Wen | and Ling
It's March, spring is here, don't linger in winter.
The usual month of March is the outbreak period for major multinational companies to release the previous year's financial reports. As long as your performance is good enough, who does not want to rush the hair, please a lottery. Last week, Mercedes-Benz and Ideal took the lead in releasing full-year 2021 earnings. It is said that this is also the first time since the listing that the ideal was released earlier than Weilai and Xiaopeng.
Yes, the two financial reports are very exciting, and the major financial media have interpreted them one by one. And today I want to share with you the interesting points I found after reading through the two financial reports. It is not a simple comparison, originally the two companies are essentially not comparable; but as a benchmark enterprise in the industry, you can see each other's figure from some details, causing some thinking.
Has cost reduction and efficiency increase been achieved?
The 2021 financial report released by Mercedes-Benz Group shows that in the case of a 5% year-on-year decline in total sales for the whole year, Mercedes-Benz's turnover, profit and net profit in 2021 have achieved considerable growth. Among them, the increase in profit and net profit even reached three digits, 123% and 484% respectively.
This is the second consecutive year that the Mercedes-Benz Group (daimler Group before the split) has achieved recovery in profitability. In 2019, the company's net profit suffered its biggest decline in a decade, falling sharply by 64.5% to 2.7 billion euros, and in 2020, its net profit rebounded, up 48% year-on-year to 4 billion euros.
In this regard, Kang Linsong, chairman of the board of directors of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, interpreted that in the case of the epidemic and chip shortage, the sales growth of high-end models and pure electric models is of great significance to Mercedes-Benz, which achieved a year-on-year increase of 30% and 64% respectively. Driven by this increase and cost reduction strategy, Mercedes-Benz's adjusted pre-tax profit doubled in 2021, up 105% year-on-year.
The above sentence has two emphases: First, Mercedes-Benz exerts its advantages as a luxury brand to the extreme, or sells more luxury cars and makes more money. High-end car series including Maybach, AMG, G-Class, S-Class Sedan, GLS and EQS all set new sales records in 2021. For example, since June last year, in addition to the supply shortage in October, Maybach's average monthly sales in China have increased to more than 1,000 units.
Second, cost reduction and efficiency increase are fundamental. In December 2021, Mercedes-Benz spun off its commercial vehicle business, Daimler Trucks, which has been independently listed. Judging from Mercedes-Benz's 2021 financial report, the independent listing of Daimler's truck business is having a positive impact on it. Since Mercedes-Benz entered the "Conlinson era", a series of measures such as layoffs and cost reductions are also one of the reasons why Mercedes-Benz has achieved a substantial increase in profits in 2021. As can be seen from the number of employees, from 275,900 to 172,400 in 2020, Mercedes-Benz has cut 38% of its workforce in the past year.
People who are familiar with the ideal car know that the corporate culture that Li wants to implement is "efficiency". Ideal Auto's 2021 annual financial report shows that in the whole year of 2021, the total revenue of Ideal Auto was 27.01 billion yuan, an increase of 185.6% over 9.46 billion yuan in 2020. In terms of net profit, in 2021, ideal automobile net loss of 321.5 million yuan, an increase of 111.9% from 2020 of 151.7 million yuan.
In view of the doubling of revenue and the doubling of losses, Li Xiang believes that in the case of a substantial increase in R&D investment and sales network expansion, Ideal Automobile can still achieve quarterly profitability, "fully reflecting that Ideal Automobile has outstanding operating efficiency." ”
One of the interesting sets of data is that in 2021, the ideal expenditure on sales and management expenses was 3.49 billion yuan, an increase of 212.1% year-on-year. Where is the main money spent? ------------------------------------ In the past year, from time to time, I heard that many traditional car companies or other elites of new forces have jumped to the ideal; the most profound feeling after going to work is that "the ideal management efficiency is really high"... This sentence is a high-frequency word in the circle of friends of the ideal new employee.
Ideal Auto explained that the increase in sales, general and administrative expenses was mainly due to the increase in employee compensation due to the increase in employees, and the increase in research and development expenses was mainly due to the increase in research and development personnel and the increase in the company's research and development activities for new models. As of December 31, 2021, Ideal had 11,901 employees, compared to just 4,181 employees at the end of December 2020, more than doubling.
Mercedes-Benz, a century-old brand enterprise, has reduced its burden through substantial layoffs in the process of transformation, and the ideal as a new force must go through the stage of rapid expansion in the development process, but the ideal "efficiency" is also reflected in cost control. Since Weilai and Xiaopeng have not yet released the 2021 annual financial report, we will take the data of the first three quarters of 2021 as an example.
In the first three quarters of 2021, the ideal gross margin was 20.6%. Weilai and Xiaopeng were 19.5% and 12.5%, respectively. In the first three quarters, Ideal delivered 55,270 vehicles and operating expenses of 4.476 billion yuan, that is to say, the cost of each user sold and served was 81,000 yuan, while Weilai and Xiaopeng were 108,200 yuan and 94,200 yuan in the same period.
