Motors Tracker

Li Auto, which had finished signing up share subscribers early, rose 43 percent on its first trading day on the Nasdaq yesterday, becoming the second Chinese new energy vehicle startup to list in the US after Nio. The Beijing-based firm's stock price [NASDAQ: LI] closed at USD16.46 with a USD13.9 billion market cap. It had started trading at USD15.50 in the morning and its initial public offering price was USD11.50 apiece. Set up in July 2015, Li Auto announced on June 24 that it had finished a USD550 million Round D financing, raising its value to USD4.1 billion. Besides fundraising purposes, an IPO should be good for talent acquisition and branding, founder Li Xiang told Tencent Tech. He had a quarter of the company's shares before the IPO and more than 70 percent of the voting rights, based on the prospectus. Meituan Dianping and its Chief Executive Wang Xing had a combined 24 percent stake. In the first quarter, Li Auto tripled its revenue to CNY852 million (USD121.9 millio...

Mercedez-Benz, Audi, BMW and other luxury carmakers have taken this year’s Chengdu Auto Show in southwestern Sichuan province by storm, investing heavily to debut a number of super sleek car models targeting China’s younger clientele. Even though the number of visitors to this year’s auto show, the biggest in western China, is less than in previous years, the three German brands have all upped the ante, expanding their exhibition floor space and filling them with a range of state-of-the-art autos, as China’s luxury car market shows no sign of slowing. Munich-based BMW had six new cars on show, including its latest 4 series coupe, a low-slung, aerodynamic, sporty fashion statement. The firm commanded an exhibition area of 3,210 square meters while Mercedez-Benz and Audi were not far behind with booths of almost 3,000 square meters. The three marques are all neck to neck in the battle for market share. Mercedez-Benz, owned by Germany’s Daimler, sold 346,000 units in China in the first ha...

The Covid-19 pandemic did little to control Tesla fans' hunger for the US firm's electric vehicles in its biggest foreign market during the second quarter. The auto firm sold USD1.4 billion worth of cars in China over the quarter, doubling from a year ago, the California-headquartered firm said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. Next, the company is recruiting big in Shanghai to start making Model Ys in its first overseas plant. Tesla’s total revenue slid 5 percent to USD6 billion in the second quarter, according to the same report. Revenue on the home turf fell 11 percent to USD3 billion. The company is hiring 1,000 employees at its Shanghai Gigafactory, including assembly workers and quality inspectors, it said in a statement on We Chat earlier this month. This is the first time that Tesla is recruiting designers in China. The campaign is partly in preparation for Model Ys, Tencent's tech news arm reported, citing an insider. The automaker...

Shares of Dongfeng Motor Group, one of China’s big four automakers, surged in Hong Kong after the company said it intends to issue stock on the Chinese mainland for the first time. Dongfeng Motor [HKG:0489] gained 13.5 percent today to HKD5.80 (75 US cents), the stock’s highest closing price since mid-March, after soaring almost as much as 27 percent earlier in the day. The   Wuhan-based   company is looking to sell up to 957 million shares, representing as much as 10 percent of its total outstanding after the sale, on Shenzhen's ChiNext growth-enterprise board, it said in an exchange filing late yesterday.The funds raised would go toward a new electric passenger vehicle brand, digital and service infrastructure, and supplement working capital. Founded in 1969, Dongfeng Motor’s parent company took the unit public in 2005. It has set up joint ventures with foreign car companies, including Japan's Honda Motor and France's PSA Group. In the first half of this year, Dongfeng Mo...

Great Wall Motors, Wuling Motors, SAIC Maxus Automotive and Jiangling Motors all displayed new pickup truck models at the ongoing Chengdu Motor Show in southwestern China as more Chinese cities lift their restrictions on driving small vans on urban roads. The pickup model is very popular in China but the lightweight truck has been banned from many cities’ streets because of environmental pollution, traffic management, road maintenance and other concerns. Since last year, however, several local governments have scrapped the ban and even first-tier cities are beginning to grant them entry. The major metropolises of Shanghai and Chongqing have recently announced they will ease restrictions. Beijing is actively looking into it, an official from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said not long ago. This paves the way for other first and second-tier cities to follow suit and is a rare market opportunity for carmakers, said Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger ...

Smart Automobile, a joint venture between Geely Holding Group and Mercedes-Benz, has named the top executives who will lead a new European subsidiary. Daimler veteran Dirk Adelmann has been appointed as CEO of Smart Europe and   Martin Günther,an experienced finance and controlling executive in Mercedes-Benz’s aftersales division, will serve as its chief financial officer, Smart Auto’s parent companies said in a joint statement yesterday. “After holding several executive sales and marketing roles in the global Mercedes-Benz network, Dirk Adelmann successfully transformed Smart into an electric-only brand on the retail level,” they said. The   wholly owned   unit will be   headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, and will be in charge of the brand’s supply, sales and aftersales service in Europe. Smart Automobile’s   global operations will be run out of the Hangzhou Bay New Area of Ningbo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, with marketing centers in China and Germa...

