Tagged: China

Tesla parts supplier Ningbo Tuopu signs cooperation deal with NIO

Ningbo Tuopu said its strategic partnership with uses an innovative T0.5 collaboration model that will provide the latter with better products and services.

NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Ningbo Tuopu Group, a parts supplier, has signed an agreement with NIO (NYSE: NIO) in which the two companies will adopt an innovative partnership model not commonly seen in the automotive industry.

Ningbo Tuopu and NIO signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on March 16 to establish a strategic partnership for the development, manufacture and supply of new energy vehicle components, according to an exchange announcement today from the Shanghai-listed company.

One of the goals of the partnership is for Ningbo Tuopu to supply parts near NIO's plants in Hefei, according to the announcement.

The companies will also collaborate on the use of low-carbon materials, supply chain emissions reduction, digital supply chain and global business exploration.

For the current phase, Ningbo Tuopu will collaborate strategically with NIO on products including chassis systems, body lightweight, thermal management systems, interior and exterior systems and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) damping systems.

The two companies will also explore all-round cooperation in the areas of intelligent cabin components, air suspension systems and intelligent driving systems, the announcement said.

The teams of both parties will establish regular communication mechanisms and provide adequate resource support to ensure the implementation of the strategic cooperation, according to the announcement.

Notably, Ningbo Tuopu said its strategic partnership with NIO is based on an innovative T0.5 supply chain cooperation model, which will provide the customer products and services with better QSTP (Quality, Service, Technology, Price).

Ningbo Tuopu did not explain more about the T0.5 partnership model, but it is a new model it has been working on for the past few years.

In the automotive industry, the typical relationship between parts suppliers and automakers is T1 (Tier 1), a supplier that signs a supply contract directly with the car company, and T2 (Tier 2), which has a contract with a T1 supplier.

In the T0.5 model implemented by Ningbo Tuopu, automakers are more involved in the development of components, thus shortening the development cycle and ensuring quality.

Ningbo Tuopu was founded in 1983 and is one of the largest parts suppliers in China. The company last came to the attention of the general public in China because of a recall of the Tesla Model Y.

In December 2021, Tesla announced a recall of 21,599 China-made Model Y electric vehicles because of the risk of warping or breaking the vehicle's steering knuckle, which was supplied by Ningbo Tuopu.

Following the announcement of the Tesla Model Y recall, Ningbo Tuopu's shares traded in Shanghai were at one point severely sold off.

The parts maker later issued a statement saying that the products involved in the recall were only for the Model Y and not for other Tesla models or other customers' models.

The company estimated that the recall was not material and would not have an impact on its annual operating results or on its business based on the number of recalls and defect ratios, it said in the statement at the time.

NIO won't get involved in price war, exec says

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Financially troubled Enovate reportedly close to getting life-saving money

Enovate has already owed its employees two months of salary arrears and its factory in Changsha, Hunan province, has shut down production this year, according to local media.

(Image from Enovate's Weibo)

Enovate Motors, the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) startup that announced late last year that it would build a production base in Saudi Arabia, is actually facing financial woes in its home market. However, the good news is that it is about to receive life-saving money.

Enovate is set to close a new round of funding in the near future, amounting to RMB 750 million yuan ($108 million), a report in local media Auto Time today said, citing multiple sources.

The money will arrive no later than March 24, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Another source with access to the financing said that it is indeed happening and that specific plans are being negotiated.

Enovate was formerly known as Zhejiang Dianka Automobile, which was founded in 2015 and produces mini electric vehicles (EVs). The Enovate brand was officially launched in November 2018.

In September 2020, the company's first model, the all-electric SUV Enovate ME7, was launched.

Enovate made its second model, the SUV Enovate ME5 with extended-range technology, available in China on July 13, 2021.

Enovate has closed eight financing rounds totaling more than RMB 11.5 billion, with the company's most recent financing round on October 13, 2020 for more than RMB 5 billion, Auto Time's report noted.

