Daily Archive: May 31, 2023

Geely reportedly plans to enter Thailand EV market

is in the early stages of planning its entry into Thailand's EV market, including weighing imported and locally made models, Reuters reported.

(A car displayed by Geely's Livan brand at the Shanghai auto show in April 2023. Image credit: CnEVPost)

Thailand is a key stop for Chinese automakers as they expand internationally, with Geely reportedly becoming the latest to target that Southeast Asian market.

Geely is in the early stages of planning its entry into Thailand's electric vehicle (EV) market, including weighing imported and locally built models, Reuters reported today, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Considerations include whether to sell entry-level EVs in Thailand, as well as an electric pickup truck under its new Radar brand, the people said.

Thailand's Board of Investment held discussions with five major Chinese automaker makers, including Geely, during a road show in China in April, the report said, citing Narit Therdsteerasukdi, the board's secretary general.

The other companies are , Changan Automobile, JAC Motors and Jiangling Motors, according to the report.

Discussions with Geely have faced additional complications because the company has given working-level autonomy to brand-level operating groups such as Geometry and Radar, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Geely needs to decide what models to bring to Thailand, and its review includes the possibility of building a plant in Thailand, according to the report.

Geometry, an EV brand Geely launched in 2019, sold 57,877 units in the January-April period, up 73.54 percent year-on-year, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

Radar, Geely's outdoor lifestyle brand unveiled in July 2022, launched its first model, the RD6 electric pickup, in China in November 2022.

The Thai government's goal is that EV production is expected to account for 30 percent of total vehicle production by 2030.

The country hopes to become a major EV hub in Southeast Asia, which provides an opportunity for Chinese automakers.

On March 10, BYD broke ground on its plant in Thailand, when the company held a ceremony to deliver the 9,999th and 10,000th BYD Atto 3s.

BYD's plant is expected to start production in 2024 with an annual capacity of about 150,000 units.

Hozon Auto's brand also broke ground on a plant in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 10, which will be its main manufacturing base for building right-hand drive electric vehicles for export to ASEAN.

In addition to car companies, major suppliers in China's EV industry chain are also targeting the Thai market.

Gotion Singapore, a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen-backed Chinese power battery giant Gotion High-tech, signed an agreement with Thailand's Nuovo Plus Company Limited on December 15, 2022, to set up a joint venture, according to a bourse announcement at the time.

The two parties plan to establish a joint venture company, NV Gotion Co Ltd, in Thailand to build a power lithium-ion battery pack production base, according to Gotion's announcement.

On May 13, 2022, announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Thailand's Arun Plus to cooperate on battery-related businesses in the ASEAN region.

On May 3 of this year, a Reuters report said that Thailand was in talks with CATL and other battery manufacturers to build production facilities in the Southeast Asian country.

Geely Holding becomes 3rd largest shareholder of Aston Martin, increases stake to 17%

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Musk meets with more officials as he begins 2nd day of China visit

Musk met with China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology and Minister of Commerce today. He met with China's foreign minister after arriving in Beijing yesterday and was seen meeting with 's chairman.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

(NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk began the second day of his visit to China today, meeting with more local officials.

On May 31, Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Minister Jin Zhuanglong met with Musk in Beijing, where they exchanged views on topics including the development of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and smart connected vehicles, according to an announcement from the MIIT.

The MIIT is China's industrial regulator, overseeing areas including the automotive industry.

Earlier today, Reuters reported that Musk visited China's Ministry of Commerce and met with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on its private jet, and was later met by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

Tesla opposes decoupling as well as supply chain disconnection and is willing to continue to expand its business in China and share in China's development opportunities, Musk said, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry yesterday.

In addition to the meeting with Chinese officials, Musk was seen yesterday meeting with Robin Zeng, chairman of CATL, the world's largest power battery maker.

A picture circulating on Chinese social networks showed Musk and Zeng together in the lobby of a hotel.

Neither Tesla nor CATL made an announcement about the meeting. Local media outlet The Paper cited industry sources as saying the talks could include cell supply for Tesla's Megafactory in Shanghai, future cooperation on a battery plant in North America and power cell supply.

Tesla signed a contract with Shanghai's Lingang authorities on April 9 to build a new Megafactory in the area, which will be dedicated to the production of Tesla's energy storage product Megapack.

The Megafactory will be Tesla's first energy storage system factory outside of the US home market, with an initial planned annual production capacity of up to 10,000 commercial energy storage batteries and an energy storage scale of nearly 40 GWh, with products to be supplied to the global market.

The plant is scheduled to start construction in the third quarter of this year and go into operation in the second quarter of 2024, according to an announcement by the Lingang special area administration.

