Produced by?|?Polang Picture and Text Group

Written by?|?Zhang Lijuan

I feel that if you don’t have some state-owned assets background, you shouldn’t easily test the waters of new energy vehicles .

In the past, I would pay attention to which investors with Internet backgrounds are entering the game. Will the capital flow of BAT in the automotive industry attract industry attention? Now, I will also look at these new car manufacturers. Are there any state-owned assets behind the power?

Recently, we learned from the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" that the listing process of WM Motor's Science and Technology Innovation Board has been officially launched. This will probably become the first new car manufacturer to be listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. .

Another big news is that another new car company has announced that it has started preparations for an IPO and plans to go public next year. The car industry is really busy this year, with new car-making forces releasing news one after another. It is the Skyline car that we may be a little unfamiliar with.

Of course, whoever has the money has the final say. Tianji Auto has recently completed a new round of financing of more than 5 billion yuan. According to Tianji, this round of investment includes local government industrial guidance funds and large state-owned banks. The funds will be used for subsequent research and development of new models, intelligent manufacturing, sales channel and service system construction, brand marketing and promotion, etc.

It is reported that before this round of financing, the shareholders of Tianji Automotive Technology Group Co., Ltd. also included investors with state-owned backgrounds such as Shanghai State-owned Assets, Changsha State-owned Assets, and Industrial Securities.

And this is not the first time Tianji has received external blood transfusion. In April last year, it completed a series A financing of over 2 billion yuan led by Shanghai Electric. Shanghai Electric is one of the largest enterprise groups in China's equipment manufacturing industry and belongs to the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

At this point, it goes without saying that these two car companies have the same characteristic, that is, the presence of "national teams" among their employers.

Weima, needless to say, not long ago announced its tens of billions of financing, led by the "National Team", creating the largest single round of financing for a new domestic force to build a car. Blow up the circle of friends.

As for Tianji Auto, although its total financing scale is lower than that of the leading new car companies and its entry into the market is slightly slow, it still received a lot of attention at the just-concluded Beijing Auto Show.

When I passed the Tianji Automobile booth, I was immediately attracted to it. I remember that they were cooperating with "The Legend of Condor Heroes 2" (a mobile game) at the time. The entire booth had a more two-dimensional style. The five large screens of their mass-produced smart car ME7 are still fresh in my memory.

In 2020, when the new car manufacturing track is undergoing a major reshuffle, Tianji Automobile has passed the mass production mark from 0 to 1, and officially began to accept user inspections with its first product ME7. It has demonstrated its tenacity The vitality is still admirable.

After the auto show, I feel more and more that this year is a watershed for new car-making forces, and many new car-making forces have declared their "death". At this time, Tianji Automobile can still raise funds against the trend. It does have two brushes. Moreover, with the blessing of state-owned assets, the road ahead seems clearer.

It’s not clear whether Tianji’s future is uncertain, but there is a trend that has indeed become more apparent since Tianji’s financing, and that is: state-owned assets frequently enter new forces to build cars.

Since last year, the overall auto market has been sluggish. However, in contrast, a group of auto companies in the auto industry are keen to bind local governments and state-owned capital. In other words, in the era of electrification, Under the trend, it is evident that state-owned assets favor new forces.

Looking at the current new energy vehicle market in China, leading companies such as Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, and WM Motor are becoming more and more similar. As time goes by, these companies have gradually developed* **Same characteristics. For example, they all have a secret eye for the "national team", and the investment amounts of these companies with state-owned assets background are very large.

The earliest one is NIO. At the end of April this year, it received a total investment of 7 billion yuan from three companies: Hefei Construction Investment Holding, SDIC Investment and Anhui High-tech Industry Investment, which almost made the company NIO "comes back to life".

Recently, after Xpeng Motors laid the foundation for another industrial park in Guangzhou, it has also been favored by Guangzhou’s state-owned assets and has finally received 4 billion yuan in financing from the Guangzhou Development Zone. Obviously, in the new round of financing of new forces, the "national team" plays an extremely critical role.

In addition, Byton Motors, which has been "suspended" for a long time, has also received new news recently. A company named Nanjing Shengteng Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. was officially established. Its emergence may be a blood transfusion for Byton Motors, and the Nanjing Municipal Government may plan to invest.

