The end of the year is approaching, and for new car companies, it is time to give a "result" to the bets and promises they have made. On December 18, Shen Hui, founder, chairman and CEO of WM Motor, revealed in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that the delivery of 10,000 vehicles will not be completed within this year. When it comes to specific reasons, he responded with "unexpected". "It's not because our production capacity can't keep up, but because the delivery process is too complicated."
However, NIO, another new car-making force, will be able to complete the delivery of 10,000 vehicles within this year after experiencing constant bounces. On December 16, Li Bin, chairman of NIO, said in an interview with reporters that in In the "bet" with He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, he was already the winner. For traditional car companies, mass production and delivery of new cars after they are launched is not a problem worth "betting". However, for new car companies, whether they can mass-produce and deliver as scheduled is a key issue to test their supply chain management, factory capacity ramping, and manufacturing landing capabilities.
In order to ensure product quality and smooth delivery, WM Motor chose a relatively "independent" self-built factory model that is different from NIO and Xpeng from the very beginning. In order to avoid problems in mass production as much as possible, WM Motor spent 6 months to prepare for mass production after the first product went offline in March, and it was not officially delivered until September.
Before the Guangzhou Auto Show in November, WM Motor's Wenzhou plant had already completed the rollout of 2,000 new cars. Shen Hui said that the current daily production capacity of the factory is maintained at about 200 vehicles, and the production capacity is within the expected range. However, the problems they faced at the delivery level were completely unforeseen: "New energy vehicles are different from traditional vehicles, because they involve a series of issues such as state subsidies, land subsidies and license plates, and the complexity of delivery is beyond our imagination." He gave an example. For example, in terms of subsidy application, each place has different policies, and the eligibility requirements for users are also different. For example, if some users live locally with a non-local hukou, it is not easy to apply for subsidies and licenses at the policy level, or it takes a longer period.
"We didn't foresee so many problems at the beginning, and the communication with users was not so comprehensive, so now there will be some complaints from users." Shen Hui said that the delivery of 10,000 vehicles may be achieved in January next year.
For a new car company starting from "0", the delivery of 10,000 vehicles is a phased achievement, but it does not mean that the future will be smooth.
From a policy perspective, the national new energy subsidy will further decline in 2019. For new companies that do not yet have the scale of mass production, the cost pressure will be very large; from a market perspective, with Tesla’s domestic production next year, With the mass launch of new energy vehicles by traditional car companies and the landing of new cars by more and more new car manufacturers, the time window left for new car companies is gradually "narrowing".
Shen Hui's anxiety does not come from external competitors such as Tesla and traditional car companies. In his view, Tesla's entry will help to expand the electric vehicle market together. When electric vehicles are gradually popularized, it is possible to change from traditional vehicles. Second, although traditional car companies are also working on new energy, he believes that compared with new car companies that “have no burden”, these traditional car companies are better than the former in terms of user perception and product operation ideas. There is still a certain gap between the ratios. In the next ten years, traditional business will still be an important source of cash flow and profit for traditional car companies. "Our advantage is that we not only have a deep understanding of the most complex intelligent hardware in the world, but also combine a group of Internet people in the age of artificial intelligence. They have knowledge of both hardware and software. If they only understand one of them, they will It's hard to be successful." Shen Hui said.
The real challenge may come from the perception of the market and how to adapt to changes in user needs. The competition in the automotive industry is a "marathon". Traditional car companies have been focusing on competing on one "track" for more than a hundred years, and when the auto industry is transforming in the direction of "four modernizations", the requirements for new forces have become: Taking into account the current production and delivery, it is also necessary to make due layout and reserves in forward-looking technology, which greatly increases the difficulty.
Under the background that Byton and Xiaopeng have both established branches in Silicon Valley, in addition to the vehicle technology R&D center previously established in Germany, WM Motor has recently established an artificial intelligence research institute in Silicon Valley, focusing on the foresight of autonomous driving. Technology research and development. Facing the competition in the future with the mentality of running a marathon, Shen Hui believes that the automobile industry may be the same as the technology industry in the future, and disputes and conflicts based on intellectual property rights will become more and more in the background that the entire industry attaches great importance to forward-looking technologies such as autonomous driving. Many, therefore, Weimar has initiated patent protection in the field of design and technology.
Like Weilai, Weimar also hopes to expand its global layout. But at the moment, the more realistic thing is how to speed up and get through the cold winter when the auto industry breaks out. "We have already raised nearly 20 billion yuan in financing before, and there is no problem in spending the winter." Shen Hui said that next year, Weimar's goal is to improve its delivery capacity and sprint to 100,000 vehicles.