Tesla's vehicle assembly plant in Shanghai is located in the Lingang area, which began operations in late 2019 and has now become Tesla's largest EV production site in the world.

Tesla sold 75,842 China-made vehicles in April, including 39,956 delivered in China and 35,886 exported, according to data released earlier in the month by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang meets with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Beijing

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NIO kicks off preparations for NIO Day 2023

is more likely to announce plans for its sub-brands than new NIO-brand models on NIO Day 2023.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

With about five months of the year gone, NIO (NYSE: NIO) has kicked off preparations for its biggest event of the year, NIO Day.

NIO today began recruiting user advisory group members for NIO Day 2023 in China, with the registration deadline of 8:00 pm Beijing time on June 3.

NIO Day is an annual event for NIO and its friends, and the company has had a NIO Day user advisory panel since 2019, according to an article posted on the NIO App today.

Only NIO owners or those who have ordered a NIO vehicle can apply to join the NIO Day user advisory panel, and they also need to have ample spare time to participate in discussions and preparations for the event.

"Users with relevant experience or skills in large-scale event planning, execution, content direction, music production and planning, and art curation are especially welcome to join us," NIO said.

It will conduct an initial screening based on applications and subsequent interviews. In late June, the company will announce the names of the NIO Day 2023 user advisory panel members.

NIO typically holds its annual NIO Day event at the end of each year or at the beginning of the following year, and unveils the latest models and technologies.

The last such event, NIO Day 2022, was held on December 24 in Hefei, Anhui province, the city where NIO's vehicle assembly plants are located.

The city of NIO Day is not decided by NIO, but rather by its customers' votes. The company is expected to continue this practice this year.

NIO launched its preparations for NIO Day 2023 at about the same time as it did for the last event.

The company began recruiting members for the NIO Day 2022 user advisory panel on June 7, 2022, and on July 15 began the process of selecting cities to host the event.

On August 29, 2022, the host city for NIO Day 2022 was determined to be Hefei, and on December 8, the event was scheduled for December 24.

NIO launched the EC7 and the new ES8 at the last NIO Day event, with deliveries of the former already starting a month ago and the latter expected to start in June.

There is no clue what new models or technologies NIO will unveil on NIO Day 2023.

On December 14 last year, local auto media Auto Home reported that NIO was going to build its own "Mercedes Maybach" model, which was already in the design stage and would be a luxury sedan priced at 1 million yuan ($144,000).

The luxury sedan will be operated under the NIO brand, not a sub-brand, and will compete with the Mercedes-Benz Maybach S-class, the report said, citing an NIO insider close to the project.

If things go well, the model would be released as early as 2024 and sold globally, the source added.

It is worth noting that these rumors have never been confirmed by NIO.

In addition, NIO management previously mentioned that the company plans to start delivering mass-market models in the second half of 2024, with prices in the RMB 200,000 to 300,000 range.

The sub-brand, internally codenamed ALPS, will be based on the NT 3.0 platform and powered by NIO's own batteries.

In addition to ALPS, NIO is also planning a third brand with the internal code name Firefly, which will debut in Europe and is expected to go on sale in the third quarter of 2024, according to information previously revealed by the company's management.

Including the new ES8, which has not yet begun delivery, NIO currently has six models on sale, which seems to be a well-established model matrix.

On NIO Day 2023, the company is more likely to announce information about the two sub-brands than new models.

NIO's Firefly project will have its own plant, but city not yet determined, report says

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Tesla Model Y Rules Supreme In Europe! (Europe EV Sales Report)

Tesla continues to be the best selling brand in Europe, but Volkswagen is recovering Some 197,000 plugin vehicles were registered in April in Europe — which is +25% year over year (YoY). Unfortunately, the overall market grew almost as fast, +16%, getting close to 1 million sales as it is finally recovering from a couple […]

Denza to begin delivery of N7 SUV in July, offers 2 front design options

Denza, which currently has only the Denza D9 MPV on sale, delivered 10,526 units in April, the second consecutive month with more than 10,000 units.  |  BYDDY.US | HK

Denza, the premium new energy vehicle (NEV) brand of BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY), has announced the launch schedule for the upcoming Denza N7, after pre-sales of the new SUV began last month.

The Denza N7 will be officially launched in late June, with deliveries starting in July, Zhao Changjiang, general manager of Denza's sales division, said yesterday at the company's first brand day after it was effectively controlled by BYD.

Denza is a joint venture established by BYD and Daimler in February 2011, with each holding a 50 percent stake at the time. In February 2022, the Daimler brand was rebranded as Mercedes-Benz.

BYD's stake in Denza increased to 90 percent last year, and Mercedes-Benz's stake decreased to 10 percent.

