Recently, a screenshot of Ideal Automobile's upcoming layoffs was circulating online. On April 8th, the official statement of Ideal Automobile stated that the news on the internet about the company's layoffs and significant budget cuts were all false information.
At the same time, Ideal Automobile officially announced that the Ideal L6 will be officially launched on April 18th. It is positioned below the Ideal L7 and focuses on the market of 250000 to 300000 yuan, competing with the Wenjie M7, Tesla Model Y, and Mercedes Benz GLC 300L.
Ideal Automobile refutes rumors of layoffs
The rumor of layoffs at Ideal Automobile originated from a written disclosure by a self proclaimed employee of Ideal Automobile. The employee stated that the current status of the company is that "all new offers are suspended for approval, and there may be a small amount of stocks for positions above 17, but it may be linked to performance evaluations, and low performance cannot be cashed out; the total budget has been reduced by more than 30%, and the current personnel structure is arranged based on annual sales of 800000, with relatively redundant personnel. The next step is to lay off employees.".
On April 8th, Ideal Automobile stated that the above online rumors are all false information.
There are rumors of layoffs at Ideal Automobile, which originated from the restructuring of Ideal Automobile on April 3rd. On that day, Ideal Automobile released a full staff announcement, announcing the launch of a matrix organization 2.0 upgrade and multiple departmental organizational restructuring.
Among them, the CEO office of Ideal Automobile has been renamed as the "Product and Strategy Group", focusing more on products and strategy, weakening the supply chain and commercial sales functions. Meanwhile, under the leadership of Senior Vice President of Sales and Service, Zou Liangjun, Ideal Automobile has officially established a new GTM (Go to Market) team, responsible for coordinating the implementation of the new product launch plan and taking responsibility for market results.
A series of internal credit and architecture adjustments were closely related to the failure of Ideal EMGA's release on March 1st. Despite suing "black fans", MEGA's market performance still dealt a blow to Ideal Automobile.
MEGA, as the first MPV released by Ideal and also the first pure electric model, was originally one of the important increments in Ideal's annual target of 800000 vehicles. The product was preheated half a year in advance, and the company invested a lot of resources, even squeezing the main model L8 into the corner of the store. However, after being launched for more than a month, Ideal Automobile did not even release MEGA's sales data, and the company's CEO Li Xiang fell into a long silence on Weibo, starting his own reflection.
On March 21st, Ideal Automobile announced a reduction in delivery volume guidelines. The company expects to deliver 76000 to 78000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of approximately 25% compared to the previous target of delivering 100000 vehicles in the quarter.
Launch a new car, Ideal L6 faces competition from the outside world
Despite Li Xiang's expectation and desire to reduce sales and bring Ideal Automobile back to healthy growth, the market will not give him too much time to reflect.
In the first quarter of this year, AITO Wenjie sold a total of 85842 vehicles, an increase of 5442 vehicles compared to the same period, and for the first time, it topped the quarterly list of new forces. On a monthly basis, in January, Wenjie sold 32973 vehicles, ranking first among the new forces in sales, selling 1808 more vehicles than Ideal Auto; In February, Ideal Automobile struggled to catch up, but only narrowed the gap with Wenjie to 891 vehicles; In March, Wenjie sold 31727 vehicles, and the sales gap between the two sides widened to 2743 vehicles.
At the same time as refuting rumors of layoffs, according to the official WeChat account of Ideal Automobile, the new Ideal L6 product launch event will begin at 20:00 on April 18th. The L6 is Ideal's most heavyweight model of the year, positioned as a five seater mid to large SUV, targeting the first five seater luxury SUV for young families.
From the currently exposed exterior design, it continues the ideal "nesting doll" car making mode, with the front design almost identical to the L7, and the side and rear also have a family style, but the whole car is one circle smaller than the L7. Due to its entry-level positioning, the L6 will replace its entire lineup with lithium iron phosphate batteries, priced at 250000 to 300000 yuan, competing with the WENJIE M7, Tesla Model Y, and Mercedes Benz GLC 300L models.
All along, Ideal brand models have been selling at larger sizes. Previously, the slightly smaller Ideal L7 had good sales, while the more compact Ideal L6 still needs to be seen whether it can gain market recognition. However, Ideal's goal of using the L6 to reverse MEGA's unfavorable reputation is very clear.
However, Wenjie is not idle either. While Ideal Automobile is urgently releasing the L6 to compete with Wenjie M7, it is highly likely that Wenjie will also subsequently release a redesigned M5 to cope with the L6. This is how new energy manufacturers compete. The Ideals L6, Wenjie M7, and the all-new Wenjie M5 are among the most popular among consumers, and this April has started a fierce competition.