Chinese healthcare service firm Evergrande Health Industry Group is proposing to change its name to China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group as it sees its main line of business shifting to the electric vehicle sector, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. The company, which is a unit of one of China’s largest property developers Evergrande Group, is developing its NEV business at full throttle and aims to become the world’s largest and most powerful green energy car company within the next three to five years, the Guangzhou-based firm said. The proposal still needs to be approved by shareholders and the Registrar of Companies in the Hong Kong, it added. Evergrande Health’s heavy investment in its NEV business,   which is still in the development stage, led to losses of CNY4.95 billion (USD707 million) last year on revenue of CNY5.64 billion. Fixed assets and equipment still need to be purchased and research and development costs remain high, it said in an...

Carmaker BAIC Group plans to add to its stake in China Auto Rental, consolidating its position as main shareholder in the nation’s biggest car rental company. BAIC will buy an 8.05 percent stake in CAR from the second-largest shareholder Amber Gem Holdings for HKD529 million (USD68.3 million), raising its total holding to 28.91 percent, Beijing-based CAR said in a statement today. Amber Gem is a unit of private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Its stake will fall to 6.7 percent. As a major auto manufacturer in China, BAIC uses its self-built vehicles in its mobility services. Securing the controlling stake in CAR will help the firm expand in the sector. CAR said the deal will be completed alongside BAIC’s agreement last week to buy a 20.87 percent stake in the rental company from major shareholder Ucar for HKD1.4 billion (USD180.6 million). CAR’s former actual controller, Charles Lu, resigned as chairman and non-executive director early last month, dragged down by a fraud scandal at Nasdaq-...

Chengdu Auto Show, one of the first key auto shows after the Covid-19 outbreak this year, begins today. The Southwestern city-based auto show will run until August 8, with more than 1500 vehicles from 120 car brands attracted.  Below is a list of some new models for this event.  Nio EC6: This is the Chinese EV start-up’s third car after ES8 and ES6, priced between CNY368,000 and CNY468,000. It has an NEDC range of 430 kilometers to 610 kilometers, and one model is expected to deliver in September.   Haval Dagou ‘Big Dog’: This is regarded as a replacement of the traditional H5 by the Great Wall.   Ora Baimao ‘White Cat’: This electric vehicle of the EV brand of Great Wall is priced between CNY75,800 and CNY88,000. BYD Song Plus and BYD Song Plus EV: the ICE model is equipped with a 1.5-liter petrol turbo engine, while the all-electric version had an NEDC range of up to 505 kilometers.   Wuling Hongguang X concept: This is the concept car under the new Ursa brand...

The US carmaker Tesla Motors announced to slash deposits Chinese customers have to pay for Model3, Model S and Model X to CNY1,000 today yesterday, while these deposits are neither refundable nor transferable. Customers are also required to take the car within 180 days.  Customers were asked to pay a refundable deposit of CNY20,000 - CNY30,000.  This is regarded as Tesla ’s tactics to keep sales momentum in the face of intensifying competition and reductions in the government’s electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.  Tesla also stressed that the long-range and high-performance version of Model 3 with prices over CNY300,000 ， will not be subsidized.

Suzhou Cheersson Precision Metal Forming will supply the multi-media product series Retaining Plate Assy that will be used in a new project between German auto parts maker Continental and BMW. The supply period will run from 2022 to 2029, the Suzhou-based supplier of sheet-metal parts, modules and mechanical components said in a statement. Sales are expected to reach about USD23.1 Million. This will be the first time that Cheersson’s products will be used in BMW vehicles, reflecting the recognition of the company’s technical strength, product quality and supply capabilities, the company said. It will also have a positive impact on the firm’s product expansion in various passenger car markets, it added.

Nio’s new battery asset management company will start operating next month making the Chinese electric vehicle startup’s vision of separate ownership of car and battery a reality. Battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology is keen to invest in the new venture, technology media 36Kr reported today, citing people familiar with the matter. Nio’s battery swap concept has been a long time in the making and it is currently the only new energy vehicle maker in China with battery swap technology. Consumers can buy the battery with the vehicle or they can choose to rent a battery. The new unit will manage Nio’s power battery assets and offer Battery as a Service products, in other words the rental of a range of electric car batteries that can be adapted to fit the particular needs of different car owners and minimize costs. Battery rental can lead to savings of CNY100,000 (USD14,290), according to the Shanghai-based firm’s website. Batteries can also be exchanged immediately, doing away with...