So far this year, Enovate has owed its employees two months of salary arrears, and its factory in Changsha, Hunan province, has shut down production this year, according to the report.

In addition to the Changsha manufacturing base, Enovate is also building factories in Shaoxing, Zhejiang and Nanning, Guangxi, with a planned total capacity of 220,000 units for the three production bases.

The money Enovate is about to receive will first be used for employee payroll and to push the plants back into production, the report said, citing an internal employee.

The company's performance in China has been weak over the past two years, with sales of just 1,778 units in 2021 and 5,321 units in 2022.

Enovate has begun targeting overseas markets as competition in its home market grows fiercer.

Enovate signed a contract with Sumou Holding in Saudi Arabia on December 7 to jointly build a NEV production plant here, as CnEVPost previously reported.

The two companies will form a joint venture that will make two phases of spending totaling about $500 million in Saudi Arabia to build a production and R&D base with an annual capacity of about 100,000 NEVs.

The facility, when completed, will be the first Chinese-branded NEV production base in Saudi Arabia, Enovate said at the time.

Enovate is another carmaker besides that has run into financial difficulties.

WM Motor has been in serious financial trouble, leading to disruptions in its operations over the past few months. On March 7, the company announced that it was addressing its challenges and was working hard to resume production.

WM Motor also has plans to enter Saudi Arabia, with an insider saying the company is planning a joint venture to set up a plant in the Middle East, according to an Auto Time report today.

The EV maker is currently in talks with the Saudi government and local wealth funds, and the exact timing of the plan is unknown, according to the report.

Chinese EV startup Enovate to build production base in Saudi Arabia with annual capacity of 100,000 units

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Financially troubled Enovate reportedly close to getting life-saving money

Enovate has already owed its employees two months of salary arrears and its factory in Changsha, Hunan province, has shut down production this year, according to local media.

(Image from Enovate's Weibo)

Enovate Motors, the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) startup that announced late last year that it would build a production base in Saudi Arabia, is actually facing financial woes in its home market. However, the good news is that it is about to receive life-saving money.

Enovate is set to close a new round of funding in the near future, amounting to RMB 750 million yuan ($108 million), a report in local media Auto Time today said, citing multiple sources.

The money will arrive no later than March 24, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Another source with access to the financing said that it is indeed happening and that specific plans are being negotiated.

Enovate was formerly known as Zhejiang Dianka Automobile, which was founded in 2015 and produces mini electric vehicles (EVs). The Enovate brand was officially launched in November 2018.

In September 2020, the company's first model, the all-electric SUV Enovate ME7, was launched.

Enovate made its second model, the SUV Enovate ME5 with extended-range technology, available in China on July 13, 2021.

Enovate has closed eight financing rounds totaling more than RMB 11.5 billion, with the company's most recent financing round on October 13, 2020 for more than RMB 5 billion, Auto Time's report noted.

So far this year, Enovate has owed its employees two months of salary arrears, and its factory in Changsha, Hunan province, has shut down production this year, according to the report.

In addition to the Changsha manufacturing base, Enovate is also building factories in Shaoxing, Zhejiang and Nanning, Guangxi, with a planned total capacity of 220,000 units for the three production bases.

The money Enovate is about to receive will first be used for employee payroll and to push the plants back into production, the report said, citing an internal employee.

The company's performance in China has been weak over the past two years, with sales of just 1,778 units in 2021 and 5,321 units in 2022.

Enovate has begun targeting overseas markets as competition in its home market grows fiercer.

Enovate signed a contract with Sumou Holding in Saudi Arabia on December 7 to jointly build a NEV production plant here, as CnEVPost previously reported.

The two companies will form a joint venture that will make two phases of spending totaling about $500 million in Saudi Arabia to build a production and R&D base with an annual capacity of about 100,000 NEVs.

The facility, when completed, will be the first Chinese-branded NEV production base in Saudi Arabia, Enovate said at the time.

Enovate is another carmaker besides that has run into financial difficulties.

