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In the cold winter of the auto industry, the new car-making forces that survived by “burning money” blood transfusions are under the influence of the epidemic and are now in a new round of accelerated elimination.

“The spread of the epidemic will accelerate the integration of the industry, and there may be a few new car building forces left before the end of the year.” On February 17, Cao He, secretary general of the Automobile Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, told Times Finance.

In the beginning of the year of the rat, major car companies have suffered epidemic attacks, with repeated delays in production, stagnation of production, shutdown of factories, and the risk of disruption of the supply chain.

A typical example is Weimar, whose factory is located in Wenzhou.

On February 17, the public relations officer of Weimar Automobile told Time Finance that the office had resumed normal operations that day, but when the factory can resume work, it still needs to wait for the local government’s notice.

At the same time, the automobile market continues to decline, and new energy vehicle sales have fallen for seven consecutive years. The continued sluggish sales have made it difficult for auto companies to repay funds, and the pressure on funds has been obvious.

For the new car-strength forces that are “tight” in cash, how to maintain healthy capital turnover and strive to resume work as soon as possible has become a top priority in this auto market knockout.

Time Finance understands that since this year, apart from Wei Lai’s $ 100 million “blood transfusion” in the capital market, other car companies have not yet received relevant financing news. However, shortly after Weilai obtained financing, on February 14th, the well-known investment institution Gaofeng Capital was revealed to have cleared its Weilai Automobile shares at the end of last year.

On February 17, an investor who asked not to be named told Time Finance that the clearance of Gao Capital indicated that the market had insufficient confidence in Weilai, and the outbreak of the epidemic, capital was not optimistic about building cars in the short term. New forces.

In fact, even if work resumes normally, all links in the industrial chain affected by the epidemic still need a certain period of recovery, and the new car-making forces that have not yet achieved profitability are still in a “burning money” state.

Interlocking problems such as slumping sales, financing difficulties, and factory shutdowns are before us, and the winter of new forces for car construction is far from over.

Winter in the beginning of the year: production interruption, factory shutdown

At the beginning of this year’s domestic new energy vehicle market, when the sales volume fell for seven consecutive years, the pain points such as “poor sales” and “fund shortage” of the new car building forces were magnified again.

Data shows that in January, Weilai Automobile delivered 1,598 new vehicles, compared with the 3,170 vehicles delivered in the previous month, and the delivery volume was almost halved; Weimar Automobile ’s sales in January were 808 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 59.7.%.

For the new car-making forces, not only must they face the difficulty of consumers’ low desire to buy cars under the epidemic, but the immediate need is to resume production.

However, under the influence of the epidemic, there is not much to do in the face of interrupted production. Weimar is a typical example.

We understand that Weimar’s factories are mainly located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, where the epidemic has been severely affected. Statistics show that as of 24:00 on February 17, Zhejiang Province had reported 1172 confirmed cases of new coronavirus pneumonia, and Wenzhou alone accounted for 504 cases.

On February 17, the public relations officer of Weimar Automobile told Time Finance that the office had resumed normal office on that day. For the past two weeks, the home cloud office model was implemented. However, Weimar’s factory in Wenzhou, Zhejiang has not yet started construction. “Waiting for notification of relevant local laws and regulations, mainly related to epidemic prevention and control.”

Obstructed upstream and downstream production, factory workshop shutdowns, vehicle delivery and logistics restrictions, etc. This is the main dilemma faced by many car companies located in the severely affected areas.

On February 18, Ideal Auto’s public relations staffer told Times Finance that at present their factory in Changzhou, Jiangsu, is also awaiting news of resumption of work, and is not aware of the specific impact.

“The impact of the epidemic on the company’s business is mainly manifested in the offline part, such as the supply chain, production, factory floor, etc.” On February 14, the head of Xinte Auto’s public relations spoke frankly to Times Finance.

Capital cold: Financing is difficult to continue Wei Lai was liquidated by Gao Capital.

After experiencing explosive financing in the past few years, the new forces of car construction have begun to be “coldly treated” in the capital market. Since the beginning of this year, only Weilai has been exposed to the news of capital financing for subscribing to US $ 100 million in new car building forces, and other car companies have not yet made any noise.

Nearly after receiving $ 100 million in “help money”, Weilai was exposed that the well-known investment company Gao Feng Capital had cleared Weilai at the end of last year and no longer held its shares. As soon as the news came out, it quickly aroused heated discussions in the media and the industry.

“Gao Ye Capital has performed very impressively in recent years. From the early stage of the United States to Gree Electric Appliances to the appearance of several large bull stocks, Gao Ye Capital has a very mature capital operation model with a high win rate.” On February 17, Guo Shiliang, a senior securities analyst, told Times Finance.

Golden Capital Investment Weilai has been actively planning a few years ago.

In 2015, Weilai received a Series A financing, of which Gaolong Capital led a US $ 100 million investment; in 2018, Weilai was listed in the United States, and Gaolong Capital was its third largest shareholder, holding a 7.5% stake; However, in the third quarter of last year, Gaofeng Capital reduced its shareholding in Weilai again, with a reduction of 68%.

On February 17, someone in the industry told Time Finance that the move by Gao Feng Capital reflected the impact of the epidemic and increased uncertainty about car consumption, and the market became more cautious about Weilai’s continued healthy operation.

“Gao Ye now chooses to liquidate his positions, or he has divergent investment strategies, or he expresses unclear expectations of Weilai’s development prospects.” On the same day, Guo Shiliang told Times Finance that Weilai Automobile had been positively viewed by the market. Nowadays, although Gao Ling has cleared its position, it has also obtained convertible debt financing. This also shows that capital has a lot of differences on the development prospects of Weilai Automobile.

In fact, as a PE institution, Gao Capital has certain requirements on the efficiency of capital return. “Weilai’s performance growth prospects are not very good, and the sales of electric vehicles are not very optimistic. In addition, the investment in Gree is large, so clearing Weilai is a normal asset allocation adjustment.” February 18, Xiang Song Capital Executive Director Shen Meng told Times Finance.

Although it has continuously received capital support, Weilai is still “lacking money”. According to its three quarterly report last year, Weilai reported a loss of 2.52 billion yuan in the reporting period, with cash and cash equivalents of about 980 million yuan. The tightness of the capital chain is obvious.

“At present, from the perspective of automobile terminal consumption, the seven consecutive declines in new energy vehicles will only continue to fall to give the market and investors confidence.” The industry insiders said.

Today, the epidemic impact has been superimposed, and various auto companies have been affected to varying degrees at both ends of automobile production and consumption. In the cold winter of the auto industry, the new car-making forces that survived by “burning money” blood transfusions are now in a new round of accelerated elimination under the influence of the epidemic.