The sudden collapse of Jiyue Motors at the end of 2024 has once again brought the issue of the survival of new car making forces into people's sight. The last one to fall was Gaohe Motors at the beginning of the year. In 2025, as competition in the automotive market intensifies, it will be more concerning whether some emerging brands on the periphery can survive the knockout stage.
Looking back at the downfall process of Gaohe and Jiyue, it all started with a series of negative rumors such as wage arrears, layoffs, and shutdowns, which were later confirmed one by one. After six months of self rescue, Gaohe still hasn't found his "white knight", and even with the support of the two giants Baidu and Geely, Jiyue has not escaped the fate of being abandoned.
The commonality of their failures lies in their excessive reliance on external financing and insufficient self generating ability. Although each of their products has its own unique features and selling points, they have not replaced their products with significant sales, resulting in mediocre performance in the market and gradually losing the trust of investors.
Taking Jiyue as an example, in November before its collapse, its sales reached 3107 units. Although it increased six times compared to February's 147 units, its annual sales of 13000 units were lower than the monthly level of top new energy brands.
As an important indicator for measuring the operational health of an automobile company, sales volume largely determines the future life and death of the enterprise. Therefore, the survival status of those new force brands whose sales have not improved for a long time has turned red, and their prospects are worrying.
In November 2024, the sales volume of Polestar Motors in the Chinese market was 110 units, with the highest monthly sales exceeding 300 units. This new energy brand, backed by Volvo and targeting its main market overseas, is gradually losing its popularity, with a cumulative delivery volume of only 32000 vehicles in the global market in the first three quarters.
Since July, there have been a series of negative rumors about salary cuts, layoffs, and factory shutdowns for Jixing. Over the past three years, this brand has accumulated losses of up to 2.646 billion US dollars. It has also been warned by Nasdaq to delist due to failure to submit its 2023 annual report in a timely manner.
The cumulative sales volume of Jishi Automobile in the first 11 months of 2024 is 5039 units. This company was jointly founded by Shanghai Luoke Intelligent Technology and Weiqiao Entrepreneurship Group. The former's chairman, Chang Jing, is the founder of the company, while his other identity is the chairman of the listed company Stone Technology.
At its peak, the market value of Stone Technology exceeded 100 billion yuan, but Changjing did not replicate its successful experience on Jishi Motors. The only mass-produced car, the Jishi 01, has not opened up the domestic market and plans to enter the Middle East market, with an unknown future. Not long ago, Stone Technology's third quarter net profit dropped significantly, and its market value was only half of its peak. Chang Jing advised investors to be patient, but he has already reduced his holdings by nearly 900 million yuan.
Skyworth, which is also a cross-border car manufacturer, sold a total of 11326 vehicles in the first 11 months, backed by Skyworth Group. Skyworth founder Huang Hongsheng once sparked controversy over his statement that sub-health problems during lunch breaks in the car had completely disappeared. During the Beijing Auto Show, he also stated that Skyworth electric vehicles can alleviate high blood pressure, improve immunity, and eliminate habitual diarrhea.
Compared to the first three, Nezha Motors undoubtedly has higher popularity and attention. Its sales in November were 1500 units, a year-on-year decrease of 85.10% and a month on month decrease of 75.00%. Starting from mid October, Nezha Automobile has been deeply embroiled in negative news such as layoffs, salary cuts, and delayed contract payments. On December 6th, founder Fang Yunzhou confirmed Nezha's predicament in a letter to all employees. CEO Zhang Yong, who had been silent for two months, stepped down, and half of Nezha's business shifted overseas.
But this storm has not stopped, and the equity held by Nezha Automobile and Fang Yunzhou has been frozen successively. Two years ago, Nezha Automobile, which was still the annual sales champion of the new forces, rapidly plummeted, backed by three local state-owned enterprises in Nanning, Tongxiang, and Yichun. Now, it is facing the risk of a broken capital chain.
The common problem currently faced by new power brands is funding. Even the top selling new force brands have only achieved profitability with Ideal and Wanjie (Sailis). Before turning losses into profits, having sufficient cash reserves and continuous financing is the key to survival.
From a trend perspective, Xiaopeng, Zero Run, and Extreme Krypton all achieved year-on-year loss reductions in the first three quarters of this year. Among them, Xiaopeng had the largest reduction in losses, with a loss of 1.81 billion yuan in the third quarter and a reduction of over 2 billion yuan; Zero Run Motors' third quarter loss decreased to 690 million yuan; Extreme Krypton's loss narrows to 1.139 billion
Among the top new energy brands, only NIO's losses are expanding. According to the financial report, NIO incurred a loss of over 5 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 11% compared to the same period last year. Since its establishment, the cumulative loss amount has exceeded 100 billion yuan.
The new force brands incubated by traditional state-owned automobile manufacturers are also worth paying attention to. Judging from the sales in November, the sales of Deep Blue, Avita, Jihu, Lantu, and Zhiji have all exceeded 10000. For other brands with low sales, they may face the risk of being integrated by the group brand in 2025.
Senior automotive industry analyst Zhang Junyi stated that the automotive industry also follows the law of division and division. At present, the entire industry is in a period of consolidation, and the elimination competition for new force brands in 2025 will still be fierce. The situation of selling cars at a loss will only improve significantly after the pattern stabilizes, and sales will gather at the top. Identifying one's own brand positioning, capturing target users, driving sales, and enhancing one's own ability to generate revenue are essential for survival in fierce competition.