Recently, Tianyancha APP shows that Shanghai Gree Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. was established, with a registered capital of 20 million yuan, and its business scope includes auto parts research and development, auto parts and accessories manufacturing, industrial robot manufacturing, industrial robot sales, etc.
The equity panorama penetration chart shows that the company is jointly held by Zhuhai Gree Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Jieyingtu New Material Technology Co., Ltd., both of which are owned by Gree Electric Appliances, with shareholding ratios of 51% and 49% respectively. For a while, many netizens speculated whether this indicated that Gree Group had officially entered the automotive field.
In fact, this is not the first time Gree has made a car, in addition to the newly established Shanghai Gree Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., Gree also owns Gree Titanium New Energy Co., Ltd., but unfortunately the launch of Yinlong Automobile, the combat results are not satisfactory, and now Gree, who has increased the size of the car again, is it possible to see the rival Xiaomi in the automotive industry, and it is very red-eyed?
From home appliances to cars, a gamble has been competing with Lei Jun for many years
Gree and Xiaomi were originally two companies that did not have much intersection, the early Xiaomi was mainly engaged in mobile phones, while Gree has always been mainly engaged in air conditioning. Until the end of 2013, a cross-border public bet between Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun made the bond between the two companies deeper and deeper. After the "bet contract",Xiaomi and Gree began to compete,2015In March,Gree Electric released the Gree mobile phone for the first time,The third month after the launch of the Gree mobile phone,Xiaomi released a smart air conditioner。 entered the business that the other party is good at, and its ring match was played very blatantly.
And the bet of that year was who would have more revenue in five years, Gree or Xiaomi? As a result, in 2018, Gree's revenue of 198 billion yuan was slightly higher than Xiaomi's revenue of 174.9 billion yuan. But in 2019, Xiaomi's revenue surpassed Gree. At this time, Xiaomi is no longer the Xiaomi that only made mobile phones back then, and its products have spanned various product lines such as mobile phones, home appliances, Internet of Things, ecological consumer goods, etc., and even Gree's main product air conditioner has developed rapidly.
Interestingly, Xiaomi has succeeded in making air conditioners across borders, but Gree has been making mobile phones across borders for three years, but it has touched the ashes of a nose, and the sales of each mobile phone are very bleak, almost no one buys them, Dong Mingzhu also made a decision to let Gree employees buy their own mobile phones.
Dong Mingzhu, who was frustrated on his mobile phone, set his sights on the car again, which may have been inspired by Lei Jun, because as early as 2013, Lei Jun went to the United States to visit the CEO of Tesla, learned about Tesla cars, and then continued to invest in the automotive field, including investing in new energy car companies such as Xiaopeng and Weilai.
Perhaps to be one step ahead in the official end of the car, in 2016, Dong Mingzhu tried to acquire Zhuhai Yinlong for 13 billion, but due to various reasons, in the end, he could only fight in the name of himself and pulled Wang Jianlin, Liu Qiangdong and others to fight together, jointly increased capital by 3 billion, and won 22.388% of Zhuhai Yinlong's equity. Since then, Zhuhai Yinlong has increased its capital again, and Dong Mingzhu's shareholding ratio has increased to 17.46%.
On August 31, 2021, Gree Electric Appliances announced that it had acquired 30.47% of the equity of Yinlong New Energy, an electric vehicle company in Zhuhai, through participating in a judicial auction, and at the same time, Dong Mingzhu also entrusted the voting rights of its 17.46% equity of Yinlong New Energy to Gree Electric Appliances. Through this series of operations, Gree Electric Appliances successfully turned Yinlong New Energy into its holding subsidiary. Subsequently, the company changed its name to Gree Titanium New Energy Co., Ltd., and the binding with Gree was further deepened.
