On Monday, U. S. stock Tesla, Inc. closed down 8.61%, the biggest one-day drop in nearly four months. Two days ago, Tesla, Inc. released delivery figures for the third quarter of 2022, with delivery of 343000 vehicles, below Wall Street expectations of about 358000.

In China, however, it is a different scene: recently, the new forces of car building especially like to use the word "bend" to refer to some of the problems encountered, especially NIO Inc. and XPeng Inc.. Li Xiang did not say, but from the actual situation, Li Auto Inc. is also in what they call "bend."

In the past, "bend" was a preferred term for Internet companies, which generally meant "corner overtaking".

In fact, "overtaking at corners" is a bad driving habit and is not worth advocating, because it is prone to accidents, and normal traffic management requires you to slow down at corners. From this point of view, the "bend" mentioned by the new cars is closer to reality.

In 2020, with NIO Inc. 's successful financing in Hefei as the starting point, the force of new cars has just crossed the line of life and death. In 2021, the annual sales of NIO Inc., XPeng Inc. and Li Auto Inc., the representatives of the new car-building forces, almost reached the threshold of 100000 vehicles. It seems that behind the prosperity, why did they collectively enter the bend in 2022?

Both ends of the bend:No take-off sales, user complaints

Porsche is the benchmark of the fuel era, and the XPeng Inc. G9 is the benchmark of this era, and it is also the last generation before smart cars move towards driverless cars.

In 2023, it will sell more than 10,000 vehicles a month, surpassing Audi Q5.

G9 is the best SUV under 500000.

On the evening of Sept. 21, he Xiaopeng, chairman of XPeng Inc., made some bold words at the launch of the fourth model, XPeng Inc. G9, but did not win applause from the whole house. On the contrary, in addition to the cold blessing, he heard more complaints-"the configuration is too complex to understand" and "since there is no smart configuration for the basic model".

The next morning, in an interview with the media, he was asked the most questions, which also had something to do with the doubts of these users. At that time, he patted his chest and said, "XPeng Inc. can optimize SKU in two days."

After staying up for two nights in a row, XPeng Inc. did complete the optimization of SKU, which looks not so complicated and difficult for users to understand. At the same time, it also relied on "no price increase" to quell some skeptical voices.

It was a rare scene in Chinese car history when a car company changed the SKU and added the configuration of the vehicle just two days after the launch of its flagship model. This scene happened to the new power of car-building, which is both lucky and unfortunate.

Fortunately, XPeng Inc. was able to recognize the problem immediately, and then quickly corrected it, and won back the favor of some users. unfortunately, as an eight-year-old new force in car building, in the so-called flagship model, still make the same mistake.

Feats are often a collection of luck and lessons.

XPeng Inc. is not the only one. Before XPeng Inc., NIO Inc. and Li Auto Inc. had encountered various problems more than once. For example, NIO Inc. was questioned about "sales lagging behind", "new product weakness" and "big loss"; and Li Auto Inc., from the listing of the ideal L9 to the suspension of production of the ideal ONE, and then to the release of the ideal L8, appeared in a short period of three months, which made many old car owners feel dissatisfied and "thought they had been cut leeks".

These voices are even more acute at a time when the sales of the new car-building forces of the three heads are not growing step by step with the market.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to August 2022, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China completed 3.97 million and 3.86 million respectively, an increase of 1.2 times and 1.1 times respectively compared with the same period last year.

XPeng Inc. delivered 90085 vehicles in the first eight months of 2022, a year-on-year increase of 95.87 per cent. Among them, XPeng Inc. 's sales declined month-on-month in July and August this year. "it is almost impossible to meet the annual sales target of 250000 vehicles." Said an employee of XPeng Inc..

From January to August of 2022, Li Auto Inc. delivered a total of 75396 new cars, an increase of 66.89 percent over the 45176 in the same period last year. The worst performer was NIO Inc., who delivered 71600 new cars in the first eight months of 2022, an increase of only 28.3 percent over the same period last year.