It has become increasingly common for new power car companies to seek local government funds. Of course, their investment forms are not limited to investment and equity, but also include financing cooperation, strategic investment, building industrial parks, etc. investment cooperation model.

For example, when Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province introduced WM Motor, it was said to "fulfill Wenzhou's 30-year automobile dream"; Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province introduced Xpeng Motors to set up a production base, which was regarded as the local "No. 1 project." Today, WM Motor and Xpeng Motors have entered the first echelon of new car manufacturing forces, and Wenzhou and Zhaoqing have also become "models" for other local governments. Although I haven’t seen real money being spent to invest in shares, land planning, building factories, and policy inclinations are also investments.

Human Horizon is very different from most companies that are short of money. It is the company that threatens to build the most high-end electric cars in China. I guess no media has been able to reveal the story behind it. Capital, its founder Ding Lei (this Ding Lei is not NetEase's Ding Lei) only said: "We have original capital from the United States and government investment, but there are no plans to launch private equity for the time being, and there will be no ABCD rounds. Investment..."

Understood, there is no shortage of money, no financing, and a state-owned background. It is not difficult to guess that the government investor is Yancheng, where his first factory was built.

Another interesting phenomenon is that some new energy car companies have no choice but to be "state-owned". For example, Greenchi Auto, a new car-making force that has been unable to achieve mass production, can only "sell itself" to the buyer. It is Henan SDIC Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Henan SDIC), a state-owned unit. It subscribed 2 billion yuan for 60 shares and became the actual controller of Green Packet Auto. This is also the first company among the new car-making forces to be controlled by state-owned assets.

Guiding the development of the new energy vehicle industry is a national policy. With the decline of state subsidies, local government investment in the new energy vehicle industry is increasing. From the subsidy side to the investor side, it is not only a general trend, but also a weighing of interests.

When the IPO of state-owned assets, a new force in car manufacturing, becomes a fixed package, it is relatively one-sided to say who relies on whom. Investment or listing is ultimately a business, and interests come first.

Of course, the direct beneficiaries are new energy vehicle companies. It is naturally a good thing to have the support of the country and local governments. If they are listed, it will be equivalent to giving investors reassurance.

Because in the eyes of investors, platforms with state-owned assets background are relatively safer, and they even think that if there are risks from the outside world, state-owned enterprises can cover the whole situation. I think one of the criteria for some retail investors is whether there is government investment. To put it mildly, whether there is state-owned assets involved. After all, a monk who can run away cannot run away from a temple.

Moreover, generally speaking, if local governments take the lead in injecting capital into new car-making forces, they can attract more capital in the later period and enhance the company's ability to resist risks.

The most important thing is that the financing boom for new cars continues. The continuous voices of lack of money coming from the new car-making forces are enough to show that car-making is not as simple as outsiders imagine.

Even the leading new car-making forces are still unable to say that they have passed the crisis period. Although they have entered the second half in terms of financing, late-stage research and development is still a hole to attract money. In addition, traditional car giants have begun to enter the smart electric vehicle market in a big way. For new forces that have not yet achieved mass production and delivery, the door to the market has basically been closed.

Whether one can continue to survive, there is no other way. The only way is to use money to extend one's life to try the possibility of changing time and space. Even so, it may not be possible to achieve self-hematopoietic function in a short period of time. At this time, it becomes very important to choose to invest in state-owned assets.

In a sense, that may be a kind of self-salvation.

In addition, with the support of local state-owned assets, new car-making forces can also obtain more local resources. Take Hezhong Automobile as an example. Its largest shareholder is Nanning Minsheng New Energy Industry Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), which is affiliated with Nanning State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. In addition to investing in a project to produce 100,000 pure electric passenger vehicles per year in Nanning, Hozon Motors also sold a number of government and corporate vehicles in Nanning through group purchases. Currently, Hezhong Automobile is also preparing to be listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

Is it necessary for the local government to spend this money? Is it worth the money?

You still have to spend money.

In fact, the "national team"'s strong support for the automobile industry is not limited to China. If Tesla didn't have the support of the US government, it would be difficult for Tesla to achieve what it does today. As early as 10 years ago, Tesla received a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy and was the biggest beneficiary of California’s zero-emission policy (ZEV); and as the world’s largest automobile group, Volkswagen’s largest shareholder is The government of the German state of Lower Saxony; Europe's second largest automobile group PSA is also controlled by the French government...

