On March 21st, Ideal Automobile (HK2015, stock price of HKD 135.1, market value of HKD 286.68 billion) announced that due to sales orders falling short of expectations, the company now expects vehicle deliveries in the first quarter of 2024 to be 76000 to 78000 units. This outlook updates the company's previously announced delivery volume expectations of 100000 to 103.000 units.
On March 21st, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, released a letter to employees, reviewing the problems encountered by Ideal Automobile in March and conducting self criticism:
1. We mistakenly treated the ideal MEGA from 0 to 1 (commercial validation period) as operating from 1 to 10 (high-speed development period). The ideal MEGA and high-voltage pure electric must go through a phase from 0 to 1 similar to the ideal ONE and extended range electric, and cannot have the operational potential from 1 to 10 as soon as the Ideal L series is launched. This is a misjudgment of our pure electric strategy rhythm.
2. We focus too much on sales and competition from top to bottom, causing desire to surpass value and significantly reducing the user value and operational efficiency that we were originally best at. The pursuit of desire makes us become people we dislike.
Li Xiang stated that the issues in March 2024 are an enhanced version of our 2022 issues. We seek truth from facts and make changes as soon as we know our mistakes. We are confident that through joint efforts, we will focus on user value, business efficiency, patiently control the pace, and solve the problems with a down-to-earth approach.
On March 1st, the new model of Ideal MEGA was officially released in Shanghai, and its appearance has sparked heated discussions online. After the launch of Ideal MEGA, there have been constant controversies, with many photos and videos circulating online that mock it.
According to previous media reports, a car blogger recently exposed a notification letter on the internet stating that Ideal Automobile has filed a complaint with a certain platform. The notice letter shows that on March 2, 2024, users of a social media platform such as "Mature Cat" maliciously posted "P images" on the new MEGA model of Ideal Automobile, including the words "Dien" and "New Energy Funeral Parlor Car", seriously infringing on the product image and brand reputation of Ideal Automobile, and infringing on its reputation. In terms of ideals, it is required that the relevant content of the platform be deleted or processed.
On March 11th, Li Xiang posted on his WeChat Moments, saying, "Everyone should be quite clear about what has happened in the past ten days. Many users and friends are worried about us and speak up for us. No matter how difficult it is, they continue to help and support us. I am deeply grateful, this is also the core driving force for our growth."
Li Xiang said, "We are already using legal means to deal with the organized illegal and criminal activities in the incident."
In addition, Li Xiang also stated, "Although I am in darkness, I still choose light. If I choose to compromise with darkness, or even join darkness, then I and the people around me will become the ones we dislike, and the society we live in will become increasingly dark. After careful consideration, we have decided to start counterattacking with light. We hope that more people can work together to create and transmit beautiful designs, unique creativity, and happy times, so that more beautiful images can appear in our lives."
As of the close of the Hong Kong stock market, Ideal Automobile rose 1.05% to HKD 135.1 per share. As of the time of writing, Ideal Automobile's US stock market fell more than 7% before the market.
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