After being criticized by car company executives, Ideal Auto still released its weekly sales chart as scheduled on July 30th.
On the evening of July 30th, He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, talked about his feelings after experiencing Tesla's fully autonomous driving (FSD) in the United States at a press conference, questioning the focus of domestic automotive technology companies. Although he did not name them, his criticism was directed at Ideal Motors' weekly sales chart.
Recently, the weekly sales chart of Ideal Auto has sparked dissatisfaction among executives from car companies such as NIO and Geely. On the evening of July 30th, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, responded on social media by sharing illustrations and emojis of "covering his ears and stealing a bell".
Causing controversy
On the evening of July 30th, He Xiaopeng said at the Xiaopeng Automotive AI Intelligent Driving Technology Conference: "American venture capital firms are investing vigorously in areas such as large models and chips. They are thinking about how to make end-to-end autonomous driving assistance technology better, and how to do it better than human (driving). However, after returning to China, they found that there were online arguments and everyone was working on the 'weekly sales list'. What are our technology companies doing
He Xiaopeng's speech, although not named, directly targeted the Ideal Car that releases its weekly sales ranking.
Recently, the weekly sales chart of Ideal Automobile has caused dissatisfaction among some executives of car companies.
On July 27th, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO, expressed his boycott of the weekly car sales chart in a media interview: "Our brand is not authorized. Why use our brand to publish the weekly chart? Can we remove our brand
NIO Chairman Li Bin stated that the Wealth Report is published quarterly, and if NIO achieves the top sales position, it will never release a weekly chart. Qin Lihong believes that the release of weekly sales ranking data is not rigorous and has also intensified competition. There won't be more than 10 people inside who know NIO's weekly sales data, "Qin Lihong said.
On July 30th, Ma Lin, Assistant Vice President of Brand and Communication at NIO, directly posted on Weibo to @ Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Auto, saying: "Top management sets the tone, don't engage in low-level internal competition. Rolling up the weekly list to some extent means a bit of low-level internal competition. Brother Xiang @ Li Xiang, stop it. The mission of Chinese car companies at present is to achieve technological breakthroughs through research and development, isn't it? Let's power up together
Weibo
Subsequently, Yang Xueliang, Senior Vice President of Geely Holding Group, forwarded Ma Lin's Weibo and wrote, "I also oppose the weekly list
On July 30th, Ma Lin also issued a statement stating that every month, each enterprise will announce the audited delivery volume. This monthly figure can basically reflect the operating situation of the car company at that time, and is quite effective for users to understand the market situation and help consumer decision-making. But weekly rankings can interfere with the normal operation of enterprises. Ma Lin also stated that Huawei and Ideal are currently selling well in the extended range field, while NIO and Tesla are selling well in the pure electric field. However, putting products of different prices and categories on the same list cannot reflect the objective situation of the market.
According to reports, on the evening of July 30th, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, shared an illustration of a fable about covering his ears and stealing a bell on social media, accompanied by a "shh" emoji, suspected of responding to some car company executives' dissatisfaction with Ideal's weekly sales chart.
Source: Social media
Different statistical calibers of data
It is understood that most of the sales ranking data released in the industry currently comes from the retail data of China Automotive Group's data terminals, namely the insured volume, rather than sales or delivery volume. It is worth noting that Ideal Auto also noted in its weekly sales report that "the sales referred to in this article are different from the delivery data released on the 1st of each month".
On July 17th, Zhang Xiao, the head of Ideal Automotive's product line, said on social media: "The statistical data of the automotive industry may be relatively standardized and complete. From capacity planning to capacity utilization, from wholesale volume to dealer inventory statistics, from retail volume to compulsory insurance coverage, as well as import and export and second-hand car circulation, every link in this industry has official statistics endorsed by the government. These data cannot be falsified
Zhang Xiao said, "But there is one data that cannot be confirmed or falsified, and that is the order volume. It is an internal process indicator in the automobile circulation, and in principle, enterprises have no obligation or responsibility to disclose it. So this requires everyone to take a rational view
Automotive analyst and Secretary General of the International Intelligent Transport Technology Association, Zhang Xiang, told China Securities Journal reporters that calculating sales on a weekly basis is too short. Generally, statistical units need to have a certain length to reflect the business situation of enterprises, and even monthly sales have little significance because they are subject to interference from multiple factors. However, the weekly data time is short and cannot fully reflect the actual business situation of car companies. It may also scatter and mislead consumers.
Industry insiders have put forward different opinions, stating that weekly car sales data can showcase the operational status of car companies and provide effective reference information for consumers.
According to the sales figures of new force brands in the Chinese market from July 22nd to July 28th released by Ideal Auto on July 30th, Ideal Auto continues to rank first among new force brands, followed by Wanjie and NIO in second and third place, with sales of 12800, 10500, and 5400 vehicles, respectively.
According to the sales situation of car companies in the first half of the year, based on the actual progress of achieving the annual sales target, the completion rate of traditional brands is higher than that of new forces. Among them, Geely Automobile achieved 50.3% of its annual sales target in the first half of the year, while BYD achieved 44.7%, leading other brands. Ideal, NIO, and Jike all achieved over 30% of their annual sales targets in the first half of the year.