By comparison, BYD's sales grew by 164.03% over the same period. The combined delivery volume of the three is not as good as that of Tesla, Inc. 's Model Y model, which grew by 248.5 per cent in the first eight months of this year.

Sales volume is only one of the most intuitive manifestations. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National passenger car Market Information Association, believes that the product layout of the new forces of car building is still in the early stage and is not a particularly complete genealogical layout. In the process of adjustment, they will take some detours. "they need to replan and sort out the product system." Compared with traditional car companies, the new power of car building does not have enough buffer to tide over these pains.

Objectively speaking, Cui Dongshu believes that at present, the industrial chain of new energy vehicles is still not perfect, and because the new car-building power is still relatively small, the bargaining power of the industrial chain and the upstream protection power are relatively weak, so it will also lead to the new car-building forces in a relatively passive situation.

On the other hand, a person who once worked in a number of car companies and worked in the middle of the new car-building forces said bluntly that today's "bend" is more like an excuse for the new car-building forces to make their own rhythm adjustment.

In an interview with Sina Science and Technology, he Xiaopeng said bluntly that XPeng Inc. is still in the bend, and the first generation of the new power is in the curve. "products and technologies will enter the next generation, but the needs of customers are changing, so how to control the speed in the corners and bend too fast is an immediate challenge."

Increasing sales is still the top priority.

Sales volume is not only a sign of entering the corner, but also a symbol of driving out of the corner.

Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO Inc., said that NIO Inc. failed to catch up with dividends in the past year when the terminal market was growing rapidly. In 2022, NIO Inc. delivered three new cars and laid out popular brands, just as NIO Inc. took the lead in entering the curve on the race track, and the product replacement was the first big bend. The speed will be adjusted in the bend, and the speed will go up again after getting out of the corner, and now Weilai is driving out of the corner.

Correspondingly, NIO Inc. 's delivery volume reached 10677 in August 2022, the second best monthly delivery in history, returning to the top three of the new car-building forces on the list.

NIO Inc. delivered less than half of his annual target of 150000 vehicles in the first eight months. "in the last 4 months, NIO Inc. will make an all-out sprint and there will be a big breakthrough in sales." A NIO Inc. employee said. After ET7, NIO Inc. 's other two new models, the ES7 and ET5, entered large-scale delivery in the fourth quarter of this year. However, there are still great challenges for NIO Inc. to achieve his goal.

Sales are also the primary target of the other two new car-building powers. In particular, XPeng Inc., XPeng Inc. employees interviewed above talked about XPeng Inc. 's hesitation on the G9. "the P5, which is positioned as a volume model, does not meet expectations, and if the G9 is not available, then XPeng Inc. will easily enter a stage where the product is not available, so there is a lot of pressure on pricing." He said.

Even, XPeng Inc. in order to win the advantage over other competitors on the G9, thus carried on the cost compression on the battery. Ningde era is no longer XPeng Inc. 's first choice, but turned to second-line power battery manufacturers such as China Chuangchuang Xinhang, compressing the highest battery life to 702km.

"the price of this car still needs to be raised, and at the same time, it has to take more volume." The XPeng Inc. employee said. He Xiaopeng also has a high goal for the G9, "selling more than 10,000 vehicles a month in 2023, surpassing Audi Q5." This is the standard he proposed at the launch ceremony of the G9.

Li Auto Inc. advanced the release time of the ideal L8 by more than a month-from the "delivery in November" announced on September 1 to the listing on September 30, only more than a week after the listing of the XPeng Inc. G9. There is a lot of open momentum to grab potential users.

In June 2020, he Xiaopeng, Li Bin and Li Xiang met, and then he Xiaopeng posted a photo of the three in his moments, with the caption "three bitterness, thinking hard to change."

From then on to early 2021, it was a sweet period for the three new forces of head car building, whether it was word-of-mouth or in the capital market.

Now in the bend, finally entered a "thinking of change" cycle. Whether it is Li Xiang, who is controversial online, he Xiaopeng, who really supports XPeng Inc., or Li Bin, who is opening up the European market with senior executives, they all have their own feelings.