Daily Archive: July 6, 2023

Svolt Energy begins construction of battery pack assembly facility in Thailand

The plant will have two production lines for assembling battery modules and packs, with construction expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

(Image credit: Svolt Energy)

Svolt Energy, the battery maker that became independent from Great Wall Motor, has started construction of its battery module and pack plant in Thailand, as the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) industry chain targets international markets.

Svolt Energy held a ceremony on July 5 local time to celebrate the start of construction of the plant based in Sriracha Chonburi, according to an announcement yesterday.

The ceremony was attended by Thai officials, Svolt Energy's chairman and CEO Yang Hongxin, and representatives from Hozon Auto, the Chinese EV company that owns the brand.

Svolt Energy's plant is based on the renovation and upgrade of a locally leased facility with a projected capacity of 60,000 packs per year, according to its announcement.

According to current plans, the plant will have two production lines, one for HEV, PHEV and BEV battery module production and the other for battery pack assembly.

Construction of the plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, Svolt Energy said.

While working with existing customers including Great Wall Motor and Hozon, Svolt Energy will also develop new customers and has started business talks with local Thai companies, it said.

The company will also join with local Thai partners to expand into energy storage, lightweight power batteries and battery recycling, Svolt Energy said.

Svolt Energy's announcement did not mention the amount of investment, although last month local media Cailian reported that the battery maker was planning to invest $30 million in the plant.

Svolt Energy was originally Great Wall Motor's power cell division, which began research and development of power cells in 2012.

It became independent from Great Wall Motor in February 2018 and works on next-generation battery materials, cells, modules, packs, BMS, and energy storage technologies.

The battery manufacturer currently has 11 production sites in China and one overseas production site in Heusweiler, Saarland, Germany, according to its website.

Svolt Energy is one of the largest battery manufacturers in China, with 0.35 GWh of batteries installed in May, ranking 11th in the country with a 1.23 percent share, according to the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).

Svolt Energy's Dragon Armor Battery makes real-life debut at Shanghai auto show

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Xpeng G6 rumored to get 28,000 firm orders in 4 days after launch

Never before has any model been so popular, said a store employee, according to a local media report.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) previously announced pre-orders for its new SUV, the G6, but did not mention firm orders for the model after its official launch. Now, a new report provides some reference.

As of July 3, the Xpeng G6 had received about 28,000 firm orders with non-refundable deposits in China, just four days after the model's official launch on June 29, according to a report today from local automotive outlet D1EV.

Staff at an Xpeng store in Beijing said that never before has any other model from the company been so popular, according to the report.

Judging by the Xpeng G6's performance in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, the overall conversion rate of pre-orders to firm orders reached 60 percent, the report said.

The model performs better in Tier 1 cities, which are more friendly to new energy vehicles (NEVs), with one store in Beijing already having more than 300 orders for the Xpeng G6, according to the report.

The most popular version of the Xpeng G6 is the 755 Max version, followed by the 580 Max, and they both come with XNGP driver assistance software, the report said, adding that this reflects the appeal of the assisted driving capability to customers.

Xpeng officially launched the G6 in China on June 29, offering five versions, including two Pro versions as well as three Max versions, the former with the Xpilot assisted driving software only and the latter with the more powerful XNGP.

The five versions start at RMB 209,900 ($28,960), RMB 229,900, RMB 234,900, RMB 254,900 and RMB 276,900 respectively.

Xpeng began pre-sales for the G6 on June 9 and subsequently announced that the model had received more than 25,000 pre-orders within 72 hours.

He Xiaopeng, the company's chairman and CEO, said at the model's launch event that the G6 had more than 35,000 pre-orders as of June 28 since it began pre-sales on June 9.

The G6 is expected to become the top-selling smart electric SUV priced at the RMB 250,000 level in China within two months, he said.

While the G6 has received good initial acceptance, Xpeng needs to ramp up production capacity soon to avoid long waits that could lead to potential orders being lost.

Customers have been very enthusiastic about the G6, and those who order it now will have to wait about 10 weeks, Brain Gu, Xpeng's vice chairman and president, told English-language media reporters, including CnEVPost, at an online conference Wednesday night.

