Pinjia: Data inventory of new car-making forces in June 2022: Xiaopeng Motors delivered 15,295 vehicles

The June delivery volume finally made Wei, Xiaopeng and Li Auto all breathe a sigh of relief. Xiaopeng retained the top monthly sales volume, and the delivery volume in the first half of the year also ranked first among new car manufacturers. In June, Xiaopeng Motors delivered 15,295 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 133%. Among the three models, P7 is still the "backbone", with 8,045 vehicles delivered in June; Xiaopeng P5 also began to increase in volume, reaching 5,598 vehicles; Xiaopeng G3 series delivered 1,652 vehicles.

Image source: Xiaopeng Motors

In June, Ideal Auto delivered 13,024 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 68.9%, maintaining the record of Ideal ONE as a best-seller.

NIO's performance is still in the spotlight this time. First, the performance in the first half of this year was not good. NIO's monthly sales once dropped to about 5,000 vehicles, far lower than the levels of the other two. The outside world once questioned that NIO's sales had fallen behind - the "NIO, Xiaoli" pattern was only a title. Second, NIO's new NT2.0 platform model ET7 has been officially delivered for more than two months. Compared with the other two, NIO is currently the new force car company with the most product lineups planned. And due to the launch of the new platform, it was also restricted by the impact of the Shanghai supply chain in the first few months, making it difficult to reflect and analyze the company's real demand level.

From a company perspective, NIO has recently been caught up in the public relations and opinion events of a test vehicle crash and the overseas short-selling agency Grizzly, so it is inevitable that it will need some positive factors to boost it.

However, as can be seen from the sales in June, this was a month in which the sales of the three companies were slightly anxious, and it was also the month in which NIO recovered its "vitality".

NIO delivered 12,961 new cars in June 2022, a year-on-year increase of 60.3% - close to Ideal and slightly behind Xpeng in terms of sales. But this was also the only month in the first half of the year when NIO's monthly sales exceeded 10,000, setting a new record for NIO's monthly deliveries.

Weilai: Help me up and continue fighting

In the first half of the year, affected by the supply chain and the vehicle production capacity caused by the Shanghai epidemic, the monthly sales volume repeatedly fell behind despite the largest number of products. However, the sales volume in June reflected that the objective environment has a smaller impact on NIO's delivery rhythm, but Pinjia also found that NIO has not announced the delivery volume of specific product models. The performance of the four products that NIO has already delivered may be the "weakness" of NIO at this stage.

Pinjia also found that in the sales report for the first five months, starting from the delivery in March, NIO mainly disclosed the sales of ET7 in its product camp: NIO ET7 started delivery on March 28, and 163 units had been delivered as of March 31; NIO delivered 693 units of ET7 in April; and 1,707 units of ET7 were delivered in May.

Image source: NIO

Among them, ES6 has always been NIO's main model. In comparison, the monthly sales of EC6 are basically below 3,000 units, and ES8 hovers around 1,000 units. Judging from the performance of NIO's sales recovery in June, it is also very likely that ET7 has survived the production capacity increase and achieved an increase in delivery volume.

Image source: From the Internet

From February to May this year, NIO and Xpeng had no overlap in the pure electric vehicle market segment.

The company that was most driven by the new models was Xiaopeng Motors. The Xiaopeng P5, which had already started delivery at the end of last year, was once delayed due to chip shortages. As the delivery volume of the Xiaopeng P5 rebounded, Xiaopeng's monthly sales also doubled.

However, Xpeng seems to be facing the same problem as NIO: while the production of new models increases, the presence of the first generation of models is becoming increasingly low.

Of course, this problem is not a headache for Ideal. Except for February and April this year, Ideal has maintained a monthly delivery volume of over 10,000, and Ideal ONE has also continued its hit myth. However, this also means that only new models can drive substantial changes in Ideal's sales.

Image source: Ideal Auto

Throughout the first half of the year, NIO, Xiaopeng and Li Auto each played to their strengths in their past product strategies and had no overlap in their market segments. In June, thanks to NIO's recovery, NIO, Xiaopeng and Li Auto once again approached each other in sales.