In August 2022, Denza let the D9 MPV go on sale, the brand's first model after the reorganization. The Denza D9 began deliveries at the end of October last year and 10,526 units were delivered in April this year, the second consecutive month with more than 10,000 units.

The Denza N7, the second model after the Denza equity change, is a 5-seat midsize SUV with a length, width and height of 4,860 mm, 1,935 mm and 1,602 mm respectively, and a wheelbase of 2,940 mm.

The model will have two front design options, differing in the daytime running lights below the headlights, one with a bar and the other with a grille, Zhao said at yesterday's event.

The N7 will be delivered with smart driving hardware and the advanced assisted driving software will be available starting in December, Zhao said.

The Denza N7 has its own operating system and is compatible with different systems, 's HarmonyOS being one of them.

Denza D9 consumers are in their 30s and 40s, and 30 percent of them ordered the Denza N7, Zhao said.

Data from more than 10,000 orders show that Denza N7 consumers are over 23 years old, younger than those for the D9, he said.

Denza opened reservations for the N7 on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, but its pricing information was not released.

Zhao said on Weibo last December 20 that the SUV aims to capture the market for traditional internal combustion engine cars priced around 400,000 yuan ($56,300).

On April 25, Denza said the N7 received 10,569 pre-orders, just seven days after pre-sales bean.

In addition to the N7, Denza has also unveiled the exterior and interior design of another SUV, the Denza N8.

($1 = 7.1044 RMB)

Denza could see monthly sales of over 20,000 units this year, exec says

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XPeng making its last stand with G6, says Deutsche Bank

With margins and cash burn looking worse following first-quarter earnings, management may be making its last stand with the G6, Deutsche Bank said.  |  XPeng US | XPeng HK

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

XPeng (NYSE: XPEV) is expected to officially launch its new SUV, the G6, late next month, which analysts say will be crucial as the company continues to face weak sales and financial performance.

"With margins and cash burn looking materially worse following 1Q earnings, we believe management may be making its last stand with the G6," Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu's team said in a research note sent to investors yesterday.

The team's previous view assumed XPeng could see stable natural margin improvement from the sharp drop in battery input prices, but those savings were mostly offset by incremental promotional activity and a poor mix.

" Therefore, the importance of the upcoming G6 has become even GREATER," the team wrote.

XPeng reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings on May 24, with gross margins plunging to 1.7 percent. As a comparison, that figure was 12.2 percent and 8.7 percent in the same quarter last year and the fourth quarter of 2022, respectively.

The company reported a negative 2.5 percent vehicle margin in the first quarter, compared to 10.4 percent in the same period in 2022 and 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The decline was due to increased sales promotions and the expiration of the new energy vehicle (NEV) subsidy in China, XPeng said.

XPeng's new SUV, the G6, will officially launch in June, with volume deliveries starting in July, and production capacity will climb quickly, its management said in a May 24 analyst call after announcing first-quarter earnings.

The G6 will be a hot seller in China's new energy SUV market priced between 200,000 yuan ($28,200) and 300,000 yuan, and will enable XPeng's total deliveries to grow well above the industry's pace in the third quarter, the company said.

The G6 has been set aside about two months from the start of production to delivery, and XPeng expects the model to reach more than twice the sales of the P7i, its management said.

That means, according to Yu's team, that XPeng management expects the G6 to sell 6,000-8,000 units a month.

The G6 needs to be successful for XPeng to be truly relevant to the market again, the team said.

XPeng will likely price the G6 significantly lower than the Model Y (RMB 263,900), hoping to attract consumers with a sleeker design and updated interior, the team said, adding that the X is already taking this approach with a starting price of just RMB 190,000.

A leaked image on Chinese social media on May 22 showed XPeng seeing the first production vehicle of the G6 roll off the line.

XPeng expects second-quarter vehicle deliveries to be between 21,000 and 22,000, and given that it delivered 7,079 vehicles in April, the guidance means the company expects it will deliver a total of 13,921 to 14,921 vehicles in May and June.

Yu's team also noted that XPeng's cash burn trajectory was worse than expected.

"XPeng exited 1Q23 with <25bn RMB in net cash as A/P became a big drag on working capital. This was caused by poor sales performance and also suggests to us suppliers are becoming less accommodative," the team wrote.

After months of lackluster G9 demand, XPeng management may be under pressure from suppliers to be more conservative with its outlook, the team said.

That said, XPeng's operating expenses and capex discipline are still very much intact and should at least get the company through most of next year, Yu's team said.

($1 = RMB 7.0951)

XPeng Q1 earnings miss expectations, gross margin falls to 1.7%

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