The 2023 of Wei Xiaoli! Who is happy and who is sad？ The wheel of destiny of the new force of building a car begins a new round of rotation？

Text/Peninsula All Media Reporter Zheng Tianzhong

Recently, major brands of new car-making forces collectively released the delivery volume in December 2023 and the annual delivery volume in 2023. There is no accident in the dispute of "selling the crown". LI’s sales in December exceeded 50,000 units, and the annual sales reached an astonishing 376,000 units, which is truly "far ahead"; The second place is Weilai Automobile, with the annual delivery exceeding 160,000 units, up 30% year-on-year. The figures are gratifying, but whether its prospects are bright or not is quite controversial. Followed by the car with zero running and Xpeng Motors, the gap between them is very small in 2023, with sales of more than 140,000 units, with zero running slightly ahead. Some "left behind" are Nezha Automobile. In 2023, the delivery volume of Nezha was 127,400 units, down 16% year-on-year.

Obviously, the "Wei Xiaoli" who started almost at the same time have opened the gap in 2023. The good ones can directly challenge BBA, and the poor ones will face the test of survival. In the extremely involuted market, where will the new forces of making cars go?

LI, which has no pure electric products, is "far ahead" in delivery.

Transcript of 2023: In December, LI delivered 50,353 new cars, up 22.72% from the previous month and 137.15% from the same period of last year, which was the first time that it delivered more than 50,000 new cars per month. By the end of December, LI delivered a total of 376,030 vehicles in 2023, up by 182.21% year-on-year. In this regard, LI CEO Li Xiang said, "All the goals in 2023 have been achieved: 376,000, 50,000, 20,000 and 300. Challenge higher goals in 2024: 800,000, 100,000, 30,000 and 2000 ". In other words, the annual delivery target of LI in 2024 is 800,000 vehicles.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the Ideal MEGA will be officially released on March 1, 2024, which is the fourth model of LI and the first MPV model. The ideal MEGA has made its debut at the 2023 Guangzhou Auto Show and started blind ordering. The estimated price will be less than 600,000 yuan.

Comments: 376,000 units! This means that the delivery volume of LI in 2023 is more than twice that of Weilai, which has completely opened the distance with other new car-making forces "small partners". What’s more commendable is that the price of ideal models is more than 300,000 yuan. On the basis of such a high price, LI can achieve sales of nearly 380,000 units, which is comparable to Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. I have to say that although LI only focuses on extended range and has no pure electric products yet, its ability to find the market and demand is too strong, and "sofa color TV refrigerator" can be a classic case of automobile sales in China!

Facing the "involution", where is Weilai’s future?

Transcript of 2023: In December, Weilai Automobile delivered 18,012 vehicles, up 12.86% from the previous month and 13.89% from the previous month; In 2023, a total of 160,038 vehicles were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 30.66%. On NIO Day 2023, Weilai’s first luxury car ET9 was unveiled, with a pre-sale price of 800,000 yuan, but the new car will not be delivered until the first quarter of 2025.

Comments: In 2023, the delivery volume exceeded 160,000 units, ranking second in the "Five Xiaoqiang", a new force in car manufacturing. Weilai’s report card looks ok, but it is not optimistic in reality. First of all, the sales volume of Weilai’s 160,000 units has an exponential gap from the ideal sales volume of 376,000 units, which is hard to match. On the contrary, there is a zero run and Tucki’s breathing behind it; Secondly, Weilai’s eight models, including ES8, ES6, ES7, EC6, EC7, ET7, ET5 and ET5T, have achieved such an achievement. Correspondingly, there are only three ideal models for sale: L7, L8 and L9. Taking November 2023 as an example, the top-selling models of Weilai are ES6, ET5T and EC6, and the monthly sales of other models are less than 2,000. The industry believes that the out-of-control pace of product iterative update is the main reason why its sales volume is less than market expectations.

The most fundamental reason is that the new energy vehicle market is extremely involuted this year. The high-end smart driving and air suspension that originally appeared only in high-end models have also become popular in models with a price of more than 200,000 yuan. Correspondingly, the Weilai model with a price of more than 300,000 yuan is not so powerful in terms of cost performance. In addition, throughout 2024, Weilai Automobile will not have a new generation of models, so the test it faces will be very great.