WM Motor has been in serious financial trouble, leading to disruptions in its operations over the past few months. On March 7, the company announced that it was addressing its challenges and was working hard to resume production.

WM Motor also has plans to enter Saudi Arabia, with an insider saying the company is planning a joint venture to set up a plant in the Middle East, according to an Auto Time report today.

The EV maker is currently in talks with the Saudi government and local wealth funds, and the exact timing of the plan is unknown, according to the report.

Chinese EV startup Enovate to build production base in Saudi Arabia with annual capacity of 100,000 units

The post Financially troubled Enovate reportedly close to getting life-saving money appeared first on CnEVPost.

For more articles, please visit CnEVPost.

Li Auto’s Beijing plant expected to see 1st vehicle roll off line by Sept

's first all-electric model will go into production at its Beijing plant, with an annual capacity of 100,000 all-electric vehicles in the first phase.

Li Auto US | Li Auto HK

(A rendering of Li Auto's factory posted on Weibo by Beijing Shunyi district authorities.)

Li Auto's (NASDAQ: LI) plant in Beijing, where it is headquartered, is expected to be operational by September to produce its first all-electric model.

Li Auto's manufacturing site in Beijing -- built on the site of the original Hyundai No. 1 plant -- is expected to see its first vehicle roll off the line by September of this year, according to an article published yesterday by a WeChat account owned by local media outlet Beijing Daily.

The article said Beijing officials toured the factories of automakers including BAIC and Li Auto in the city's Shunyi district on March 14.

Yin Li, party chief of Beijing, checked out the construction of Li Auto's Beijing plant and the current operation of its pilot production center, according to the report.

He asked Beijing government authorities to support Li Auto's development in the city by providing smooth services and helping the company resolve difficulties.

Yi said he hoped Li Auto would stay rooted in Beijing and accelerate the start-up of projects under construction, according to the report.

Li Auto's current vehicles -- the Li L7, Li L8 and Li L9 -- are all extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), all produced at its plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, in eastern China.

On October 16, 2021, an announcement from Beijing's Shunyi District government said that Li Auto had officially started construction of its manufacturing site in the district, with production scheduled to begin by the end of 2023.

Upon reaching production, the plant will achieve an annual capacity of 100,000 units of pure-play electric vehicles, the announcement said.

The plant was originally Hyundai's No. 1 factory, but production had been halted since April 2019.

A Beijing Daily report at the time cited officials from the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission as saying that Li Auto had utilized 60 percent of the plant's original resources, maximizing the existing stock of plant resources.

On March 14, the Shunyi district government said in a post on its official Weibo account that Li Auto's factory in Beijing would be reviewed for production qualifications in the near future.

Li Auto's first all-electric model will go into production at the plant, with an annual capacity of 100,000 all-electric vehicles in the first phase, according to the post.

Li Auto's official Weibo account, which reposted the post, added that the second phase of the Li Auto industrial park, its R&D office center here, is also under construction.

The company's first all-electric model is expected to be an MPV.

In terms of product form, an SUV with extended-range technology would be a more appropriate choice. Li Auto's future pure electric models will bring a product completely different from any form currently on the market and will not have an impact on existing products, Li Xiang, founder, chairman and CEO of Li Auto, said on Weibo in June last year.

In July last year, a model suspected to be Li Auto's MPV was seen appearing in front of Li Auto's Beijing R&D headquarters.

Li Auto Q4 earnings: Key takeaways from conference call

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LiDAR-maker Hesai posts Q4 revenue growth of 56.6% YoY in 1st earnings report since US IPO

Hesai began trading on the Nasdaq on February 9 and has accumulated a decline of about 36 percent since then.

Hesai

LiDAR-maker Hesai posts Q4 revenue growth of 56.6% YoY in 1st earnings report since US IPO-CnEVPost

Chinese LiDAR maker Hesai Group (NASDAQ: HSAI) saw record revenue in the fourth quarter, though gross margin fell further.

