Tesla has just experienced a sales slump in the first quarter, with global delivery reaching a new low in the past five quarters and the first quarterly delivery decline in nearly four years compared to the same period last year. The latest news shows that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has issued an email to all employees announcing a 10% layoff globally.
Tesla faces more intense competition in the Chinese market, with its biggest competitor BYD shouting the slogan "electricity is lower than oil". Numerous manufacturers have followed suit, and a new round of price war has begun. Tesla's sales in China fell behind BYD's by nearly 200000 units in the first quarter, and its market share in China decreased from 10.5% in the fourth quarter of last year to around 6.7%.
However, compared to BYD and China's leading new car manufacturers, Tesla remains the most profitable new energy vehicle company.
In 2023, Tesla's non GAAP (non US GAAP) net profit attributable to common shareholders was $10.882 billion (currently approximately RMB 78.7 billion), compared to BYD's annual net profit of RMB 30 billion, a year-on-year increase of 80%, with a net profit of RMB 28.5 billion after deduction.
Among new energy vehicle brands, Ideal Automobile became the third new energy vehicle brand to achieve profitability after Tesla and BYD with a net profit of 11.7 billion yuan. NIO's losses expanded to 21.1 billion yuan, while Xiaopeng's losses expanded to 10.3 billion yuan.
From the perspective of bicycle profit, according to rough estimates, Tesla can earn a net profit of 43300 yuan per sold car, while BYD only earns 8600 yuan, reaching an ideal of 31100 yuan. NIO and Xiaopeng are still in a net profit loss state, with an average net loss of 132000 yuan and 73000 yuan per sold car.
It can be seen that Tesla is still the most profitable new energy vehicle manufacturer; BYD's strategy of "small profits but quick sales" is related to its focus on low-priced car models; The ideal of just emerging from a loss making quagmire, with its flagship SUV models priced at over 300000 yuan, is profitable.
Although not as profitable as Tesla, Chinese new energy brands are not stingy in their research and development investment.
Tesla's R&D and capital expenditures in 2023 reached $3.969 billion (28.7 billion RMB) and $4.8 billion (34.7 billion RMB), respectively, both reaching the highest levels in the company's history.
BYD's research and development expenses in 2023 were 39.6 billion yuan, while Bitsrado spent nearly 11 billion yuan. This is also another important data breakthrough after BYD's annual sales of new energy vehicles surpassed Tesla for the first time in 2022.
The research and development expenses of the three companies, Weixiaoli, are 13.4 billion, 5.3 billion, and 10.6 billion, respectively. Looking at the cost situation of the four new energy vehicle brands, except for Xiaopeng, where R&D expenses are lower than sales expenses, the other three are all dominated by R&D expenses.
From a cash flow perspective, Tesla's operating cash flow for 2023 was $13.3 billion (RMB 95.2 billion), indicating the company's strong cash flow situation. BYD's operating cash flow reached RMB 169.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20.51%, both reaching historical highs.
This data for Weixiaoli is -1.4 billion, -6.2 billion, and 50.7 billion, respectively. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, NIO and Xiaopeng had cash reserves of 57.3 billion and 45.7 billion, respectively. In the short term, none of them have reached the point of "food shortage", while in the long term, there is a situation of negative operating cash flow, indicating that the enterprise is facing the phenomenon of "blood loss". The most realistic problem facing NIO and Xiaopeng is when to turn losses around.
Tesla, who is not content with only being a car company, hopes for new growth points in FSD (fully autonomous driving) and Robotaxi (autonomous taxi), and as time goes on, the negative impact of the aging of existing models on Tesla will only become stronger.
BYD, which has adopted aggressive strategies in capacity expansion and R&D investment, has a vision that is not limited to the domestic market and is actively expanding overseas to seize more market share.
In the new power of car manufacturing, the ideal of being the first to break free from losses has given NIO and Xiaopeng hope and seized the opportunity. Adequate cash flow is sufficient to support their investment in technology iteration, and strategic adjustments are more flexible. For the latter two, survival is more important.
Tesla, whose sales and revenue are slowing down, remains the king of the new energy vehicle industry. However, Chinese brands led by BYD are rapidly narrowing the gap, as Musk said, "Chinese automakers are the most competitive car companies in the world. Without setting trade barriers, Chinese brands will 'eat' most of their competitors on a global scale."