The performance in the third quarter has reached a new high, and LI is about to reach its revenue target of 100 billion yuan.

LI (02015.HK/LI.US) achieved a new high in the third quarter of this year. Both quarterly delivery volume and financial data were the best in history, and US stocks rose more than 7% before the market.

The financial report shows that in the third quarter of this year, LI’s revenue reached 34.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 271.2% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 20.2%; The net profit was 2.81 billion yuan, exceeding the market expectation of 2.375 billion yuan, up 21.8% from the previous month, compared with a net loss of 1.65 billion yuan in the same period last year.

It is worth noting that this is the fourth consecutive quarter that LI has made a profit. For the new energy industry, although the market penetration rate has increased rapidly in recent years, many new energy vehicle companies have not yet achieved profitability. In particular, the new forces of building cars supported by capital are mostly in the stage of burning money. LI has achieved sustained growth in net profit, surpassing Tesla and BYD in gross profit margin.

Sustained profit

Automobile sales revenue is the main source of revenue. In the third quarter, automobile sales revenue was 33.62 billion yuan, up 271.6% year-on-year and 20.2% quarter-on-quarter. This is mainly due to the substantial increase in car delivery. LI delivered 105,100 new cars in the third quarter, up 296.3% year-on-year.

Since the beginning of this year, LI has developed rapidly and delivered more than 40,000 vehicles in October. Compared with other new energy vehicle companies, LI’s bicycle efficiency is higher, which reflects the ability to create explosions. At present, LI owns three L-series products, with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 vehicles. Although other new forces have a variety of products, it is difficult for bicycle sales to exceed 10,000. On the one hand, LI grasped the product market positioning accurately, and fully met the needs of consumers. On the other hand, compared with traditional luxury car companies with high brand premium, LI has a cost-effective advantage.

At present, the phenomenon of involution in the automobile market is serious, and the listing of a new product can easily impact the competition. With the intensification of competition, the iteration cycle of automobile products is getting shorter and shorter. Take the new M7 as an example. After the car went on the market, the sales of some products in this market segment declined. Some car companies will speed up the introduction of replacement products, and even reduce prices and increase distribution to compete for market share.

Judging from the market performance, the sales of the new M7 in Wenjie did not affect LI, and the sales volume in LI reached a new high in the third quarter. Li Xiang, CEO of LI, said: "In the face of Huawei, the management of LI has a unified understanding: 80% is learning, 20% is showing respect, and there is no complaint. As a start-up, we are still very admired and excited to meet such an example that we can learn from when we enter the scale of 100 billion income. This is our true mentality. "

The rapid development of new energy has reshuffled the market and the competition pattern has been reshaped. BYD’s momentum is still fierce after winning the automobile sales crown in 2022, which is mainly due to the strategy of the same price of oil and electricity to seize the market share of 250,000 yuan for fuel vehicles. LI’s products cost more than 300,000 yuan, and it is positioned as a high-end model. In this field, the market share of traditional luxury cars has been shaken. In the SUV market segment of more than 300,000 yuan, LI sold 231,000 vehicles in the first three quarters.

In the new energy vehicle market with a price of more than 200,000 yuan, the three head patterns of "Tebili" new energy have been formed, and the sales of these three head car companies have exceeded the sum of other brands. Among China brands, LI is only behind BYD, and LI’s share in Q3 reached 15.4%, up nearly 5 percentage points from the first quarter.

It is worth noting that this year, the auto market was caught in a price war, and LI resisted the market pressure and did not follow the tide of large-scale price reduction. At the same time, the increase in sales of high-priced models also boosted the growth of profitability. The main sales force in the third quarter of last year was Li ONE, and the price range was around 350,000 yuan. The ideal L9 began to increase rapidly in September. In the third quarter of this year, the main sales force was the ideal L series, and the price went up to the range of 460,000 yuan; Under the dual effects of delivery volume and product price, the total revenue has increased significantly. MEGA, the ideal new product listed at the end of the year, will cost more than 500,000 yuan.

