Weilai’s 2022 performance was released, and the annual revenue reached a new high, with a year-on-year increase of 36.3%.
On March 1st, Weilai released the fourth quarter and annual financial report of 2022. Weilai achieved a historical breakthrough in revenue and delivery. The data shows that Weilai’s revenue reached a record high in 2022, reaching 49.27 billion yuan, up 36.3% year-on-year, and 122,486 units were delivered throughout the year, up 34% year-on-year, continuing to lead the high-end pure electricity market.
In 2022, Weilai’s R&D investment reached 10.84 billion yuan, effectively promoting the improvement of the self-research system and promoting the delivery of the second-generation technology platform models. According to the financial report, Weilai’s delivery guidance in the first quarter of 2023 was 31,000-33,000 units; The revenue guidance for the first quarter is 10.62 billion yuan-11.54 billion yuan.
It can be seen from the financial report data that Weilai will soon enter the rebound stage after bottoming out.
At this financial report meeting, Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of Weilai, said: "In 2022, around Weilai’s long-term competitiveness, we resolutely invested in core technology and product research and development, charging and replacing electricity and sales service network layout, and global market development, and made important progress, laying a solid foundation for the company’s long-term development."
The strong cycle of products is coming, and all intelligent hardware comes standard.
In 2022, three models based on Weilai’s second-generation technology platform were delivered to users, namely, the smart electric flagship sedan ET7, the smart electric medium and large SUV ES7, and the medium-sized smart electric coupe ET5. At present, three models have become the main force of delivery, which not only realizes the smooth market switching of the first and second generation platform models, but also avoids the situation that the two generations of products are sold at the same time.
On the day of the financial report, Wei Lai disclosed the latest delivery data. In February 2023, Weilai delivered a total of 12,157 new cars, up 98.3% year-on-year and 42.9% quarter-on-quarter, and continued to lead the high-end market.
Weilai’s second-generation technology platform model not only presents higher quality, but also shows powerful intelligent technology characteristics. Among them, ET5 combines the design concept of Weilai Super Run Gene and "Design for AD", and Aquila extrasensory system consists of 33 high-performance sensing hardware including lidar. In the design concept of "Design for AD", the watchtower layout containing lidar has become a model for the industry to imitate.
The intelligent hardware carried by ET5 is standard on all cars of Weilai.
Another model of the second-generation technology platform, ET7, has won many overseas industry awards, including German "Golden Steering Wheel" Award, Danish Auto Awards 2022 "Leading Technology of the Year" Award, Swedish Auto Motor & Sport’s "Car of the Year" and "Best Luxury Car" Award, and was named as the "Best Electric Vehicle of 2023" held by the Dutch Business Owners Association.
In addition, ET7 also received a five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP (European New Car Safety Evaluation Association), making it another model in Weilai that received a five-star safety rating in Europe after ES8.
By the first half of 2023, Weilai will enter the stage of overall rhythm adjustment. After the launch of ES6, it will play a set of product combination boxing with ET5. In addition to the combination of ES6 and ET5, the product combination of ET7, ES7 and ES8, as well as the combination of EC6 and EC7 pursued by design taste, will also be formed, which will boost the annual sales volume.
As Weilai products enter a strong cycle, the company has more confidence in market demand. After all the products are switched to the second generation technology platform, it can cover 80% of the main sales models of BBA, and the product strength has great advantages.
The self-research system is perfect and the scientific and technological innovation industry is leading.
Weilai’s second-generation technology platform models all have excellent vehicle quality and strong intelligence characteristics, behind which is Weilai’s investment support for independent research and development.
In 2022, Weilai expanded its R&D deployment around the world, and built domestic and foreign R&D entities such as Berlin Innovation Center in Germany, Singapore Artificial Intelligence and Autopilot R&D Center, Budapest Energy R&D Center in Hungary, Shenzhen R&D Center and Hangzhou R&D Center, and continued to carry out research and development in various fields of smart electric vehicles supporting the global market.
In the process of expanding the R&D layout, Weilai’s self-developed system has gradually taken shape, and many scientific and technological innovations have been achieved and effectively applied, including the first full-stack self-developed intelligent chassis domain controller (ICC) in China. In the field of intelligent technology, Weilai continuously upgraded the three intelligent systems of Aspen, Alder and Banyan in 2022, launched the NOP+ enhanced navigation-assisted Beta and started the user trial. In the past week, the user experience mileage of Weilai NOP+ has exceeded 1.75 million kilometers, and it ranks first in various third-party evaluations, greatly enhancing the competitiveness of products.
In the first half of 2023, Weilai will gradually realize high-speed pilot power exchange.
At the same time, Weilai strengthens the layout of the energy replenishment system. As of March 1st, Weilai has built a total of 1,320 power exchange stations and 2,369 charging stations in China, and Weilai has become the "double champion" of power exchange and charging in China automobile industry.
In 2023, Weilai energy supply system will be further improved. A few days ago, Weilai announced a new plan to change power stations in 2023, from the original 400 to 1,000, of which 400 are deployed in high-speed service areas or high-speed exits, and 600 are urban power stations, focusing on third-and fourth-tier cities and counties that have a certain user base but have not changed power stations.
Weilai third-generation power station and 500kW ultra-fast charging will also be deployed in an orderly manner in 2023. Among them, Weilai third generation power station has 21 battery positions, which can realize three-station collaborative power exchange, shorten the power exchange time by 20%, and improve the service capacity by 30% compared with the second generation power station. The maximum current of 500kW ultra-fast pile filling can reach 660A and the maximum power can reach 500kW. It takes only 20 minutes to fill the pile from 10% to 80% for 400V models and 12 minutes for 800V models.
Relying on the convenient power-on experience brought by the charging system for users, combined with the adjustment of vehicle release and delivery rhythm, Weilai will realize product connection quickly and accurately in 2023, driving the overall sales volume to increase. In addition, through the construction of vertical integration ability, Weilai can effectively reduce the total cost on the basis of ensuring the quality of the whole vehicle.
Based on the enhancement of product competitiveness and the recent rapid decline in the cost of lithium carbonate, Weilai’s overall gross profit margin is expected to increase and strive to achieve the goal of climbing the gross profit margin to 18%-20% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
For the overall development in 2023, Li Bin proposed: "With the release and delivery of all products of the second generation technology platform, we will go all out to provide users with an experience that exceeds expectations. At the same time, we will be committed to the overall improvement of execution efficiency and participate in the long-term competition in the global electric vehicle market with an agile and efficient working pace. "