From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 232 XI Model Partner

Huang Yongqiang had barely finished gloating when he received an urgent call from the head of the marketing department, telling him to delete the Weibo post as soon as possible.

This time, even though they didn't name names, they still used sales data as a real weapon in an attempt to suppress Xingchen Automotive's trending topics.

But who would have thought that it would press on a steel needle?

The online trolls immediately went silent.

The once noisy comment section suddenly changed direction.

Just kidding, who would dare spread rumors about state media?!

Other ordinary netizens didn't even notice this subtle change and were still praising it.

Huang Yongqiang is numb!

He stared at the news broadcast with a rather exasperated expression.

Why does this always happen?
My gaze fell upon the fully operational factory in the picture, and for no reason, a sense of foreboding arose in my heart.

On that day, Yu Nian honestly disclosed the first day's delivery data on Weibo:
"The first day of delivery ceremony for the Xingchen L7 has come to a successful conclusion. Until 11 p.m., our colleagues were very happy to call and count the sales volume of stores nationwide on the first day. A total of 370 Xingchen L7s were delivered. We will continue to ensure delivery and provide good service to car owners in the coming days. We are very happy to contribute to the continuous development of the domestic new energy industry."

After the press conference, Xingchen Automotive returned to its original style.

They no longer flaunt their strength in their publicity.

It's a bit audacious for an automaker to claim that it's "contributing to the development of domestic new energy vehicles," but when it's said on the evening news, it's perfectly acceptable.

Many people were secretly plotting against each other.

Three hundred units are delivered in one day.

This is a truly alarming number!
Based on the previously announced order backlog, even if only a hundred or so cars are delivered every day, that would still amount to monthly sales of over four thousand units.

Both domestic and joint venture automakers have turned their attention to this new energy vehicle, which has broken into the 300,000-yuan price range, and are taking a critical look at it.

Regarding the Starry Night L7, from its pre-release hype to its stunning performance after release, some people are very eager, while others are indifferent... Car manufacturing is, after all, a long-term project, and a momentary stunning performance does not determine anything. Car companies that stand in the high-end luxury market are never afraid of challenges, nor are they lacking in challengers, but in the domestic market, only a few can stand firm.

In their view, while Xingchen Auto's 10,000 orders on the first day were impressive, they were not actually that significant, as they included small orders.

Unless this car can consistently sell over 10,000 units per month, it won't pose a threat to the high-end joint venture luxury brands.

But is that even possible?

……

November 3rd.

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) released total data on car insurance registrations for last month.

October statistics show that the total number of new car registrations reached 237 million units, a 7.7% increase month-on-month. The strong market activity during the peak sales season in the fourth quarter also indicates that there is still considerable room for expansion for domestically produced cars.

Among these statistics, some people have also compiled data on the market share growth rate of new energy vehicles, as well as the sales volume of various new energy vehicle companies.

You won’t know unless you see it.

I was shocked when I saw it!

Xingchen Automotive tops the list of new energy vehicle manufacturers with 45637 units sold!

The companies still listed under its umbrella are BYD, BAIC New Energy, and Wuling Motors, which have been perennial runners-up for years...

According to statistics on specific car models.

— The number of Star Mini vehicles registered is 29305.

— 15144 Star S7s were registered.

— 1188 Star L7 vehicles have been registered.

……

As early as the first half of the year, Xingchen Automotive had already topped the monthly sales charts for new energy vehicles.

But the main reason for the surge was the Star Mini model, which sold 20,000 units.

This triggered a frenzy of imitation in the microcar market, but since these are small cars priced at 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, even with annual sales of 200,000 units, they did not have a significant impact on the overall automotive market. However, their unique universality and the additional carbon credits they earned attracted the attention of many traditional automakers. Then, in May, the Xingchen S7 was launched.

From a monthly delivery volume of five or six thousand in the first month, it reached a monthly sales volume of over ten thousand, and then broke through the monthly sales volume of thirteen or fifteen thousand.

The two models combined can already bring Xingchen Automotive around 5 billion yuan in revenue each month.

This figure doesn't include the sales revenue of Xingchen's low-speed electric vehicles, since they are low-speed electric vehicles exported overseas and are not classified as registered cars, making it difficult to compile publicly available data.

The most eye-catching figure is the number of insurance registrations for the Starry Night L7.

Only five days had passed since the press conference and vehicle delivery ceremony, which took place on the 31st of the month.