To be honest, the continuous expansion of China's new energy vehicle market has always been inseparable from the determination of the national and local governments. Support, among the once powerful new forces, the figure of the "national team" has never been far away. It is only at this stage when the subsidy tide ebbs and the pattern of new forces is about to be formed, the actions of the "national team" are becoming more and more noticed. .

On the one hand, the government also hopes to "spend small money to make big money" and hopes to use cars to fight a "regional turnaround." After all, reviving or promoting the healthy development of a car company has positive significance in promoting the health of the local industry, protecting the local economy, and stimulating employment. Not to mention it is conducive to the overall development of the "new four modernizations."

On the other hand, local state-owned assets continue to invest in leading companies, which also recognizes that the development potential of new car-making forces is relatively large. Moreover, the current market performance of new car-making forces has gradually stabilized, indicating that their products have been recognized by the market.

In addition, most of the new forces that can be favored by state-owned assets will embark on the road of IPO. Following Weilai Automobile, the leading players of new car manufacturing forces, Xpeng, WM, and Ideal, have received good news one after another. In 2020 2020 may be the first year for new car manufacturers to go on the market.

Everyone knows about IPO. The nature of the listing game is a money-making game and a capital game. It doesn't do anything else, it just brings in money quickly, which is equivalent to adding another faucet to your company's funding source.

We have seen that Internet companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan and Baidu are cooperating with various new forces in car manufacturing. Naturally, state-owned assets do not want to fall behind. Even state-owned capital has the word "capital" attached to it. Capital is all profit-seeking, which is understandable. Of course, in the unlikely event that this project skyrockets, creating jobs for the local area and creating a good GDP, it will be even more rewarding.

Is it worth the money? I think this varies from car company to car company. Some are improving, while others are still languishing. Even if some new forces land IPOs in the capital market with the help of state-owned assets, they will inevitably face a long vacuum period in the product matrix. At the same time, supply chain, channels, after-sales and other problems will follow.

After all, the capital of a national company is not an eternal life-saver. Even if the government "covers the bottom line", companies cannot sit back and relax.

For those companies that are not enterprising and have bleak prospects, the government's intervention will only be redundant and wasteful.

This leads to a new problem, that is, the local government has "over-rescued". In addition to direct investment, regular land tax and other preferential treatment, it is no longer necessary for the government to use funds to "retain enterprises". A fresh topic. To a certain extent, state-owned assets and local finance have even become the backbone of new forces’ explosions.

Some local governments consider that the development of new energy vehicles is a national strategy and are eager to achieve coordinated development of local industries and smooth conversion of old and new driving forces. Therefore, their impulse towards new car-making forces may be far greater than their prudence.

However, one thing we must understand is that survival of the fittest and survival of the fittest are the most basic laws in the competitive field. Blind bailout is not conducive to the healthy development of the industry. It will not only spoil the enterprises, but also destroy them. State-owned capital is dragged into a "black hole." Didn’t Nantong’s Sailin “trap” the Rugao Municipal Government of Jiangsu Province?

In fact, the brutal competition has also made us see this market more clearly. I think this should have become the judgment of most people: the number of new forces that can ultimately survive may only be in single digits.

This judgment gradually became reality after the downturn of the auto market and the arrival of the epidemic: a large number of new forces either closed down, shrank or disappeared, and the "Matthew Effect" became increasingly obvious.

Therefore, the government’s assistance to enterprises should be more rational. After all, it does not help the poor. If the incidents of state-owned capital “taking over” new car-making forces continue to increase, I am afraid that the clearance of backward production capacity will be greatly hindered, and some The "story king" of PPT car building will make a comeback.

For the new car-making forces, the government cannot replace the development of car companies. The entry of the "national team" may be a life-saving medicine, but it is by no means a gold medal to avoid death.

The survival of a car company depends largely on market competition. The fundamental reason lies in whether it is competitive. In the final analysis, self-improvement is the trump card for self-rescue. I think the future is a stage for doers.

*Part of the pictures in this article come from the Internet

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.