Today we bring you a collection of this week’s top complaints about the car market!
1. He Xiaopeng responded to the competition with Xiaomi: Good sales now does not mean strong capabilities, the automobile industry is a long-term competition.
Sofa God Tucao: Translation: I am not a good seller but I am capable.
God's Tucao source:
On May 20, at the Xpeng Motors 520 AI DAY, He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors, and Li Liyun, head of Xpeng's autonomous driving, accepted media interviews. Regarding the possible competition between Xpeng Motors and Xiaomi Motors, He Xiaopeng said that the new energy vehicle industry has gone from a blue ocean to a red ocean and then to a bloody ocean, and Xpeng Motors has been tempered. He said that selling well now does not mean strong capabilities, and the automotive industry is a long-term competition, not a short-term sales volume of one or two months.
2. Netizens revealed that Porsche’s Chinese dealers collectively “forced the palace” at the German headquarters, but Porsche has not responded yet.
Sofa God complained: It’s all Xiaomi’s fault, what’s the point of paying tribute to it?
The bench god complained: In addition to Xiaomi, there are also NIO, Huawei and BYD. Who will take the blame in the end?
God's Tucao source:
On May 26, media reported that Porsche's Chinese dealers launched a collective protest and boycott, preparing to "force the abdication" of the German headquarters.
The report said that the main contradiction between the two parties lies in the fact that Porsche's sales in China have plummeted, and electric vehicles are not selling well, resulting in selling cars at a loss; and in order to complete its sales tasks, Porsche China still chooses to pressure dealers to stock inventory, because Porsche cars are more expensive, and stocking inventory puts huge financial pressure on dealers; now dealers are using the weapon of stopping the import of cars, demanding that Porsche headquarters provide subsidies and replace senior executives.
Some netizens also revealed that before May Day, a Porsche investor sent a letter to Porsche demanding compensation for the recent losses from new car sales. Currently, about 65% of dealer investors have not taken delivery of their cars; the German headquarters has sent an investigation team to China to look into the problems in the Chinese market.
According to Porsche's previously released financial report, Porsche's annual sales in the Chinese market in 2023 were 79,283 units, a year-on-year decrease of 15%. The Chinese market is also the only market in the world where Porsche's sales have declined. At the same time, the title of "Porsche's largest single market" that the Chinese market has maintained for many years was replaced by the North American market in 2023 (86,059 units, a year-on-year increase of 9%).
Public data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Porsche China's sales were 16,340 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of nearly 25%.
As of now, Porsche has not responded to this news.
3. Musk’s layoffs hit the “main arteries”.
Sofa God’s complaint: He thought he was a centipede and could just chop off a few legs.
God's Tucao source:
In the first quarter of this year, Tesla's deliveries fell below 400,000 vehicles for the first time since the third quarter of 2022, a decrease of 8.5% compared with the first quarter of last year.
After a lightning-fast "return to China to report on his work" last month, Musk, affectionately called "Tesla Party Secretary" by Chinese netizens, began a large-scale layoff at Tesla.
Regarding the layoffs, Max once made it clear in an email to executives: "Tesla needs to remain absolutely hardcore in terms of headcount and cost reduction." It is said that the layoff target is 10%, and about 14,000 people will be affected.
The hardcore level is: he almost single-handedly disbanded the entire supercharging team because he believed that Rebecca Tinucci, the head of the supercharging team, had not completed the large-scale layoff plan. In this layoff, Paril Jain, one of the core technical leaders of Tesla's autonomous driving, took the initiative to resign. This big guy who has participated in AI Day several times is the main person in charge of the autonomous driving planning, simulation, and reinforcement learning team. He is also deeply involved in the development of the FSD V12 end-to-end model. Now he has terminated this job that reports directly to Musk.
This tough layoff plan caused Tesla's stock price to plummet 5.6%, and its market value evaporated by 248.7 billion yuan overnight.
