Ideal Auto's revenue and net profit both increased.
On October 31st, Ideal Auto (Nasdaq: LI; 02015. HK) released its third quarter 2024 financial report, which showed that the company achieved revenue of 42.874 billion yuan in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 23.6%, reaching a new high; The net profit reached 2.82 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%, and it has been profitable for eight consecutive quarters. The operating cash flow for the third quarter was 11 billion yuan, and the cash reserves reached 106.5 billion yuan.
It is worth mentioning that the gross profit margin of Ideal Automobile in the third quarter has returned to over 20%, with a gross profit margin of 21.5% and a vehicle gross profit margin of 20.9%.
In terms of sales, Ideal Auto delivered 152800 new cars in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 45.4%, setting a new historical high.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the quarterly delivery volume of Ideal Automobile is expected to reach 160000 to 170000 units, a year-on-year increase of 21.4% to 29%; The quarterly revenue reached 43.2 billion yuan to 45.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5% to 10%. This means that its annual delivery volume for 2024 will reach approximately 502000 to 512000 vehicles.
However, the lowest single digit quarterly growth expectations have greatly disappointed investors. As of the close of the US stock market on October 31, Ideal Auto fell 13.58%, and as of noon trading on November 1, Ideal Auto fell 7.08%.
Li Xiang: New energy vehicles priced over 200000 yuan have a significant "head effect"
Ideal Auto stated that its revenue has reached a new high mainly due to the continuous increase in sales of the Ideal L series.
Li Xiang, Chairman and CEO of Ideal Automobile, stated during the financial conference call that in the third quarter of this year, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China has reached 50.3%, and the quarterly insurance coverage of new energy vehicles has exceeded that of fuel vehicles for the first time. He emphasized that the "head effect" of brand sales is becoming increasingly evident, especially in the new energy vehicle market with prices above 200000 yuan, where the market share of the three major brands has exceeded 50% in the first three quarters. Among them, the market share of Ideal Automobile increased from 14.4% in the second quarter of this year to 17.3% in the third quarter.
The Ideal L series will still be in its prime in the next one or two years, and after consumers purchase Ideal cars, we will continue to update features and upgrade experiences, continuously enhancing product value. We should be the industry's best performer in terms of software, hardware, and enterprise product integration capabilities, "said Li Xiang.
Li Xiang revealed that currently, Ideal's lowest priced model L6 is in short supply. He said that in the six months since its release, the cumulative delivery of Ideal L6 has exceeded 139000 units, and the production capacity clearly cannot meet the demand of orders. The factory still needs to expand production during the Spring Festival in 2025 to meet more consumer demand.
Ideal Auto expects to deliver 160000 to 170000 vehicles in the fourth quarter. Many analysts believe that this data is relatively conservative.
Regarding sales planning, Zou Liangjun, Senior Vice President of Sales and Service at Ideal Automobile, responded that the market competition has been very fierce since the beginning of this year. Nevertheless, the ideal market share is constantly increasing. I am very confident about the sales performance in the fourth quarter.
He introduced that in terms of sales, the company launched a new round of management rights sinking reform in the second half of this year. The sales managers in each province of the company have shifted from being solely responsible for sales to being responsible for overall operations. After the transfer of management rights, each province will carry out marketing activities more tailored to its own market situation, in order to increase brand awareness and market share. In addition, the competition situation varies in different regions, and specific sales policies will be formulated according to local conditions and tailored to local conditions.
Regarding the widely concerned pure electric vehicle models in the market, Li Xiang introduced that in the pure electric field, we will maintain a strategic pace. He believes that the energy replenishment efficiency and reliability of pure electric vehicles have always been one of the core concerns of consumers. The company will continue to vigorously accelerate the layout of the charging network, prepare for the new pure electric SUV models, and continue to provide more users with convenient and reliable energy replenishment experiences.
According to the financial report, currently Ideal Auto has opened and operated over 1000 Ideal Supercharging stations, equipped with 4888 supercharging stations, covering 175 cities in 31 provinces across the country, including over 580 Ideal High Speed Supercharging stations.
Li Xiang: The biggest variable in the next three to five years will come from artificial intelligence
In the next three to five years, I believe the biggest variable will come from artificial intelligence, including intelligent driving based on true artificial intelligence and intelligent assistants based on artificial intelligence. It will bring consumers a completely different experience than today, and this is also the beginning of true qualitative change, "Li Xiang emphasized.
The management of Ideal Auto stated that the company is increasing its investment in the foundation of AI big model technology. In terms of intelligent driving, intelligent space, intelligent electric and high-end chassis, Ideal Automobile insists on self-developed core technologies, maximizes the application of technological achievements through platform based research and development, and "promotes equal rights in luxury car technology".
Li Xiang introduced that in terms of intelligent driving, since July, the new generation intelligent driving solution of "end-to-end+VLM (visual language model)" self-developed by the full stack has rapidly iterated at a speed of 2 to 3 versions per week. In three months, the model training data scale has increased from 1 million clips (effective video clips) to 4 million clips, and the average takeover mileage (MPI) has increased by about 2.5 times. Based on a powerful data model and a deep understanding of the traffic environment under full scene coverage, this new dual system intelligent driving solution can significantly enhance the user's intelligent driving experience.
He revealed that as of October 30th, the intelligent driving training mileage of Ideal Automobile has reached 2.6 billion kilometers. Ideal car users have a total NOA mileage of 1.39 billion kilometers and have used the intelligent parking function over 60 million times. Ideal Auto's proactive safety measures have helped users avoid 3.45 million potential accidents, including 516 extreme accidents.
According to the financial report, in the first three quarters of 2024, the R&D expenses of Ideal Automobile totaled 8.66 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.1%. In the past year, Ideal Automobile has invested over 12 billion yuan in research and development.
In addition, overseas markets have become an important source of sales growth for Chinese car companies, while Ideal Auto has not made significant moves in going global. At this financial report conference, Ideal finally revealed some plans to go global.
Zou Liangjun said that overseas markets are crucial, and the ideal overseas strategy is different from other car companies. As of now, Ideal has established after-sales service systems in multiple countries and regions, including Kazakhstan. The construction of these after-sales service stores has also helped the company further increase its market share in overseas markets.
Regarding the selection of overseas regions, he revealed that the Middle East and Central Asia will be the company's first export target markets. Based on this, the company will continue to explore and evaluate other markets with high growth potential to achieve a broader global layout. At present, the company has decided not to enter the Western European and North American markets for the time being.