Hesai reported revenue of RMB 409.2 million ($59.3 million) in the fourth quarter, up 56.6 percent year-on-year, according to its unaudited earnings report released after the US stock market closed on March 15, the company's first since listing on the Nasdaq.

The company shipped 47,515 total LiDAR units in the fourth quarter, up 739.2 percent from 5,662 units in the same period in 2021.

It shipped 43,351 ADAS LiDAR units in the fourth quarter, compared to 87 units in the same period in 2021.

Hesai's gross margin was 30 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 52.4 percent in the same period in 2021 and down from 37 percent in the third quarter.

LiDAR-maker Hesai posts Q4 revenue growth of 56.6% YoY in 1st earnings report since US IPO-CnEVPost

The decline in gross margin was primarily due to increased shipments of low-margin ADAS LiDAR products in the early ramp-up phase and lower capacity utilization at the in-house plant, the company said.

Hesai reported a net loss of RMB 135.3 million for the fourth quarter, compared with RMB 70 million for the same period in 2021.

Excluding stock-based compensation expense, it reported an adjusted non-GAAP net loss of RMB 110.2 million in the fourth quarter, compared with RMB 39.3 million in the same period in 2021.

The company reported both basic and diluted net loss per common share of RMB 1.18 for the fourth quarter. Excluding stock-based compensation expense and deemed dividends, adjusted non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per common share for the fourth quarter were both RMB 0.96.

It reported R&D expenses of RMB 178.8 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 13.3 percent from RMB 157.8 million in the same period of 2021, primarily due to higher payroll expenses resulting from an increase in R&D staff.

Hesai's sales and marketing expenses for the fourth quarter were RMB 41.4 million, an increase of 95.2 percent year-on-year.

It had general and administrative expenses of RMB 47.6 million in the fourth quarter, a decrease of 7.6 percent year-on-year, primarily due to a decrease in stock-based compensation expenses.

Hesai's cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments were RMB 1.86 billion as of December 31, 2022, compared to RMB 2.79 billion as of December 31, 2021 and RMB 2.07 billion as of September 30, 2022.

For the full year 2022, Hesai's revenue was RMB1,202.7 million, an increase of 66.9 percent year-on-year.

The company shipped 80,462 LiDAR units in full-year 2022, an increase of 467.5 percent year-on-year.

The company's gross margin for the full year 2022 was 39.2 percent, down from 53 percent in the prior year.

For the first quarter of 2023, Hesai expects net revenues to be in the range of RMB 390 million to RMB 410 million, or about 57.0 percent to 65.0 percent year-on-year growth.

Hesai began trading on the Nasdaq on February 9 under the ticker HSAI and has continued to fall since then.

The company closed down 12.36 percent yesterday, bringing its cumulative decline since the IPO to about 36 percent.

Hesai was up 3.02 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday following the earnings report.

LiDAR-maker Hesai posts Q4 revenue growth of 56.6% YoY in 1st earnings report since US IPO-CnEVPost

Hesai debuts on Nasdaq, becoming 1st Chinese LiDAR maker to go public in US

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New batch of 867 new Tesla Model S and Model X imported to China

Six imported units of the new Model S and Model X arrived at Yangshan Port in Shanghai on February 28.

Tesla is sending more of the new Model S and Model X to China, as deliveries of the two more expensive models here get closer.

The latest shipment of 867 new Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicles (EVs) arrived in Tianjin recently, according to a Weibo post by the Tianjin Port Group yesterday.

The vehicles came from San Francisco and arrived at the Tianjin Global Ro-Ro terminal on the ro-ro vessel Asia Beauty, according to the Weibo post.

The Weibo said these are the first imports of the new Tesla Model S and Model X into China, but it's worth noting that several of these Tesla models were already imported into China late last month.

On February 28, six imported Tesla pure electric vehicles, drove out of the containers at the Nangang terminal in Shanghai Yangshan Port to be inspected on site by customs officers, according to a previous report by Shanghai Securities News.