According to the financial report data, in the third quarter of this year, LI’s gross profit was 7.64 billion yuan, up 546.7% year-on-year and 22.6% quarter-on-quarter. In terms of gross profit margin, in the third quarter of this year, LI’s gross profit margin reached 22.0%, with both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter data rising.

In terms of cash reserves, LI’s free cash flow in the third quarter of this year was 13.22 billion yuan, up 37.5% from the previous month. By the end of the third quarter, cash reserves reached 88.52 billion yuan.

The goal of revenue of 100 billion is about to be achieved.

LI is expected to deliver 125,000 to 128,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, up 169.9% to 176.3% year-on-year, and its total revenue will be 38.46 billion to 39.38 billion yuan, up 117.9% to 123.1% year-on-year. In the first three quarters of this year, LI’s accumulated revenue has reached 82.12 billion yuan, which means that the goal of 100 billion revenue will be achieved by the end of this year. It has also realized the transformation from an entrepreneurial enterprise to a large-scale automobile enterprise.

"The Changzhou manufacturing base in LI has completed the capacity upgrade, which is ready for further production climbing in the fourth quarter. In terms of supply chain management, it is ideal to strengthen efficient collaboration with suppliers by optimizing management strategies and upgrading management processes, and constantly break the bottleneck of parts supply. " Li Xiang said that at present, there are two production bases in Beijing and Changzhou, three production lines in Changzhou and one production line in Beijing. The current ideal production capacity can meet the sales and sales targets in the next two years. "

According to the strategic plan, LI adopts the dual-route layout of extended-range electric and pure electric, and the introduction of pure electric products will further promote the sales growth. Li Xiang said that the first 5C pure electric super flagship model Ideal MEGA will be officially released in December this year and will be delivered in February next year. "We believe that the ideal MEGA with 800V high-voltage platform and 5C charging rate will open a new chapter for LI in the pure electric market, and jointly promote the process of replacing traditional fuel vehicles on a large scale with extended range technology. At the same time, in line with the promotion of the pure electricity strategy, we are accelerating the construction of a super charging network to provide users with a more convenient and reliable charging experience. " LI plans to build more than 300 super charging stations by the end of this year, and increase the number to 3,000 in 2025 to support the demand of users of pure electric vehicles.

In addition, in addition to the first pure electric MEGA model to be launched in the fourth quarter, three pure electric models and one extended-range model are planned to be launched next year, which will make Ideal one of the most abundant new energy vehicle manufacturers.

At present, LI is increasing its R&D investment in the field of new technologies. In the third quarter of 2023, the ideal R&D expenditure reached 2.82 billion yuan, up 56.1% year-on-year and 16.1% quarter-on-quarter. The continuous increase of R&D expenses and healthy management ability will support LI to continuously increase R&D investment in four major technology platforms, including high-voltage pure electricity, extended-range electric, intelligent driving and smart space, as well as system R&D and technology development of cutting-edge projects.

"In the future, smart driving will be the goal of our core strategy. Our autopilot is about 900 people. It is planned that the number of R&D personnel for intelligent driving will exceed 2,000 next year and 2,500 in 2025. " Li Xiang said that in the future, it will increase investment in research and development including vehicle testing, computing power and personnel, and there will be sufficient cash reserves and cash flow to support it.

In the field of intelligence, in September this year, Ideal L series pushed OTA version 4.6 system to users, adding 25 functions and optimizing 10 experiences around the intelligent cockpit experience, creating more convenient and closer voice interaction function and APP interconnection experience for home users. Previously, based on a large model, LI built an urban NOA scheme that did not rely on high-precision maps. Compared with the small model algorithm, which is limited by the collection speed, update frequency and coverage of high-precision maps, the ideal city NOA has the ability to spread quickly throughout the country. At the same time, LI uses BEV big model to connect high-speed cities. After switching to big model algorithm architecture, the high-speed NOA functions of ideal AD Max and AD Pro platforms will be significantly optimized. According to the plan, LI will push the official version of AD Max 3.0 software to users this year, providing NOA capability of the whole scene, and push the software of AD Pro 3.0 to users in the first half of next year, which will greatly improve the driving assistance capability. "We are confident that we will become the first echelon of smart driving in the first half of next year." Li Xiang said.