High efficiency allows the ideal to achieve single-quarter profitability and a more stable cash flow. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the total revenue was 10.62 billion yuan and the net profit was 295.5 million yuan, an increase of 174.9% year-on-year. This is the second time that the ideal car has achieved a single quarter profit after its launch. Therefore, the industry generally believes that the ideal car is the first new car-making force that is expected to get rid of losses.
Sell more high-end cars, make more money?
Although as the representative of the new forces, "Wei Xiaoli" wants to achieve a turnaround is not a simple matter. What's next for the ideal car?
Refer to the profit logic of Mercedes-Benz in 2021, sell more high-end models and make more money. In the same way, sell more high-priced cars to make more money. The truth that everyone on the earth knows, can Li think he does not know?
Prior to this, Ideal only relied on ideal ONE to fight the world, focusing on the family car segment. According to ideal official data, in the market of more than 200,000 home users, ideal cars account for 2.5% of the market share. "It takes 20 to 25 percent to complete from 1 to 10 percent." Lee wanted to mention it many times.
It can be seen that the path of the ideal car is very clear: deep ploughing of the family car segment of 200,000 to 500,000 yuan. In 2022, the new model X01 is scheduled to be released in the second quarter of this year and delivered in the third quarter; in 2023, two ultra-fast charging pure models with high-voltage platforms will be launched.
The new model ideal X01 is a large extender electric SUV, X01 and ideal ONE although there are differences in model size, but there is also a certain degree of user overlap, the price has reached the price range of more than 400,000 yuan, can it continue to become a hit?
It is not difficult to estimate.
The competition for new energy vehicles in the price range of more than 400,000 yuan is fierce, and there is a shock from traditional manufacturers such as BMW iX3 and Mercedes-Benz EQC, although the size of these two cars is smaller, but the brand is strong; the impact from Weilai ES8 and Cadillac LYRIQ is estimated to be more direct, all of which are pure electric medium and large SUVs. Cadillac LYRIQ has begun pre-sale, and the pre-sale price also happens to be 439,700 yuan.
In fact, as an excellent product manager, Li xiang must have eaten a truth in recent years, and it is more efficient to create a blockbuster than to create multiple products. The ideal car in 2022 has a lot to see.
Is Software Charge the Future Profit Cow?
In addition, the financial report shows that in terms of income, the ideal has also begun to be more diversified. In 2021, other sales and service revenue was $881.3 million, an increase of 406.8% from $173.9 million in 2020. Ideal Auto said that the increase in other sales and service revenue is mainly due to the increase in the cumulative sales of vehicles, which has increased the sales of charging piles, accessories and services, and the sales of new energy vehicle points have also risen in 2021.
On closer inspection, Ideal does not have software service revenue. Software charges are the profit cows of the future smart automotive industry, and the ideal way to play now is to come with a free navigation assisted driving system as standard.
It is revealed that the number of activated and used vehicles for ideal NOA navigation assistance has exceeded 70,000 units, more than the sum of other brands of navigation assistance in the Chinese market; it is also a free standard, which naturally responds well in the market. However, compared with Weilai and Xiaopeng, they both have to pay for software to open some advanced auxiliary functions, which means that the ideal is vacant this considerable income.
The latest news is that the ideal CTO Wang Kai left for personal reasons. Prior to this, Wang Kai was one of the core forces of ideal internal leading autonomous driving research and development, responsible for building the company's ADAS team and developing the navigation assisted driving system NOA.
The mobility of the new forces in building cars is very large. For the ideal, to make up for the shortcomings in technology and supply must be tightened.
Mercedes-Benz is very clear about this step, in addition to continuing to focus on cost efficiency and supply chain management, the focus in 2022 is two: one hand to increase investment in electric vehicle models, the other hand to accelerate the landing of the software field plan. Whether you are a novice or a veteran in the industry, the goal is the same, and the specific gameplay is even more important.
Mercedes-Benz plans to launch a new line of all-electric models in 2022, including the all-new EQE and the all-new EQS pure electric SUV. According to the plan, around 2025, Mercedes-Benz will launch a new electric vehicle platform, and the proportion of electric vehicles in this year will exceed 50%. Mercedes-Benz revealed that the cash conversion rate of electric vehicles is very attractive, and said that the cash conversion rate of electric passenger cars will reach 0.6-0.8.
For the sales forecast for 2022, in view of the limitations of the chip gap, Mercedes-Benz believes that compared with 2021, Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales will increase by 7.5% in 2022, which is a more cautious expectation. In terms of return on sales, Mercedes-Benz expects its passenger cars to reach 11.5%-13%. In the R&D sector, spending in 2022 will slightly exceed the previous year's level.
Yesterday, Ideal released the latest February sales data, and in February, Ideal Cars delivered 8414 Ideal ONE units, an increase of 265.8% year-on-year. Since its delivery, the ideal ONE has delivered 144,770 vehicles.
Li, who started with a car, wants to have his own ideals and persistence, and Li wants to make it clear that he will not build mobile phones, and he will die in the field of smart cars.
In fact, whether it is Mercedes-Benz or ideal, any automobile company, as long as it finds its own positioning, five years, ten years or even a hundred years of deep cultivation, won not only sales, profits, but also a well-known brand.