The delivery volume reached 1188 units in five days?
This might not seem like much to joint venture automakers, but among domestic brands, it's simply terrifying!
Despite Xingchen Auto's lack of deliberate promotion, numerous marketing accounts have spontaneously begun writing articles praising it, describing it as a new force giant that rose from humble beginnings with electric vehicles, a story of rising from obscurity to achieve high-end success, and depicting Mr. Xu's personal experiences as almost mythical. They portray him as exceptionally talented, a hard-working student from a young age, a hidden academic genius, mentally resilient, forward-thinking, aloof from women, working 20 hours a day, turning the tide, and saving the company from collapse. They even included a picture of him tightening screws in a factory, portraying him as an inspirational role model for a new generation of young entrepreneurs.

On November 5th, the headquarters of Xingchen welcomed several new friends for a visit.

An Jinhui, an executive from JAC Motors, arrived in Zibo with his vice president, Pan Ruilin.

The two sides had already made contact at the Luzhou New Energy Vehicle Industry Conference. Now that half of the sales figures for the first launch of the Xingchen L7 have been finalized, he feels even more impatient.

Like other automakers, JAC was hesitant to venture into the new energy vehicle industry.

Even after making a decision, it's difficult to devote all your energy to it.

After all, gasoline-powered cars have dominated the world for over a hundred years.

Not every automaker is willing to undertake major reforms, as this often means investing a lot of resources, and failure could mean all previous efforts are wasted.

This is different from the way emerging internet startups burn through investors' money.

They're burning their own money!!
Xu Yi's proposed XI model is a novel path, seemingly lacking autonomy. Previously, internal discussions largely met with opposition. They've just signed a strategic agreement with Volkswagen, and have NIO as a backup option; what would it mean to sign with StarCraft as well? There needs to be a focus, right?

However, after the order data was announced at the Starry Night L7 launch event and the insurance registration data was released at the beginning of the month, the opposition from many executives and shareholders suddenly decreased, and there were even some encouraging opinions.

Xu Yi warmly welcomed his friends from Jianghuai.

"Mr. Xu, congratulations on the great sales of the Xingchen L7! The launch of this car has truly amazed everyone and ushered in a new era for domestic cars." After exchanging pleasantries, An Jinhui first congratulated the Xingchen L7 on its launch performance.

Even without the label of a new energy vehicle company, Xingchen Automotive still deserves this praise.

"President An, you flatter me. Xingchen Motors is just getting started, and there are still many areas where we need to learn and improve," Xu Yi said with a smile. "Moreover, we are under great pressure to deliver. Although we have pre-produced a batch of cars, our initial production capacity is still limited, which is giving me a headache."

An Jinhui was very curious about this: "President Xu, how many units do you plan to deliver in the first month?"

"Let's start with a minimum of 5,000 units. If we can get more by the end of the month, we'll see," Xu Yi said casually, revealing a conservative figure.

The Starry Night L7 was initially planned to produce 3,000 units, but the first month's production is currently capped at just over 3,000 units. After full capacity expansion, the second month's production capacity can be increased by about 30%-40%. The main bottlenecks are battery production capacity and key components such as the air suspension system, which are areas that urgently need to be addressed.

The manufacturing process for the second-generation Polestar battery is not difficult. The current problem is that the total battery production capacity has reached its limit, and the capacity expansion of the Vaillant battery plant and the local Phase III battery plant will need time to buffer.

This also resulted in the Starry Sky S7, which was originally expected to reach monthly sales of 18,000 or even 20,000 units, but sales were stuck at 15,000 units due to battery production capacity.

Air suspension has only just begun mass production, and it will take time to expand production from three or four thousand units per month to eight thousand units per month, or even ten thousand units per month.

Fortunately, a large number of production capacity orders for screens and chips have been locked in in advance, so there is no need to worry about these for the time being.

"Five thousand units sold per month!!"

An Jinhui was shocked by this number.

Based on the starting price of 32.88 yuan for the Xingchen L7, this translates to monthly revenue of over one billion yuan, equivalent to the revenue of two or three of JAC's main commercial vehicles.

This is just the beginning. Xingchen Motors has only released order information to the public once, and has not disclosed the growth of orders since. When he saw Xu Yi's faint smile, he felt that the other party seemed to be more confident in his sales expectations than he had imagined!

Extending the range is a viable option...

New energy sources can not only generate high sales volume, but also sell at high prices!

An Jinhui came to two conclusions in his mind, and he would have been one of those who were skeptical just a month ago.

Now he no longer questions it; the facts are right in front of him.

After taking a sip of tea, unable to suppress his burning emotions, he finally couldn't help but speak:
"Mr. Xu, we're actually quite interested in that XI model you mentioned earlier..."

(End of this chapter)