Cancel the restrictions on the movement of used cars nationwide, interpreted by the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce-accelerating the release of consumption potential in the used

  Core reading

  Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other 16 departments, issued the "Several Measures on Invigorating Automobile Circulation and Expanding Automobile Consumption", proposing "supporting the large-scale development of used car circulation, and strictly implementing the policy of completely canceling the restrictions on the movement of used cars in all regions". In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce said in an interview with this reporter that after the removal restriction policy is completely abolished, used cars will further realize free circulation throughout the country, and the supply of automobile products in various places will be more abundant, which will enhance the adaptability between supply and demand and better meet the demand for automobile consumption.

  Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other 16 departments, issued the "Several Measures on Invigorating Automobile Circulation and Expanding Automobile Consumption" (hereinafter referred to as "Several Measures"), proposing "supporting the large-scale development of used car circulation, and strictly implementing the policy of completely canceling the restrictions on the movement of used cars in various regions". What is the background for the "Several Measures" to cancel the policy of restricting the movement of used cars? What new measures are there to accelerate the active second-hand car market? The reporter interviewed the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce.

  Second-hand cars will further realize free circulation throughout the country.

  Restricting the removal of used cars has always been a prominent problem that restricts the construction of a unified national automobile market. In the past few years, the State Council has deployed many times, and relevant departments and localities have conscientiously implemented it, and continued to promote the cancellation of the policy of restricting the movement of used cars, and achieved positive results.

  According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, some enterprises and the masses have reported that since the implementation of the national sixth emission standard for new cars nationwide, a few places have "added policy" to used cars, requiring foreign countries to transfer used cars to meet the national sixth emission standard, and vehicles with national fifth emission standards are not allowed to move in. At the same time, there are still some places that violate the existing regulations of the state and restrict the movement of used cars that meet the emission standards of in-use cars, which hinders the free circulation of used cars across regions, restricts the operation of enterprises and inhibits the automobile consumption demand of the masses, which has been strongly reflected by all parties.

  In order to solve these problems, in May, the State Council issued a "package of policies and measures to stabilize the economy", which clearly required that the policy of restricting the movement of used cars be completely abolished. The "Several Measures" have further refined and implemented this to ensure that this measure will be effective as soon as possible. The first is to clarify the scope requirements. That is to say, it is required to implement this policy nationwide, including key areas for air pollution prevention and control, and promote the free circulation of used cars that meet the national five emission standards. The second is to clarify the time requirements. In a few areas, the policy of lifting the restriction on relocation has made slow progress. In order to ensure that this measure will be effective as soon as possible, it is further clarified that this measure will be fully implemented from August 1 this year.

  According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, according to the analysis of relevant institutions, at present, the flow of used cars in China generally presents a regional feature from first-and second-tier cities to third-and fourth-tier cities. After the removal restriction policy is completely abolished, used cars will further realize the free circulation throughout the country, promote the rich supply of automobile products in various places, enhance the adaptability between supply and demand, better meet the demand for automobile consumption, satisfy people’s yearning for a better life, and achieve good economic and social benefits.

  The person in charge said that the Ministry of Commerce will closely follow the progress of the implementation of local policies with relevant departments, do a good job of supervision and inspection, and ensure that the policies are fully implemented and effective as soon as possible.

  Thoroughly get through the difficulties in the circulation of used cars.

  Used cars are an important link in the whole life cycle of automobiles. Invigorating the circulation of used cars can revitalize the stock of cars and increase the consumption of new cars, which plays a very important role in promoting the consumption of cars.

  China’s car ownership has exceeded 300 million, ranking first in the world. After the car ownership reaches a certain level, the second-hand car market begins to increase in volume, which is the universal law of automobile consumption in the world. In 2021, China’s second-hand car trading volume reached 17.59 million, less than 6% of the car ownership, far below the proportion of the international mature car market. The problems of cross-regional restrictions on the movement of second-hand cars, unclear commodity attributes, and limited distribution business have seriously hindered the development of the second-hand car market.