Xpeng wants shorter and shorter delivery cycles for the G6, but right now the model still needs capacity ramp-up, Gu said.

($1 = RMB 7.2487)

Xpeng works to boost capacity as G6 wait time exceeds 10 weeks

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Carmakers, including Tesla, BYD, Nio, Xpeng, Li Auto, pledge to jointly maintain order in China auto market

These car companies have pledged to regulate their marketing activities and not to disrupt the order of fair competition in the market with abnormal prices.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

More than 10 car companies, including major electric vehicle (EV) startups, have pledged to jointly maintain a fair market order in China's auto market, at a time when the EV industry is growing rapidly.

At the 2023 China Auto Forum in Jiading, Shanghai, today, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) and 16 major automakers signed a pledge to uphold fair market order in the automotive industry.

This is to maintain a good auto market order, jointly create a good consumer environment, and actively stabilize and promote auto consumption, they said at the conference.

The car companies that signed the commitment include:

China FAW, Dongfeng Motor, SAIC, Changan Automobile, BAIC, GAC, China National Heavy Duty Truck, Chery, JAC, , Great Wall Motor, , , , , and .

The following is the main content of the commitment letter:

First, we will abide by the rules and regulations of the industry, regulate marketing activities, maintain a fair competition order, and not disrupt the fair competition order of the market with abnormal prices.

Second, we will pay attention to marketing methods, will not exaggerate or conduct false marketing, not to mislead consumers to attract attention and increase customer acquisition.

Third, we will put quality first, use quality-oriented, high-quality products and services to meet the people's needs for a better life.

Fourth, we will actively fulfill our social responsibility, and take an active role in helping to stabilize economic growth, increase confidence and prevent risks, and work together to make a contribution to national economic growth.

It should be noted that the commitment is self-regulatory and not legally binding, and it was signed after the price war at the beginning of the year and the emergence of a war of words between several EV companies and their supporters.

Since early March, a rare price war has erupted in China's auto industry, which has not boosted sales but has instead triggered a wait-and-see mood among consumers, resulting in car sales not seeing an increase.

On March 22, the CAAM called for the hype about price cuts in China's auto industry to cool down to return the industry to normal operation and ensure healthy and stable development of the industry throughout the year.

After that, the price war in China's auto industry gradually subsided.

It is worth noting that although these car companies pledged today not to disrupt the fair order with abnormal prices, it does not mean that they cannot cut prices when facing future challenges.

Local brands expected to capture over 50% of China's auto market for 1st time this year, AlixPartners says

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Local brands expected to capture over 50% of China’s auto market for 1st time this year, AlixPartners says

Chinese automakers have now crossed the inflection point for global influence, with local brands expected to hold 65 percent of the market share in China by 2030, AlixPartners said.

China, the world's largest auto market, has been dominated by foreign brands for many years, but that is about to change with the rapid growth of local brands in the past few years.

This year, China will become the world's largest auto exporter, and for the first time, local brands are expected to overtake overseas brands in market share, AlixPartners, a New York-based consulting firm, said in a report yesterday.

Chinese automakers have now crossed the inflection point for global influence, with local brands expected to hold 65 percent of the market in China by 2030, said Stephen Dyer, co-head of AlixPartners Greater China.

In the first half of 2020, local brands' monthly share of the Chinese auto market was at slightly more than 30 percent, with German and Japanese brands then at around 30 percent and 25 percent, respectively, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

In October 2022, the share of local brands in the Chinese auto market reached 51.53 percent, the first time in history that the monthly share exceeded 50 percent, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

While local brands are on the rise, foreign brands are gradually declining. In October last year, the share of German brands fell to 19.25 percent and Japanese brands fell to 18.94 percent.

In the first five months of this year, the share of local brands has remained at around 50 percent, including 50.24 percent in May, according to the CPCA.

Chinese automakers are poised to become a dominant force in the global auto industry in the coming years, thanks to government support for new energy vehicle (NEV) companies, automakers' focus on vehicle styling and customer orientation, and the accelerating pace of NEV launches, according to AlixPartners.

