Ideal Auto, which had lower than expected sales and significant layoffs, has encountered trouble again and has recently been sued by investors in the United States.
US stock rights lawyer Hao Junbo stated in an article that investors have accused Ideal Automobile and some executives of making false statements, violating securities laws and regulations and causing damage. Investors apply to the court to order the defendant to compensate for the losses caused to investors due to their illegal behavior leading to a decline in stock prices.
Ideal Automobile has confirmed the existence of relevant lawsuits to Interface News and responded that the allegations are unfounded and will fully protect the interests of the company and shareholders.
The above investors questioned that when Ideal Automobile launched the pure electric MPV model MEGA, it exaggerated market demand and the effectiveness of its operational strategy. The company is unlikely to meet the expected vehicle delivery volume for the first quarter, and if this information is disclosed, it is likely to have a negative impact on the company's financial condition. Therefore, the public statements made by Ideal during the litigation period in this case are significantly false and misleading.
According to Interface News, lawsuits in the US stock market are quite common. Usually, due to unfavorable news, being short sold, or other reasons that may cause a decline in stock or option prices due to listed companies, investors have the opportunity to file claims and lawsuits. An industry investor told Interface News that such class action claims are often settled through settlement, as investors can quickly recover losses and companies can avoid adverse court rulings.
Interface News contacted Hao Junbo's law firm, but as of the time of publication, no response has been received.
Ideal Automobile's initial vision for MEGA was to become the number one in the entire category for over 500000 yuan. Before going public, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, repeatedly posted articles to promote the situation, emphasizing that the quantity of 5000 yuan small orders for Ideal MEGA has far exceeded the performance of Ideal L9 in the same period of 2022, and calling on suppliers and partners to ensure production capacity supply. These promotional tactics have raised high expectations for consumers and the capital market.
Ideal car salesperson told Interface News that MEGA conducted a three-day specialized training internally before entering the store, with strict assessment. Failure to pass the training will result in direct dismissal. Only on the sales end, we have invested a lot of resources internally for this model.
But after its official launch, the model encountered a wave of cancellations. In the context of limited overall market capacity of MPVs and lower acceptance of pure electric vehicles compared to hybrid vehicles, the actual audience of MEGA is relatively narrow, and there are differences in its positioning compared to the existing layout of Ideal Automobile.
Li Yanwei, an expert member of the Expert Committee of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, pointed out that the proportion of MPV market unit purchases is over 40%, while ideal unit car buyers are only 20%. From the perspective of urban sales layout, East China accounts for 33% and South China accounts for 17%. The Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai markets where pure electricity is located, although overlapping with the network already laid out by Ideal, still have differences from the MPV market. Brands must stimulate new users to make purchases.
Since last year, a key focus of Ideal Automobile's work has been to expand its sinking market. But the author of "Musk the Martian", Yiran, stated that actual field surveys in third - and fourth tier cities show that pure electric products are actually more difficult to sell. The reason for the high sales of the Ideal L series is largely due to its range extender, which can compete with hybrid vehicles as well as tax-free gasoline vehicles. Once entering the narrow private pure electricity market, the consumer mentality of citizens tends to be tight and conservative.
The sales target for Ideal Automobile this year was originally set at 800000 units, but due to consecutive underperformance in delivery, the internal sales plan for this year has been significantly lowered to 560000 to 640000 units. MEGA's sales guidance has decreased from 8000 vehicles per month to 2000 vehicles.
Even if Ideal Automobile wants to achieve an annual sales volume of 560000 units after the downgrade, it is not easy. In the first four months of this year, Ideal Automobile only sold 106200 vehicles, which is less than 20% of the above sales guidance. This means that the ideal average monthly sales in the future need to reach over 56000 vehicles, exceeding the monthly sales record high set at the end of last year.
To get through the crisis, Ideal Automobile has been rumored to be laying off employees since the beginning of this month, with the first step being to lay off its human resources department. In addition, the design department, production, and supply chain related departments have different proportions of personnel adjustments. According to a report from 21 Finance, the overall optimization ratio of Ideal Automobile exceeds 18%, and it is expected to involve more than 5600 employees.