In the past few days, Nio's financial report for the fourth quarter of 2021 was released. According to the financial report, Weilai not only suffered a serious loss in the fourth quarter of 2021, but even the increase in the number of vehicle deliveries was the lowest in the past two years. Is it really the same as what is said on the Internet, Weilai Automobile has not been able to sell in the high-end market?
Weilai may want to enter the low-end?
According to the financial report, NIO lost 2.143 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2021, the highest loss in two years. 25,000 vehicles were delivered, up 2.4% month-on-month and the lowest growth in the past two years. All indications show that WEILAI Automobile encountered many problems in the last quarter of 2021.
According to THE OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF WEILAI, THE DECLINE IN THE DELIVERY OF NIO AUTOMOBILE IS DUE TO THE UPGRADING AND RESTRUCTURING OF THE EXISTING PRODUCTION LINE DUE TO CAPACITY COMMISSIONING. However, the data shows that after Turning around the decline in November last year, it entered a three-month negative delivery growth. Although at the beginning of this year, Weilai said that the supply chain encountered problems due to the epidemic and war, but it is obvious that compared with other peers, Weilai has encountered problems that are obviously greater.
Some people on the Internet have always said that the problem that Weilai Automobile is now encountering is that the high-end market has come to an end, and now it is to increase its research and development efforts in order to enter the low-end market, and the emergence of Weilai ET5 is a signal, because the starting price of Weilai ET will drop to about 250,000 yuan in the battery rental model. Like Tesla, NIO will set the tone of Tesla's luxury brand through two luxury models, Model S and Model X, and then quickly expand sales by relying on the Model 3 and Model Y with lower market positioning. Now Weilai is imitating Tesla's way, especially the combination of Weilai ET7 and Weilai ET5, which is even more so.
But in fact, Weilai Zengming said that he would not learn Tesla. Because after the emergence of the Model 3 and Model Y, the Model S and Model X, which had previously set a luxurious tone for Tesla, sales declined rapidly. This makes Tesla's brand tone decline, for Weilai, which also opens with high-end models, the impact of brand tone and brand premium is crucial, and Weilai does not want to give up the goal of entering the luxury brand, so it cannot accept such consequences.
Is the high-end market really over?
But from the data point of view, the domestic high-end automobile market has been growing. Especially in recent years, many car companies have begun to launch high-end models or high-end brands, which also shows this. The recent popularity of the ideal L9 also shows that the high-end automobile market still has expectations for new models, but why does Weilai Automobile show decline?
There must be reasons for the supply chain and rising costs, but the sales "bottlenecks" that Weilai has encountered for a long time in the high-end market are more than these problems. Compared with some old high-end car brands, Weilai is really too young. Whether it is technology accumulation or market accumulation, IT is difficult for Weilai to go further, which is the fundamental reason why it is difficult for Weilai to follow up on sales in the high-end market.
Due to insufficient accumulation of technology, it is difficult to continue to produce products that are enough to "shake" the market. At present, the models of Weilai ES6 and WEILAI ES8 in the high-end market are relatively old, which directly leads to the continuous influence of WEILAI's products in the high-end market. If the continuous influence of the product is not enough, it is difficult to accumulate market influence, and the lack of market influence will lead to low consumer recognition. Why do many people think that NIO has come to the top in the high-end market? Because the consumers who recognize the brand of Weilai are almost "consumed", and it is difficult for Weilai to develop new consumers in a short period of time, it will encounter a sales "bottleneck".
summary
It can be seen from the financial report that Weilai Automobile has increased its investment in research and development. And Weilai also said that R & D investment will continue to increase in 2022, many people say that this is to prepare for entering the low-end market. But I think that NIO is obviously very aware of the problems it faces and the problems that limit itself. Judging from the statement that Weilai does not intend to re-take the tesla road, Weilai's research and development investment should continue to be placed on the research of technology and high-end models, expanding brand influence and increasing consumer recognition.