This tense situation will become more and more intense as NIO and Li Auto successively launch their new models ES7 and Li Auto L9 in June, because this time, NIO, Xiaobian and Li Auto will start their first head-on confrontation in the market segment.

Wei Xiaoli's "mutual attacks"

The name "Wei Xiao Li" should have started in 2015. This is because among the three companies, Weilai is the first new energy car company to be established and is also the most benchmark leading brand among the new energy car companies. Although the three new energy car companies have undergone similar changes in the past due to the alternation of sales, Weilai's name has always been placed first.

But this is not entirely because it comes out of the blue.

In the early years of new energy vehicles, the three colleagues did not have an easy time: they encountered problems with supply chain delivery, worried about raising money for the company, and had to educate users... Of course, NIO had encountered all of these, and was the first to encounter them - for the other two, big brother NIO was the first brand to step into the landmines for them.

In their hearts, the three companies respect each other and are united in their external attacks. The name Wei, Xiao and Li also has a deeper meaning of alliance from the very beginning.

But things are not going well for Wei, Xiaopeng and Li Auto recently. Wei, Xiaopeng and Li Auto, who have always been in a close relationship, first started a "secret war" on social media.

At the NIO Day at the end of last year, NIO founder Li Bin said when introducing the panoramic digital cockpit of the new model ET5 equipped with AR/VR technology, "In fact, there is no need for so many large screens in the car."

2021 NIO Day NIO ET5 launch scene Source: NIO

Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Auto, who received the "implicit criticism", responded on Weibo: "Don't easily define products that you have never even used."

This was not just a quarrel. Li Xiang listed many problems of VR interaction one by one, and said that misleading consumers that screens are useless before any functions are realized shows a lack of the most basic product attempts and awe.

This also reminds me of the harmonious scene when Li Xiang and Li Bin supported each other in commercial promotion when NIO ES8 made its debut.

Image source: NIO official

This kind of questioning of each other's product concept leaves no room for leeway, and a tense atmosphere has begun to emerge.

Li Bin and Li Xiang's quarrel took place when each of them had reached an annual sales volume of nearly 100,000 vehicles, which was also the verification period of "from 0 to 1" as Li Xiang called it. In 2021, Xiaopeng had the highest delivery volume, NIO had the highest revenue, and Ideal had the highest gross profit margin. Each of them achieved the expected success in the first stage.

At that time, NIO, Xiaopeng and Li Auto all had 40 to 50 billion in cash reserves in their accounts, and their joint fight against BBA had achieved remarkable results. The symbol of China's new car-making forces, "NIO, Xiaopeng and Li Auto", is not only a symbol of the first echelon, but also means innovation and leadership. Looking at the entire automobile market, it is difficult to create a "joint name" to describe such an echelon with similar status and market influence.

This is a very successful joint venture similar to the "Down with BBA" model. I heard that many traditional car companies that subsequently launched their products also learned to have a joint venture for themselves, such as Ford's "electric horse" Mustang Mach-E, which once wanted to have a joint venture with Tesla.

Of course, the marketing department is not joking. What they actually want to do is to establish a solid market positioning for themselves.

But it is hard to have another Wei, Xiao and Li. It is also from this stage that every time a new car is released or launched, Wei, Xiao and Li will have a "time and space intersection". It seems that it is not so important whether this intersection is presented through innuendo or encouragement, but they are all reaffirming their status in the industry.

Ideal L9 is on the market, and He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xpeng Motors, implied Ideal on Weibo: Which good product can gain advantages in the medium and long term by relying on precise positioning?

Of course, after the launch of NIO ES7 and Li Auto L9 in June, the biggest headache was for Xpeng. ES7 is priced at RMB 468,000 to RMB 526,000 and will be delivered on August 28. Li Auto L9 is priced at RMB 459,800 and will also be delivered before the end of August. It also said that it received more than 30,000 orders within 72 hours of its launch.

Xiaopeng is also prepared for the 400,000-level market. In order to keep pace, He Xiaopeng "officially announced" the progress of the new model G9 on Weibo: pre-orders will start in August and it will be officially launched in September, and he also called the G9 "the best SUV under 500,000 yuan."

Image source: Screenshot of He Xiaopeng's Weibo

Is it similar to "the best family flagship SUV under 5 million"? He Xiaopeng's "precise positioning" implies that it beats NIO ES7 and Ideal L9 in seconds.