Chinese carmaker Jianghuai Automobile climbed said that Volkswagen will pay even more than expected to become the second foreign auto firm to take control of its China joint venture. Volkswagen China Investment will pay CNY5.2 billion (USD746.1 million) for JAC Volkswagen Automotive's newly issued shares to have 75 percent of the JV's equity, the Anhui province-based firm said in a statement yesterday. That is about CNY700 million (USD100.4 million) more than what the Chinese firm had suggested on June 11. JAC will put in CNY1.3 billion to have the remainder. In June, it had offered CNY839 million to boost the JV's registered capital to about CNY7.4 billion from CNY2 billion. The pair expects to reach a binding agreement by the end of this month. Established in December 2017, JAC Volkswagen became the Wolfsburg-based automaker's third Chinese JV. The two partners poured CNY1 billion into it, with a 50:50 shareholding ratio. Volkswagen has been looking to advance its all...

Didi Chuxing has dismissed a news report that claimed China’s dominant ride-hailing services provider plans to go public in Hong Kong. The Beijing-based company said it has no such plans at present and an initial public offering is not currently its top priority, The Paper reported today. Chinese media outlet Sina reported on July 20 that Didi is in talks with investment banks for a HKD600 billion (USD77.41 billion) floatation in Hong Kong within the year. It cited an informed investor, who also said the listing would be among the city’s largest IPOs in recent years.

Geely Automobile Holdings is delaying its planned merger with Sweden's Volvo Cars because of the Chinese automaker’s plans for a secondary listing in Shanghai, according to a media report. The pair will resume merger talks this fall, The Paper reported today, without disclosing its sources. Geely and Volvo said in February that they were exploring a combination, with a view to issuing shares in Hong Kong and Stockholm. Geely Automobile and Volvo are two independent units of Geely Holding Group which bought the underperforming Gothenburg-based automaker from Ford Motor in 2010. Geely Automobile's board has approved a proposal to sell new shares on the Nasdaq-like Star Market, Shanghai's year-old science and technology board, making up 15 percent of the total outstanding, the Hong Kong-listed firm said on July 17. In the first half of this year, Volvo lost SEK989 million (USD110 million) amid the Covid-19 pandemic after reporting net profit of SEK5.5 billion (USD620.3 million...

Hozon Auto, a new energy vehicle startup that named its marque after the Chinese mythological character Nezha, has launched a C-round financing and plans to go public in Shanghai next year. Hozon Auto aims to list on the Star Market, the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s science and technology innovation board, the report said today, citing an insider at the Shanghai-based carmaker who did not provide further details. Founded in 2014, Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, Hozon Auto’s operator, has completed four financing rounds that raised CNY6.3 billion (USD900 million). Hozon Auto founder Fang Yunzhou worked at Chery Automobile for 16 years and led that company’s NEV research and development efforts. Hozon Auto has two models on the market: the Neta N01, called the Nezha N01 in China, which starts at CNY66,800 (USD9,558.60) after government subsidy, and the Neta U, or Nezha U, priced at CNY139,800. It is now planning to launch a third marque this year. In the first half, Hozon Auto sold 5,...

Volkswagen has boosted its China market share despite its declining shipments in the first half of the year. The German automaker delivered 17 percent fewer vehicles to China at 1.6 million in the first half of the year from a year ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Volkswagen Group China. However, the firm's market share in the Asian country has risen to 20 percent from 18.8 percent due to strong recovery since April, it added.

Chinese ride-hailing service provider Ucar Group, which is listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, received a notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission on July 16 that it has opened an investigation against it based on suspected information disclosure infractions, the company said in a statement yesterday. The inquiry will not restrict the Beijing-based firm's production and operations, does not involve its finances, and will not materially adversely impact its normal operations, per the statement. Ucar informed the board of directors of Beijing-headquartered China Auto Rental, which is Chinese biggest car rental company, and in which Ucar holds a major stake, that it had inked a non-legally binding agreement with automaker holding company BAIC Group on May 31 this year for BAIC to buy up to 450 million CAR shares from Ucar, equal to about 21.26 percent of CAR’s total issued share capital, CAR, announced on June 1. Beijing-based NEEQ has halted trading...

China’s largest electric vehicle battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology completed CNY19.7 billion financing (USD2.8 billion) from nine investors who made its final cut, the firm said in its latest statement. Hillhouse Capital Group invested CNY10 billion, Honda Motor China Investment CNY3.7 billion, and seven companies including UBS and J.P. Morgan Securities the remaining CNY6 billion, Ningde, Fujian province-based CATL announced on July 17. The company’s private placement was priced at CNY161 (USD23) per share, equal to 98.28 percent of the average price of CNY163.81 in the 20 trading days before the investment subscription date, and 124.16 percent of the minimum offering price of CNY129.67 per share. The funding, which is over three times the amount it raised in its 2018 listing, will go to lift production and fuel research and development to hone the company's competitiveness against overseas rivals in an ever-more cut-throat terrain. This CNY161 starting price is not lo...