Reporter Gong Mengze from this newspaper
As one of the few pure electric vehicle brands on the market with a selling price of millions of yuan, Lotus Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lotus") has always had followers.
On the one hand, as the eighth listed company on the capital map of Geely Holding Group, Lotus shoulders the important responsibility of Geely brand upward; On the other hand, in the luxury electric vehicle market, it seems that no car company has yet delivered a response that meets market expectations. Therefore, Lotus's "ice breaking" journey is of great reference significance and highlights.
Lotus's latest financial report shows that in the first quarter, the company achieved a total operating revenue of 173 million US dollars, approximately 1.254 billion yuan, an increase of 811% compared to the same period last year; The gross profit is 30 million US dollars, achieving a gross profit margin of 18%.
Specifically, in the first quarter, Lotus delivered a total of 2194 new cars globally, a year-on-year increase of 731%. Among them, the delivery of sports car models reached 1147, and the delivery of lifestyle models reached 1047, a year-on-year increase of 344%.
It is worth mentioning that Lotus's globalization process, growth in R&D services and high gross profit business in accessories, as well as its light asset model, have also made significant contributions to performance.
Regarding the benefits of the light asset model, Li Kunlong, CFO of Lotus Technology, explained, "Firstly, except for the direct sales in the Chinese market, we use the dealer model in overseas markets, which is a light asset model. Secondly, our electric vehicle manufacturing is empowered by Geely, which is superior to our competitors. Thirdly, the technology output based on global intelligent driving provides high gross profit income."
The prospectus shows that Lotus achieved an 18% gross profit margin performance in the first quarter, which is in line with the previously set 17% to 19% gross profit margin expectation in the prospectus for this year.
As an important indicator of a company's profitability, gross profit margin reflects the level of production conversion and value-added generation. Horizontal comparison of the gross profit margin performance of the new domestic car making force "NIO" during the same period - NIO went public in the United States in September 2018, with a gross profit margin performance of -5.2% that year; The gross profit margins of Xiaopeng Automobile and Ideal Automobile were 4.6% and 16.4% respectively in the year of their listing.
In terms of product delivery, in the first quarter of this year, the total delivery volume of 2194 vehicles by Lotus accounted for 24%, 31%, and 31% of the Chinese, European, and North American markets, respectively. Combined with last year's 46% market share in China, Lotus almost doubled its globalization share in the first quarter of this year. In addition, based on revenue data, Lotus achieved a single bike revenue of $78900.
Despite impressive performance in the first quarter, combined with Lotus's previous revenue target of $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion for the full year and sales target of 26000 vehicles, the company's revenue in the first quarter only accounted for about 7% of the expected level, and delivery volume only achieved 8.4% of the full year's expected level.
More importantly, counting the luxury electric vehicle market, even Porsche and Mercedes Benz seem powerless in the era of electric vehicles. For example, in 2022, the sales of EQS in China were only 1583 units, and the officially discontinued Gaohe HiPhi X2 only sold 226 units in 2023.
As a seed player for anchoring luxury electric vehicles, Lotus is using a combination of "domestic+overseas" and "product+channel" strategies to solve the bottleneck of scale and profitability of luxury electric vehicles.
Since entering 2024, Lotus has been accelerating its product launch and development pace. In January, the first pure electric supercar EMEYA was launched; In February, the company went to the United States for an IPO; In March, Lotus provided a track delivery ceremony for car owners on LOTUS Day; Multiple high-end models were first introduced to Chinese users in April.
While accelerating its product layout in the Chinese market, Lotus is also accelerating its globalization strategy. "The EMIRA model completed certification and entered the US market in February this year, with orders exceeding 5000 units, far exceeding the planned delivery volume for the whole year." Lotus Group CEO Feng Qingfeng said that he holds the two major advantages of "product+channel" and is willing to accept the challenge of a sales target of 26000 units.
According to the plan, Lotus will achieve a compound annual growth rate of 80% in sales by 2028, with a global market share of 4% and a gross profit margin of 30%. According to Feng Qingfeng, as long as sales increase, the planned profitability for 2025 can turn positive.
"In the long run, there are two key factors to the brand revival strategy. Firstly, it needs to expand to residential vehicles; secondly, it needs to transform towards electrification and intelligence." Li Kunlong said that in the future, Lotus will also launch two new pure electric models, forming a product matrix of three sports cars and three residential vehicles, in order to achieve a ramp up in sales and scale.