This is the first batch of the new Tesla Model S Plaid vehicles imported into China by sea since they were launched, according to the report by Shanghai Securities News.

Tesla unveiled the Model S Plaid in the US in September 2020 with three motors that can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in 1.99 seconds. The company's CEO Elon Musk called it the fastest production car ever built.

In early June 2021, Tesla began deliveries of the model in the US and eliminated the more capable Plaid + model.

Musk said in late 2021 that the Model S Plaid could come to China around March 2022. However, that didn't become a reality.

On January 6, Tesla announced the prices of the new Model S and Model X in China, which are not produced locally, while significantly lowering the prices of the Model 3 and Model Y produced in China.

The Model S is available in China in two versions, a regular version with dual motors and all-wheel drive, and a Plaid version with tri motors and all-wheel drive, starting at RMB 789,900 ($114,620) and RMB 1,009,900 respectively.

The Model X is also available in China in two versions, the regular version with two-motor all-wheel drive and the Plaid version with tri-motor all-wheel drive, starting at RMB 879,900 and RMB 1,039,900, respectively.

Currently, the official website of Tesla China shows the expected delivery date for all versions of Model S and Model X in China in the second quarter.

Tesla has a factory in Shanghai that produces the Model 3 and Model Y. It sold 74,402 China-made vehicles in February, including 40,479 vehicles exported and 33,923 vehicles delivered in China, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Tesla's deliveries in China in February included 25,526 Model Ys and 8,397 Model 3s, according to the CPCA.

($1 = RMB 6.8915)

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XPeng finishes consolidating sales system to improve efficiency, report says

The management teams of 's direct sales channel and its authorized dealer channel have been combined to reduce unnecessary competition for interest from within, according to local media.

XPeng US | XPeng HK

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

XPeng's (NYSE: XPEV) organizational restructuring appears to be continuing, with the latest move completing a major reorganization of its sales system, according to a new report.

XPeng's sales system has recently completed changes in its internal management structure, with the management teams of its direct sales channel as well as its authorized dealer channel being merged, according to a report by local media outlet Jiemian.

The company is one of the rare new Chinese carmakers to have both a direct and dealership system. This approach helped XPeng rapidly expand its number of stores and reduce the cost of building them in the early stages of its development, Jiemian's report noted.

As of the third quarter of last year, XPeng had more than 400 stores, of which about 70 percent were directly operated by the company and 30 percent were authorized dealers. As a comparison, and 's latest store counts were 296 and 387, respectively, according to the report.

However, these two sales channels of XPeng are managed by different teams and thus have the problem of competing for each other's interests.

XPeng's directly managed stores are under XPeng Auto Trading, headed by co-founder He Tao. Its authorized dealers are managed by the UDS (User Development Service Center) team, headed by chief talent officer and vice president of sales Liao Qinghong.

A previous report by local media 36kr mentioned that at the height of competition between these two teams, XPeng's direct system received a fund, one of the invisible uses of which was to find problems with the authorized dealer system.

Disruptions in the sales network were one of the reasons for XPeng's poor sales performance last year, Jiemian's report noted.

XPeng sold 120,757 vehicles in 2022, meeting only 48.3 percent of its full-year sales target, according to the report.

Starting in January, XPeng began integrating the two different sales systems, a process that was recently completed, Jiemian's report said, citing a source familiar with the matter.

On January 30, XPeng announced that Wang Fengying, formerly president of Great Wall Motor, has been named president of the company.

Ms. Wang will be responsible for XPeng's product planning, portfolio management and sales operations, reporting to the company's chairman and chief executive officer, He Xiaopeng, XPeng said at the time.

After heading sales, Ms. Wang removed XPeng's original big region system and redefined more than 20 sales districts, with direct stores and authorized dealers in each district managed by a single head, according to Jiemian.

The unified management of Xpen'sg directly managed stores and authorized dealers will be able to avoid competition between the two and help reduce the impact on consumers, the source said.

XPeng earnings preview: Q4 to be soft with promotions hitting margins

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