On November 8, after the satellite farce, Zotye Motor stopped for four consecutive boards, and once fell more than 7% in early trading today. Under the fierce game between long and short sides, the market closed at noon and reported 6.44 yuan/share, an increase of 2.22%.
Resumption of work, taking off the hat, and a 6 billion increase were accepted. Zotye Auto, which is coming to the door in Sanxi, has started the trend of connecting boards since November 1st, and the news of "introducing more advanced battery technology than Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited" has become the focus of public opinion.
However, as the saying goes, "there are many people who are red", Zotye Auto’s role in this public opinion storm is also very complicated. On the one hand, it is the interviewee in media reports, on the one hand, it is the listed company that the exchange focuses on, on the other hand, it is the subject of public opinion at the center of the storm.
Under the three major pressures, Zotye Automobile issued a "denial of three companies".
Shenzhen Stock Exchange strictly investigated "touching porcelain", and Zotye Automobile quickly clarified.
The cause of the incident dates back to November 3rd.
On the same day, ST Zotye successfully took off its hat and changed its name to Zotye Automobile, while Time Finance (a new media platform under Southern Media) published "Zotye took off its hat and its share price went up!"! Insider: No more shanzhai, battery technology is more advanced than Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited.
According to the article, relevant persons of Zotye Automobile said in an interview that the company will "comprehensively lay out the fields of complete vehicles, power batteries and spare parts, not only to open up the upstream and downstream of the automobile industry chain, but also to introduce advanced power battery technology from abroad and set up a joint venture company". As for the battery problem, the two sides are currently in further negotiations and have confirmed the location of the battery factory, so it is impossible to disclose the specific information of the enterprise, but the above-mentioned person said, "It can be confirmed that the battery technology is more advanced than that of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited".
"More advanced than Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited", this statement is eye-catching. However, as a listed company, such irregular disclosure of information has also attracted the attention of the exchange.
On November 4th, Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of concern to Zotye Automobile, and the battery technology was the first thing to bear the brunt.
The letter of concern requires, "Please combine the sources, partners, intellectual property cooperation methods, core technical indicators and comparison with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited Power Battery to analyze whether the advanced nature of the proposed power battery technology is sufficient, whether the relevant statements are objective and fair, and whether there are misleading statements."
After two days of fermentation over the weekend, Zotye Auto opened on November 7, and its daily limit was strong with a high posture of "word board". Even though it was reported in the first financial session that Zotye Automobile’s related staff said that there was no such thing as technology being more advanced than Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited’s, the company’s share price remained firm, and it didn’t open all day, and finally closed at the daily limit.
On the evening of November 7, in the face of growing public opinion, the company had to issue a clarification announcement.
In response to market rumors, Zotye Automobile said that "opening up the upstream and downstream of the industry" is a normal medium-and long-term development plan or vision for an automobile manufacturer, and it has not yet been implemented substantively. Simply put, it is "we think so, but we haven’t started to do so yet."
As for the "introduction of power battery", Zotye said that the rumor is not true. At present, the company has not introduced advanced power battery technology from overseas companies and established joint ventures.
In addition, Zotye Auto bluntly stated that "the company’s directors, supervisors, senior managers and heads of relevant business departments have not been interviewed by relevant media in the near future."
Looking back on the whole incident, it is still inconclusive whether it is touching porcelain or spreading rumors.
The market share is the first, is Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited’s battery technology the strongest?
But back to the focus of market debate — — Which battery technology is better? This is not determined by the media or Zotye Auto in one sentence, but depends on market data.
According to the latest data, from January to September this year, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited accounted for 47.51% of the domestic power battery enterprises’ loading capacity. In the global market, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited’s market share has reached 34% during the year, far exceeding the 14% share data of the second LG New Energy.
Thus, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and LG New Energy have occupied half of the whole power battery market and become the choice of most car companies.
In terms of customer recognition, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited has deep cooperation with global customers such as Tesla, Hyundai, Ford, Daimler, Great Wall Motor, Ideality and Weilai. It has been recognized by so many car companies, and we can also see the battery technology level of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited from the side.
Therefore, only LG New Energy is the only one that really has the strength to compete with "Ning Wang".
Therefore, there is no doubt that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited is one of the best battery suppliers at present. Although the company’s competitiveness overseas is slightly worse, in terms of battery technology, it can only be said that Ningde, LG, BYD and Panasonic have their own strengths. If it is said that which battery technology is significantly ahead, it is still necessary to put a question mark.
Can Zotye catch up with the wave of new energy vehicles when the "old disease" is in power?
After analyzing the current battery pattern, let’s take a look at the main body of this incident — — The history of zotye automobile.
In 2009, under the policies of going to the countryside and halving the purchase tax, Zotye Motor took advantage of the wind to launch new models and expand production while creating sales myths.
However, Zotye, which burst into flames due to the appearance of "shanzhai" Toyota, Audi and Porsche, gradually exposed the shortcomings of design and core technology, superimposed the quality problems of vehicles, and finally lost. The company’s sales volume has dropped from the peak of 330,000 vehicles in 2016 to only 3,903 vehicles in 2020, and the production bases have basically stopped production.
The financial situation of Zotye Auto has also deteriorated. In 2019 and 2020, the losses exceeded 10 billion yuan, and by the end of 2020, the net assets were-4.423 billion yuan, which eventually entered the bankruptcy reorganization procedure.
It was not until October 2021 that Jiangsu Shenshang completed the restructuring plan with 2 billion yuan. In October 2022, the company officially resumed production, and Zotye Automobile once again entered the public’s field of vision.
However, Zotye still faces problems such as shortage of funds and difficulty in resuming the market.
According to the financial report data, as of the third quarter of 2022, Zotye Automobile had a debt of 4.632 billion yuan, a total asset of 7.662 billion yuan, and its asset-liability ratio has exceeded 60%. The new energy vehicles entering the market will inevitably require high research and development. On the one hand, the company’s current R&D investment is only 10 million yuan. On the other hand, the limited monetary funds of only 1.3 billion yuan make it difficult for the company to conduct mergers and acquisitions. For Zotye, which has been stagnant for two years, it is still a big problem to realize "financial freedom".
Even if the 6 billion fixed-income plan that has been accepted can be implemented as soon as possible, it is probably a drop in the bucket if you want to go against the trend with 6 billion in the case that new energy vehicles and related industrial chains have developed to the Central Bureau.
At the same time, in the two years of production suspension, the sales and service outlets of Zotye Automobile collapsed in a large area, and a large number of consumers had no way to maintain them. How to rebuild the channels and brand trust of Zotye Automobile will be the biggest challenge besides funds.
At present, new energy vehicles are the focus of the industry and the capital market. Zotye should mainly hope to get financing support for the research and development of new energy vehicles, so as to "bring enterprises back to life". However, in the fierce competition, Zotye’s market awareness has been greatly worse than before.
Next, how does the company "erase" the existing impression of consumers on "shanzhai", and erasing the negative impact is the first step; How to launch a new energy vehicle that can be recognized by the market is the second step. But these two steps are not easy to take. Although Zotye Auto doesn’t want to take the old road, it is also very difficult to take the new road.