In the first quarter of 2024, Xiaopeng Motors achieved a sales performance of 21800 units, a year-on-year increase of 19.7%. This car company seems to be regaining its status. Some public opinion believes that this is the result of Wang Fengying, former CEO of Great Wall Motors, joining Xiaopeng Motors to bring about systematic reforms.
But if the timeline is extended, Xiaopeng Motors sold 34600 units in the first quarter of 2022. At that time, Xiaopeng only had three products on sale, but now Xiaopeng has successively launched six new cars.
It is worth mentioning that there is also public opinion online that one of the reasons for the increase in sales of Xiaopeng Motors is the adoption of a dealer franchise model. Dealers need to make advance payments, purchase Xiaopeng Motors products, and then sell them to users. Equivalent to Xiaopeng Automobile transferring some of the sales pressure to the dealers.
The strategy of shifting from direct sales to dealer direct sales has brought challenges to Xiaopeng Motors, such as inconsistent pricing among different stores, high pressure from dealers, and inconsistent service standards. With the increasingly fierce competition in the automotive market, can Xiaopeng Motors, which is undergoing channel reforms under continuous losses, walk its own path?
Wang Fengying leads the Jupiter Plan, and the sales completion rate in the next quarter will be less than 10% through the transformation of the direct sales and dealer model
In 2023, under the leadership of Wang Fengying, Xiaopeng Motors launched the Jupiter Plan and carried out sales channel reforms. Xiaopeng Motors has promoted the merger of the auto trade team of the direct sales system and the user development center team of the dealer system, adjusting the original four major regions of the North, East, Central, and South regions into 12 segmented battle zones. At the same time, it has eliminated inefficient direct sales stores and expanded the scale of agent dealers to improve market coverage and reduce operating costs.
At the same time, a person related to Xiaopeng Motors told Shell Finance reporters that Xiaopeng Motors requires dealers and stores to purchase half of the sales target vehicles first, in order to stimulate dealers' sales motivation. But this also increases the operational pressure on dealer stores.
In the dealer mode, Xiaopeng seems to have not strictly controlled the pricing power. Due to the high pressure on the stores, Xiaopeng's dealers will choose different pricing strategies. The same car will have different prices and discounts in different stores. Shell Finance reporters have called multiple direct sales and 4S stores in Beijing. Taking the P7 model as an example, the manufacturer's suggested retail price for the P7i 702MAX version is 249900 yuan, with discounts of up to 25000 yuan in direct sales stores. However, sales stores can offer an additional 7000 yuan discount on top of the 25000 yuan discount, with a total cash discount of 32000 yuan.
In addition, the service attitude of Xiaopeng Automobile sales is often mentioned on platforms such as Black Cat Complaints, Chezhi.com, and Xiaohongshu. Some consumers have expressed that Xiaopeng's sales and service attitude is not good, and there are not many discounts for direct sales, but dealers and stores have significant discounts.
Automotive analyst Ling Ran stated that the direct sales model may be more standardized compared to the dealer model to a certain extent, but there may also be room for improvement in creativity.
Xiaopeng Motors chose the dealer model, perhaps to reduce operating costs and improve efficiency. But how are your current grades? In official communication, Xiaopeng Motors achieved a sales performance of 21800 units in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 19.7%. But Xiaopeng Motors has an annual sales target of 280000 vehicles, with a sales completion rate of less than 10% in the first quarter.
Recently, due to possible exaggeration of market demand for vehicles and the effectiveness of operational strategies, and the impossibility of achieving the expected delivery volume of vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, Ideal Automobile's stock price has continued to decline. As a result, investors have applied to the court for an order to compensate for the losses caused by the stock price decline due to its illegal behavior.
Xiaopeng Motors achieved less than 10% of its sales target in 1/4 of the time, which may also be difficult to satisfy investors.
Xiaopeng has accumulated losses of over 25 billion yuan in the past three years, and is still in a loss in the first quarter
While Xiaopeng Automobile's sales have increased, there have been changes in its management. Recently, it was reported that Gu Yuanqin has officially taken over as the Vice President of Operations and Management of Xiaopeng Automobile Finance Platform from Wang Tong, and also serves as the Sales Manager of Xiaopeng Automobile. It is understood that Wang Tong has now been transferred to manage the business of the CEO's office.
Previously, Xiaopeng Motors recruited Yi Han as the Vice President of Marketing from Geely, but he left the position shortly after taking office. According to the latest report, OPPO marketing manager Yu Tao will be appointed as the Vice President of Marketing for Xiaopeng Motors, responsible for Xiaopeng Motors' marketing and public relations communication work, and will directly report to Xiaopeng Motors President Wang Fengying in his work.
Although the sales model of automobiles is undergoing earth shattering changes. In the public dissemination materials of Xiaopeng Motors, the company's operations continue to improve. But in reality, this company is far from breaking through the encirclement.
Mapping of gross profit changes for Xiaopeng Motors/Bai Haotian
Firstly, the financial report for the first quarter of 2024 shows that this new car manufacturing force is still suffering continuous losses, with a loss of 1.37 billion yuan. From 2021 to 2023, it suffered losses of 4.86 billion yuan, 9.14 billion yuan, and 10.38 billion yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of nearly 25 billion yuan over three years.
Secondly, the gross profit margin and car sales profit margin, which have been actively promoted by Xiaopeng and some media, have only shown a good increase compared to 2023. If compared to 2022, their results can only be said to be relatively stable. The reporter has conducted a data comparison in the article "Analysis of Xiaopeng Automobile Financial Reports". In terms of total revenue and gross profit, compared to the first quarter of 2022, Xiaopeng Automobile's performance in the first quarter of 2024 has slightly declined.
In addition, car owners of Xiaopeng Motors frequently complain about their products. In terms of Black Cat complaints, Xiaopeng Motors received about 60 complaints in April and May alone, with an average of 1 complaint per day. The number of complaints about Xiaopeng Motors on Chezhi.com reached 218 in the first half of the year, with an average daily complaint volume exceeding 1.
Mr. Li, the owner of the Xiaopeng G6, said that in winter, the legs of the driver's seat of the Xiaopeng G6 were suspected to be leaking air, causing leg pain from the cold. However, the company informed him that there were no product issues, which led to him having to wear leggings to protect himself when driving out.
Xiaopeng Car Owner Complaint Image/Black Cat Complaint
Xiaopeng Automobile's proud high-level assisted driving has also been complained by users of malfunction, such as automatic parking colliding with Shidun, malfunction of the assisted driving camera after driving the new car for five days, rear end collision with a large truck after activating intelligent driving, and failure of the safety airbag to pop out.
Xiaopeng Motors seems to have achieved certain results through bold reforms, but whether the company can sustainably develop and achieve profitability still needs time to be observed. A reporter from Beike Finance interviewed the company regarding issues such as channel changes, executive changes, and poor sales achievement rate of Xiaopeng Motors. As of the time of publication, there has been no response.
Bai Haotian, a reporter from New Beijing News and Shell Finance