Recent days, several Chinese electric car companies have released their financial reports for the first half of 2024. According to the reports, companies like Xiaopeng Motors, Leap Motor, and BAIC Blue Valley are still facing the challenge of “increasing revenue without increasing profits”.
Xiaopeng Motors disclosed its financial data for the second quarter and first half of 2024, showing a total revenue of 8.11 billion yuan in the second quarter, a 60.2% year-on-year increase. However, the net loss was 1.28 billion yuan, an improvement from 2.8 billion yuan in the same period last year. In the first half of 2024, the total revenue was 14.66 billion yuan, a 61.2% increase year-on-year, with a net loss of 2.65 billion yuan, compared to 5.14 billion yuan in the previous year.
In terms of cash flow, Xiaopeng Motors had a total of 37.33 billion yuan in cash, restricted cash, short-term investments, and time deposits in the first half of 2024, around 8 billion yuan less than the same period last year. The company delivered a total of 52,028 vehicles in the first half of the year, with poor sales performance being a key factor in its losses.
Leap Motor Technology Co., Ltd. recently released its financial report for the first half of 2024, showing operating income of 8.845 billion yuan, and a net loss attributable to equity holders of 2.12 billion yuan. Quarterly analysis revealed that in the first quarter, total revenue was 3.49 billion yuan with a net loss of 1.01 billion yuan, and in the second quarter, total revenue increased by 54% to 5.36 billion yuan, but the net loss expanded by 19% to 1.2 billion yuan.
BAIC Blue Valley New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. announced that it expects a net loss attributable to shareholders of 2.4-2.7 billion yuan in the first half of 2024 and a net loss after deducting non-recurring gains and losses of 2.45-2.75 billion yuan. In the same period in 2023, the company reported a net loss of 1.98 billion yuan and 2.512 billion yuan after deductions.
Regarding the loss in performance, BAIC Blue Valley attributed it to the increasingly fierce competition in the new energy vehicle market and the intensifying price wars that have squeezed profit margins.
Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd. recently announced a performance forecast, expecting a net loss of 290-390 million yuan for the first half of 2024, compared to a net loss of 284 million yuan in the same period last year. The company reported a significant decrease in total revenue from car sales in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year.
The stock performance of emerging car forces like NIO has been weak this year, with NIO’s Hong Kong stocks falling by 60% and the stock price plummeting by over 80% from its peak over two years ago. Behind the selling by investors is NIO’s expanding losses.
In the first quarter of this year, NIO’s total revenue decreased by 7.2% to 9.909 billion yuan year-on-year, with a nearly 10% increase in net losses to 5.258 billion yuan. NIO’s loss dilemma is closely related to its sales falling short of expectations. According to the initial sales target set by NIO at the beginning of the year, only 38% has been achieved in the first half of the year. It seems that NIO’s continued losses in 2024 are inevitable.
NIO seems to be trapped in a cycle of “the more they sell, the more they lose”, as reported. Last year, NIO’s net loss amounted to a staggering 21.15 billion yuan, a 45% increase compared to the previous year. This marked the return of NIO’s losses to over 20 billion yuan after a loss of 23.3 billion yuan in 2018. From 2018 to 2023, NIO’s accumulated losses reached 86.63 billion yuan.
It is worth noting that on Tuesday (August 20), the European Commission released a draft of the final investigation results on the anti-subsidy investigation on imported pure electric vehicles from China. The draft adjusted some tariff rates as follows:
– BYD: 17.0%
– Geely Automobile: 19.3%
– SAIC Group: 36.3%
– All other companies producing electric vehicles under investigation: 21.3%
– All other companies not under investigation: 36.3%
These anti-subsidy tariffs are added on top of the standard 10% tariff that the EU levies on imported vehicles.