Coincidentally, the day after Gree's announcement, Lei Jun sent a message saying that Xiaomi Auto was officially registered. Now, compared with the current status quo of the two car manufacturers, Xiaomi's first model SU7 has been popular as soon as it was launched, and the delivery volume has steadily risen, and it is expected to achieve 100,000 annual deliveries in November ahead of schedule. On the other hand, Gree's Yinlong New Energy, although the car has already been on the market, its volume and sales can almost be described as "no such person", and the new and quasi-new cars basically rely on idle fish.
Now Shanghai Gree Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. has been officially established, and Dong Mingzhu's determination to make a comeback can be felt between the lines. However, an anonymous auto analyst told the editor of "Caiquan Club & Dao Ge Says Car" that Gree can't make mobile phones well, and it is really a joke to build cars, and the current market competition is so fierce, it is even more unlikely to succeed in terms of timing.
Gree is not optimistic about making cars, can you still stand up after a fall?
In addition to not being favored by the industry, Gree is not optimistic about making cars by shareholders or even Gree insiders, is this really just Dong Mingzhu's spirit? On the Oriental Fortune Network, the editor noticed that the shareholders' views on Gree's establishment of an automotive technology company were almost one-sided.
"If it were other stocks, this news would be worth a price limit, but Gree is useless."
"Gree's investment in others is basically a bubble."
"Gree hasn't figured out his mobile phone yet, and now he's ready to play with cars?"
"Seeking a breakthrough if you don't do your job?"
"The competition is so fierce, and you have to fight it." · · · · ··
In fact, the concerns of shareholders are not unreasonable, because Gree, which entered the car manufacturing last time, did fall behind. First of all, Yinlong, which became a shareholder at the beginning, experienced a series of bad events such as arrears to suppliers, the flight of Yinlong's founders, the imprisonment of executives, and equity disputes. Even so, Dong Mingzhu still believes that Gree Titanium's technology itself is absolutely no problem. "If it weren't for the fact that my former boss put a hole in me, this is a very good business."
Finally cleared a series of obstacles, and after changing its name to Greti, it failed to gain any "achievements" in car manufacturing, and at the same time, it was also full of challenges in terms of profitability. In 2022, Greti's revenue and net loss will be 2.587 billion yuan and 1.905 billion yuan, respectively. The company's total assets decreased from 27.282 billion yuan at the beginning of the year to 25.024 billion yuan, and total liabilities decreased from 25.135 billion yuan at the beginning of the year to 24.786 billion yuan. Based on this calculation, net assets shrank from 2.147 billion yuan at the beginning of the year to 237 million yuan. As of June 30, 2023, Greti's total assets were 24.311 billion yuan and total liabilities were 24.245 billion yuan, and it was on the verge of becoming insolvent at any time.
In addition, in 2016, Dong Mingzhu announced that he planned to acquire Zhuhai Yinlong for 13 billion yuan, and Gree also had fierce disagreements over this. It is reported that at the Gree shareholders' meeting at that time, the proposal of Gree to acquire Zhuhai Yinlong and enter the field of new energy vehicles led by Dong Mingzhu ended with "the 13 billion yuan asset acquisition proposal was passed, but the 9.694 billion yuan matching fund proposal was vetoed", which was the first "Waterloo" in Dong Mingzhu's career at the helm of Gree. It was precisely because of the internal controversy at that time that Dong Mingzhu later paid out of his own pocket and joined the business tycoons to raise funds together.
It is worth mentioning that when Gree announced its plan to acquire Yinlong, the capital market reacted violently. In 2021, it really won Yinlong, but the stock price was almost unwavering. On December 20, 2023, affected by the news of increasing the holdings of Gree Titanium, the share price of Gree Electric Appliances plummeted by 7%, and the market value evaporated by more than 10 billion yuan in a single day. On the day of the official establishment of Shanghai Gree Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., Gree Electric fell 2.13%. It can be seen that the capital market has never had a good impression of Gree's car.
Therefore, when many netizens mention Gree's cross-border car building, they will question again and again: "Are you sure you want to go all the way to the black?" ”