New energy vehicles continue to be hot, but some car companies are losing money, and who has earned the money?

Under the dual role of intelligent networked vehicle technology iteration and continuous business model innovation, China's new energy vehicle production and sales will soon usher in rapid growth in 2021. Some car companies have achieved substantial growth in revenue and profits, but at the same time, some car companies have encountered financial difficulties, and who has earned the money?

Tesla's full-year profit reached a new high

According to data from the China Automobile Association, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in 2021 reached 3.545 million units and 3.521 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year. Recently, Tesla disclosed data related to the Chinese market, thanks to the rapid growth of sales in China, Tesla's Revenue in China reached $13.844 billion in 2021, an increase of 107.8% year-on-year.

In 2021, Tesla's sales in China (including Sales from China's exports to overseas markets) exceeded 473,000 units, an increase of about 87% year-on-year.

According to Tesla's financial report, in 2021, in addition to the $6.5 billion spent on new plant construction and other capital expenditures, Tesla still created a NET PROFIT OF $5.5 billion (about 35.1 billion yuan). Tesla officials said that thanks to the hot sales of Model Y and the continuous rise in production capacity of Shanghai Gigafactory, Tesla's annual profit reached a new high.

As a leading enterprise of new energy vehicles, Tesla's making money is already a well-known "secret" in the industry. According to data released by Tesla, in the third and fourth quarters of 2021, its bicycle cost has dropped to about $36,000 (about 228,900 yuan). With the advancement of Tesla's large castings, structural battery packs, 4860 batteries and other technologies and projects, cost reduction and profit increase will continue.

The profit of domestic brand bicycles is only 16.4 yuan

Corresponding to the sharp increase in Tesla's profits, it is the loss of some new energy vehicle companies and the continuous low-profit operation of some Chinese car brands.

In 2021, the three new car-making forces of Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng are still in a state of loss. Among the car companies that have already announced their financial reports, Great Wall Motor's profit growth rate is the highest, up 26.45% year-on-year, with annual revenue of 136.317 billion yuan and net profit of 6.781 billion yuan. Although the amount is not low, there is still an order of magnitude gap compared with Tesla.

Of course, Great Wall Motor's profit of 6.781 billion yuan is enough to make its peers red.0 Taking Chery Automobile as an example, its cumulative automobile sales in 2020 reached 449,000 units, but the annual net profit was only 7.3718 million yuan, which was only 16.4 yuan in conversion, and only maintained a small profit operation.

In addition, some new energy vehicle companies have also suffered losses. According to the performance forecast recently released by BAIC BJEV's BAIC Blue Valley, the expected loss of BAIC Blue Valley in 2021 will reach 4.8 billion to 5.3 billion yuan, while deducting an extraordinary profit and loss loss of 5 billion to 5.5 billion yuan, Baiqi Blue Valley has been in a serious loss for two consecutive years.

When will the breakeven point of the new car-making forces arrive?

With the passage of time, the situation of some loss-making enterprises will change. According to Yin Xinchi, chief analyst of the auto and parts industry of CITIC Securities, at present, the three Chinese brands of Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng are in an accelerated period of profitability improvement, and large R&D investment has led to its short-term strategic losses, but its rising gross profit of bicycles has shown its ability to approach the breakeven point in the future.

In 2021, the sales volume of the three new car-making forces of Weilai, Ideal and Xiaopeng reached 91,400, 90,500 and 98,100 vehicles respectively, an increase of 109%, 177% and 263% respectively. Due to the improvement of the scale effect of the manufacturing end, the comprehensive gross profit margin of the three new forces reached 20.3%, 23.3% and 14.6% respectively in the third quarter of 2021. According to this analysis, CITIC Securities combines tesla's break-even data in history and the financial data of the three new forces, and the new car-making forces are expected to rapidly approach the break-even point in the next year.

Different from traditional fuel vehicles, power batteries are the largest cost unit for new energy vehicles. According to Sliot data, new energy power batteries account for nearly 45% of the total cost of new energy vehicles. The rapid growth of production and sales of new energy vehicles has further contributed to the substantial increase in profits of power battery manufacturers.

According to the announcement released by CATL on January 27, its net profit in 2021 is expected to be 14 billion yuan - 16.5 billion yuan, an increase of 150.75% - 195.52% year-on-year. As the world's largest share of power battery manufacturers, its profits have surpassed most domestic car companies.

Seizing the opportunity of consumption upgrading is the key

"The amount of car purchases by Chinese consumers continues to rise, which has driven the continuous increase in sales of high-end luxury brands." In the view of Wang Guoqiang, director of China FAW Group Corporation, the trend of Consumption Upgrading of Chinese consumers is very obvious, and China has become the world's largest market for luxury cars.

"At present, car exchange consumption has become the mainstream, and most of the exchange consumers will choose to upgrade vehicles, which naturally produces an upgrade in automobile consumption." Zhang Xiao, founder of So.Car product strategy consulting, believes that the upgrading trend of China's auto market has emerged since 2019, typically represented by the replacement demand of mainstream consumer groups in the "post-70s" and other markets, which has driven the market demand upward. At the same time, under the trend of intelligence and networking, the demand of young consumers for new high-end products is also continuing to strengthen.

The 2021 McKinsey Automotive Consumer Insight Report also mentioned that automakers need to pay close attention to the trend of consumption upgrading, lay out the incremental price range market (such as the price range of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan), focus on creating competitive products, and rapidly improve efficiency.

Some Chinese brand car companies have come to the forefront and have successively launched high-end products, which have received good market response. BYD Han, which is 200,000 yuan, has sold more than 10,000 yuan for many consecutive months, and once the supply exceeded demand. The 250,000-yuan tank 300 has accumulated too many orders, resulting in great wall motors officially suspending the acceptance of new orders.