On May 10, Musk posted on social media that Tesla will invest $500 million (about 3.6 billion yuan) to expand its supercharging network and build thousands of new charging stations this year. To this end, Tesla rehired some of the fired supercharging team members.
The scenario of the supercharging team being "wiped out" and then "invited back" is now happening again in Tesla's autonomous driving department, but in a slightly different way.
The supercharging team directly recalled its core personnel, while the autonomous driving/robotics team is "recruiting new people" - during the previous layoffs in the autonomous driving field, Tesla closed its recruitment channels. Now, Tesla's official website has re-posted dozens of autonomous driving/robotics positions, all in North America. Except for intern positions, almost all of them are software engineer positions in the field of artificial intelligence.
4. “Red Shirt Brother” Zhou Hongyi picked up his first new energy vehicle.
Sofa God’s complaint: It’s a pity that this guy didn’t go to the entire auto show.
God's Tucao source:
Since 360 Chairman "Red Brother" Zhou Hongyi announced the sale of cars on April 18, many car companies have delivered their new energy vehicle models to the downstairs of the 360 company. Many of them are currently popular, such as Xiaopeng X9, Wenjie M9, Avita 12, Yangwang U8, etc. Many netizens complained that the parking lot downstairs of the 360 headquarters building is like a small auto show.
On May 24, Zeekr held a delivery ceremony for the Zeekr 009 Brilliant Edition, and Zhou Hongyi appeared as one of the first car owners. At the scene, Zeekr Intelligent Technology CEO An Conghui personally delivered a Zeekr 009 Brilliant Edition to him.
5. Lei Jun’s “official announcement”: Challenge to deliver 120,000 vehicles.
Sofa God Tucao: I plan to wait and see if there is a cheaper Redmi car. You guys buy it first and I will cover you.
God's Tucao source:
On May 23, Xiaomi Group released its first quarter 2024 financial report showing that during the reporting period, Xiaomi Group achieved revenue of 75.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27%; adjusted net profit was 6.491 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 100.8%, setting a new record for a single quarter.
It is worth mentioning that since Xiaomi Auto’s first model SU7 was released at the end of March and officially started delivery in April, the revenue has not yet been included in the current financial report.
That evening, Lei Jun announced on his personal social media account that the Xiaomi automobile factory will start double-shift production in June, deliver at least 10,000 vehicles that month, and ensure that at least 100,000 vehicles will be delivered in 2024, and 120,000 vehicles will be delivered. Xiaomi Group President Lu Weibing said that the factory is currently working hard to increase production capacity and plans to switch to double-shift production in June. He is confident that more than 10,000 vehicles will be delivered that month.
6. Evergrande Auto was required to return 1.9 billion yuan in subsidies and rewards to local administrative departments.
Sofa God’s Tucao: I want to nod to a song “Xi Shua Shua” for “Lao Xu”: Give back what you took from me, spit out what you ate from me, make up for what you owe me, and hand over what you stole from me.
God's Tucao source:
On the evening of May 22, Evergrande Auto (0708.HK) issued an announcement revealing that it had received a notice from the local administrative department requiring it to terminate a series of investment cooperation agreements previously signed and return approximately 1.9 billion yuan in rewards and subsidies it had received.
The announcement stated that its subsidiary Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. recently received a letter issued by the relevant local administrative departments. The main content is that the relevant subsidiaries have signed a series of investment cooperation agreements with the relevant local administrative departments since April 29, 2019. Due to failure to perform contractual obligations in accordance with the relevant terms of the relevant agreements, the relevant local administrative departments intend to require the relevant subsidiaries to terminate the relevant agreements in accordance with the provisions of the "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" and other laws and regulations: return to the relevant local administrative departments the various rewards and subsidies that have been issued, totaling approximately 1.9 billion yuan, and the relevant subsidiaries are required to bear joint and several liability.
What other great rants made you laugh? Feel free to leave a comment below to let me know~