At this critical juncture, Teacher Xiaopeng had to make his presence felt by throwing a shoe, and he no longer cared about brotherhood.

Wei, Xiao and Li have lost their former mutual respect. When there is price overlap in the market segments, they start to attack each other and fight openly and secretly, and the real competitive relationship begins.

From hugging and crying to fighting

It can be said that the three bosses did show different brotherhoods in different market conditions.

There is a classic story about the three founders who were looking for money everywhere in 2019: Li Bin, who couldn't raise money, complained to He Xiaopeng, whom he met by chance on a business trip, saying that NIO was like lying in the ICU. He Xiaopeng said, "Don't worry, brother, I'm sitting at the door of the ICU. Maybe I will be the next one to die."

It is said that Li Bin, Li Xiang and He Xiaopeng, who were in the same boat at that time, created a WeChat group, where the three of them often "said things that could not be said" together.

The three people who experienced the most painful period of car manufacturing together were therefore called the "Three Idiots of Car Manufacturing". At that time, Tesla, which was being produced domestically, was their common "enemy", and the three of them would criticize Tesla from time to time.

From overcoming financing difficulties to the gradual stabilization of the market, NIO, Xiaoli and Li Auto have maintained a similar pace of development by relying on their respective unique positioning.

In the first stage of development, Weilai, Xiaopeng and Li Auto actually had the same development concept. They successively completed the listing of US and Hong Kong stocks, unblocked the financing channels, and built their own brand barriers: Weilai's battery replacement and service, Ideal's ultimate product definition, and Xiaopeng's self-developed technology. And as Xiaopeng switched to the full-stack self-developed track, Weilai and Li Auto also increased their investment in self-developed technology.

During this period, the main models of the three have formed unique advantages in their respective brand barriers and cannot be replaced by each other.

Previously, when NIO was asked whether it would compete with Ideal and Xpeng, NIO co-founder and president Qin Lihong said something that may be very consistent with the common mood of NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto in the early stages of their development: there is no comparison between NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto. As a whole, the common opponent of the three is fuel vehicles.

However, as NIO, Xiaomi, and Li Auto jointly enter the common price range market with new-generation technologies, the relationship between the three has become delicate.

The dimensions of competition are multifaceted: from the innovation of intelligent cockpit interaction to the implementation of intelligent driving scene technology, relying on battery replacement, high-voltage supercharging, and extended range to solve the range anxiety problem. It is not difficult to imagine that the three companies started with product ridicule, and they actually realized the intersection in the market segment.

It is not difficult to imagine that if the price of Xiaopeng G9 is below 450,000, the situation will be very embarrassing. The subtle price war is the beginning of market provocation. Among users who are more receptive to new brands, the choice of models at this level will inevitably be between Wei, Xiaopeng and Li Auto.

Comparison of Ideal L9, NIO ES7 and Xpeng G9 Source: autofans official account

A few days ago, the US short-selling agency Grizzly released a short-selling report on NIO, directly pointing out that NIO's BaaS model is suspected of inflating revenue.

As financial institutions and media took the lead in launching the first round of counterattacks against the Grizzly Report, this time Li Xiang and He Xiaopeng did not make a high-profile effort to "support" their former comrades.

Even such a crisis may happen to Xiaopeng and Ideal. However, in the eyes of the three founders, they seem to be no longer in the same boat.

When Pinjia was interviewing Li Bin at the Shanghai Auto Show in 2021, he was interrupted by his assistant, who said: Brother Bin, Xiaopeng is here. The media's eyes lit up: Let's ask Xiaopeng to come in and talk.

Of course, the interview didn't happen, so Brother Bin quickly got up to receive the guests. However, there was a widely circulated photo of Li Bin and Xiaopeng at the auto show on the Internet. At that time, some fans saw the two CEOs at the auto show and shouted "Drive Tesla away!"

It turns out that every time there is a car show, the two of them will get together and chat when they have time.

Li Xiang himself rarely appears at auto shows, and seems to prefer to study Apple and research market positioning. I just don't know if we will have the opportunity to see the new trio "in the same frame" again.

Image source: From the Internet

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