounter difficulties in achieving its mass production goals. But even if Green Car can deliver on schedule, it will be significantly later than its competitors, and the short manufacturing time will make product quality difficult to control, so there are not many opportunities for Green Car in the market.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.