  According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, on the basis of systematic combing and extensive investigation, the Ministry of Commerce has put forward a series of measures to comprehensively develop the circulation of used cars, hoping to completely break through the difficulties in the circulation of used cars, so that used cars can gradually standardize transactions, circulate freely and consume with confidence like new cars. These measures cover almost all aspects and fields of second-hand car circulation, from the registration of market entities to filing, to the accounting treatment and invoice issuance of second-hand cars, and then to the cross-regional circulation and transfer registration of vehicles. In addition to the total cancellation of the relocation restriction policy, the "Several Measures" also includes the following aspects — —

  Support the development of distribution business and promote scale development. Enterprise distribution mode is the main circulation channel of the mature international used car market, accounting for about 70%. China’s used car market is dominated by the "broker+individual" model, and the problem of "small and weak" in the industry is prominent. To this end, the "Several Measures" require the abolition of unreasonable restrictions on the development of second-hand car distribution, and it is clear that enterprises with registered residences and business premises outside the second-hand car trading market can carry out second-hand car sales business. At the same time, because natural persons can’t issue sales invoices to the purchasing enterprises as sellers when selling used cars, in order to facilitate the people to sell cars and business operations, used car enterprises are allowed to issue invoices as buyers, that is, "reverse invoicing", and handle the transfer registration procedures accordingly.

  Optimize transaction registration management and promote efficient circulation. The "Several Measures" clarify that the second-hand cars distributed by enterprises should be accounted for as "inventory goods" like new cars, and a separate endorsement should be made when the vehicles are transferred and registered, and a temporary number plate should be issued, which greatly optimizes the transaction registration process; For cities where automobile purchases are restricted, it is clear that the second-hand cars purchased by automobile sales enterprises and used for sales do not occupy the number plate index, further reducing the operating costs of enterprises and facilitating the circulation of second-hand car transactions.

  Promote the professional, large-scale and standardized development of used car circulation

  The "Several Measures" proposes to restrict natural persons from selling three or more used cars that have been held for less than one year in a natural year. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce said that this measure is more specific, but it plays an important role in promoting the professional, large-scale and standardized development of used car circulation.

  This policy meets the needs of the development of used car circulation and the demands of the industry. According to the current regulations, individuals do not have to pay value-added tax when selling used cars, and they are tax-free. However, distribution enterprises should levy value-added tax according to a certain proportion of sales when selling used cars. For this reason, some second-hand car distribution enterprises carry out second-hand car distribution business in the name of brokers, and trade the vehicles under the name of individuals, resulting in the phenomenon of individual "backtracking". At present, the circulation of second-hand cars in China is dominated by "brokers+individuals", which leads to the "small and weak" industry, and has a negative impact on society, resulting in unfair competition and many transaction disputes, which has dampened consumer confidence and become a drawback of the industry. The industry calls for effective policies to effectively regulate this phenomenon.

  This measure also draws lessons from the experience of the mature international automobile market. The Ministry of Commerce has fully investigated the management of second-hand car circulation in developed countries. The circulation of second-hand car transactions in developed countries is very common and there are many mature experiences and practices. For example, if an individual sells a certain number of used cars within a certain period of time, he is recognized as a used car dealer. At this time, he can no longer trade in his own name, and must pay taxes according to law. He must express his car condition information to the next distribution enterprise and consumers, and he must also bear the responsibility of quality assurance. The Ministry of Commerce also draws lessons from these international advanced practices.

  This measure will not affect the normal car sales behavior of the majority of car owners. The starting point of this measure is to eliminate the phenomenon of individual "back-selling" and will not affect individual car sales. The number of cars in China has exceeded 300 million, and the number of individual owners is 215 million. Among the 215 million car owners, there are about 2 million car owners who own more than three or more cars. The Ministry of Commerce has conducted in-depth research. Among these 2 million car owners, it is rare to sell more than three cars that have been held for less than one year in one year. Therefore, this measure will not affect the normal car sales behavior of individuals. At the same time, this measure also reserved a half-year transition period, which also reserved sufficient time for reasonably guiding market expectations and ensuring a smooth transition of policies.

  People’s Daily (August 18, 2022, 07 edition)