The business models evolved by Chinese automakers are also likely to be successful in Europe and the US, and Chinese automakers will become a dominant force in the global auto industry in the coming years, the report said.

However, industry disruption from Chinese manufacturers won't necessarily make quick waves in overseas markets as traditional car companies around the world are focused on dealing with the impact of innovation from , the report also noted.

The success of Chinese NEV brands provides a reference for global automakers, AlixPartners said, adding that local brands are better able to meet the needs of a new generation of tech-savvy consumers while maintaining a strong value for money and offering a better digital marketing experience than joint venture brands.

Models that are popular with Chinese consumers are also increasingly likely to be popular with global consumers, and multinational automakers must be prepared to fundamentally change their working models as Chinese-style competition eventually comes to their home markets as well, the report said.

AlixPartners expects auto sales in China to grow 3 percent in 2023 and then maintain a slow but steady pace to reach a level of 50 million units around 2050.

Retail sales of passenger cars in China were 20.54 million units in 2022, up 1.9 percent year-on-year, with NEVs contributing 5.67 million units, or 27.6 percent, according to the CPCA.

Local brands' share of Chinese auto market in May at 50.24%

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Xpeng works to boost capacity as G6 wait time exceeds 10 weeks

As of July 5, 's US-traded ADR was up about 75 percent cumulatively since June 9, when the G6 began pre-sales.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Xpeng's (NYSE: XPEV) new SUV, the G6, has received good initial acceptance and now the company has an important task: ramping up production capacity as soon as possible.

Customers have been very enthusiastic about the G6, and those who order it now will have to wait about 10 weeks, Brain Gu, Xpeng's vice chairman and president, told English-language media reporters, including CnEVPost, at an online conference Wednesday night.

Xpeng wants shorter and shorter delivery cycles for the G6, but right now the model still needs capacity ramp-up, Gu said.

He mentioned that the G6 has received a significant number of orders, which would help Xpeng see monthly deliveries reach 15,000 units in the third quarter and 20,000 units in the fourth quarter.

Xpeng officially launched the G6 in China on June 29 with a starting price of RMB 209,900 ($28,980), significantly lower than the starting price of RMB 263,900 for the (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y, its main competitor, in China.

The company began pre-sales for the G6 on June 9 and later announced that the model had received more than 25,000 orders within 72 hours.

At the launch event on June 29, Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said the G6 had more than 35,000 pre-sales orders as of June 28 since the pre-sale.

The G6 is expected to become the top-selling smart electric SUV priced at the RMB 250,000 level in China within two months, he said at the time.

In an interview with local media following the G6 launch, Mr. He said the G6's monthly sales target is at least 10,000 units.

CnEVPost's latest look at the Xpeng app shows that the G6's lower-priced Pro versions all currently have an estimated wait time of 10 weeks, while the Max versions all have 12 weeks.

As the electric vehicle industry in China becomes more competitive, quick deliveries are important to capitalize on the initial hype of new models.

Xpeng's local peer (NASDAQ: LI) has proven this to be true, with its three models -- the Li L7, Li L8 and Li L9 -- all currently having 2-4 week wait times.

(NYSE: NIO) also learned its lesson when it launched several new models this year, with deliveries of the new ES6 starting the night it was launched on May 24 and the ET5 Touring on June 16, the day after its launch.

Although the G6 is seen as critical to Xpeng, the company's management believes a car company cannot bet its future on just one model.

In the auto industry, carmakers need to think long-term and be systematically competitive, Mr. He said earlier this month.

Investors are clearly bullish on the G6's potential, with Xpeng's US-traded ADRs up about 75 percent cumulatively as of July 5 since the G6 began pre-sales on June 9.

($1 = RMB 7.2433)

Xpeng delivers 8,620 vehicles in Jun, Q2 deliveries exceed guidance range

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World EV Sales Now 16% Of World Auto Sales

Global plugin vehicle registrations were up 50% in May 2023 compared to May 2022, rising to 1,057,00 units. In the end, plugins represented 16% share of the overall auto market (11% BEV share alone). This means that the global automotive market is firm in the Electric Disruption Zone. Year to date, plugin electric vehicle market […]
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