Zero running kills a "blood road" in terms of cost performance.

Transcript of 2023: In December, 18,618 zero-running cars were delivered, a slight increase of 0.59% from the previous month and a year-on-year increase of 119.22%. On December 24th, 2023, Zhu Jiangming, the founder of Zero Run Automobile, said in an open letter of the 8th anniversary of the establishment of Zero Run that more than 20,000 vehicles may be delivered in December, but from the latest delivery data, the zero run automobile failed to achieve this expectation. In 2023, a total of 144,155 zero-running cars were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 29.67%.

Comments: In 2023, the zero-run car wanted to understand a truth, that is, it did not have outstanding brand recognition. If it wants to survive and develop in this cruel market, it can only be "rolled up", and the main thing is a high cost performance. In the first half of 2023, it carried out one-step price reduction. For example, as a medium and large-sized new energy car, the zero-run C01 started at 145,800 yuan for the extended-range version and 149,800 yuan for the pure-electric version, and its cost performance was "bursting". After the zero-run T03 discount, it is only 49,900 yuan, which is also quite prominent in the small pure tram camp!

After getting rid of the crisis, Tucki finally got better.

Transcript of 2023: In December, Xpeng Motors delivered 20,115 vehicles, up by 0.37% month-on-month and 78.13% year-on-year, and delivered more than 20,000 vehicles for three consecutive months, reaching a new monthly delivery record. In 2023, Xpeng Motors delivered 141,601 vehicles, up by 17.26% year-on-year. In addition, it is worth mentioning that Tucki X9 has just been listed, with the price ranging from 359,800 yuan to 419,800 yuan. As the flagship model under Tucki’s "Boom" structure, the new car is positioned as a medium and large MPV, and its power is pure electric power system.

Comments: Due to the "mistake" in the pricing of G9 at the beginning of listing, Xpeng Motors suffered a decline in sales at the beginning of 2023. Fortunately, Tucki G6 of "last stand" finally showed its sincerity in price, and the starting price of 209,900 yuan really shocked the market at that time, and Tucki’s monthly sales began to sprint towards 20,000 units. Then the new G9 went on the market in September, 2023, with a crazy drop of 46,000 yuan, which once again opened the market. Coupled with the competitive price of X9, Xpeng Motors finally ate a "reassurance"!

Nezha cars are pinned on overseas markets?

Transcript of 2023: Nezha Automobile delivered 127,496 vehicles in 2023, down 16.16% year-on-year. In December, the delivery volume of Nezha automobiles was 5,135, down 58.93% from the previous month and 34.12% from the same period of last year, which was the sixth consecutive month that it ranked last in the list of "Five Xiaoqiang".

Comments: Compared with Ideal, Weilai, Tucki and Zero Run, the presence of Nezha cars in the car world is indeed a little lower, and its current situation is not ideal. In this regard, Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha Automobile, also conducted a review. He believes that "it was not done well in 2023, mainly because the new and old products were not well connected and the rhythm was chaotic; The listing price of new products is too high, although the adjustment was in place in the second half of the year, it lost the opportunity; Loss-making product lines greatly reduce production; The mode of communication is old and there are good things that can’t be said; The marketing headquarters is centralized and weak in management. " Zhang Yong said that in 2024, Nezha Automobile will launch two new models and adjust its marketing system. In addition, Nezha Auto is seeking to boost its sales through the development of overseas markets. According to official data, in 2023, the sales volume of Nezha Auto in overseas markets exceeded 20,000.

General comment: swim against the current, if you don’t advance, you will retreat

Judging from the situation in 2023, the new car-making forces "Five Xiaoqiang" Ideal, Weilai, Tucki, Zero Run and Nezha are facing different situations. The ideal sales lead is relatively large, and the profitability is also good. Weilai, Tucki and Zero Run are still fighting together in terms of delivery volume. Who can be a big attraction in early 2024? And Nezha Auto needs to make real efforts to improve its sales and presence. At the same time, the competition in the whole new energy market is very fierce. Traditional independent brands, joint venture brands and luxury car brands will all make big moves in 2024, and the situation faced by the new forces of building cars is still grim. As the saying goes, "sailing against the current, if you don’t advance, you will retreat", and "Five Xiaoqiangs" need to have a full sense of competition to further enhance their shortcomings.