Author | Chai Xuchen Editor | Zhou Zhiyu Faced with the trend of new energy electrification and the loss of market share under price wars, joint venture car companies have been "Renovating" their famous cars in an attempt to mount a strong counterattack. On May 30, SAIC Volkswagen's Touareg L Pro was launched. The car, which is said to be "the smartest gasoline car", had been preheated for nearly two months prior to its launch. The launch invited representatives from DJI Car and Tencent Travel, as well as the person in charge of iFLYTEK, all of whom attended in person to demonstrate the strength of its smart driving and smart cabin. As a "meritorious model" of SAIC Volkswagen, Touareg has been synonymous with Volkswagen SUVs for the past 15 years and was once the best-selling joint venture SUV. With a monthly sales volume of nearly 20,000 units for a long time, it occupies a 20% share of SAIC Volkswagen. SAIC Volkswagen hopes that the new Touareg will become a disruptor in the current market, from gasoline car intelligence to a stable price system with value-added buyback policy. In the view of Yu Jingmin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of SAIC Volkswagen, new energy vehicles still have range anxiety and gasoline cars have an advantage that needs no explanation, but the biggest difference between them and electric vehicles lies mainly in their appearance and intelligence. After fulfilling the core needs of contemporary consumers, this once "famous car" seems to be reborn. Thus, from DJI's advanced intelligent driving solution to iFLYTEK's smart cabin voice assistant, this 200,000 yuan-level SUV brings together the strengths of various parties, aiming to break through the industry's perception that gasoline cars are less intelligent than electric vehicles. The launch of the new Touareg marks the beginning of SAIC Volkswagen's counterattack. In a post-event interview, Yu Jingmin mentioned several times that due to external cooperation and the accumulation of joint venture partners, SAIC Volkswagen's technology center is actually ahead of many independent brands, but unfortunately the rhythm is too slow. The company will now accelerate its efforts to catch up and even surpass in electric, hybrid or gasoline cars. Yu Jingmin revealed to Wall Street News that the new Touareg is the first gasoline car product in the Pro series, which is focused on intelligence, and that the Passat and Touareg Pro versions will also be introduced within the year. While polishing its technology, it is also preparing for the intelligence of its A-class cars. A counteroffensive war ignited by a gasoline fueled chariot seems to be brewing rapidly. But to be fair, SAIC Volkswagen's intelligence still lags far behind new forces such as Huawei, Xiaopeng, and Ideal. At the same time, in the current context where BBA is crazy about price cuts and the BMW electric car at over 180,000 yuan is setting a new industry low price, the 236,800 yuan Touareg L Pro seems somewhat out of step and the counterattack is difficult to achieve. In response to the challenge, SAIC Volkswagen has given a three-year 20% discount buyback plan. Users no longer need to worry about the fluctuation of vehicle purchase costs and second-hand car prices. SAIC Volkswagen locks in the difference between the purchase and final selling prices of users' vehicles, in a move to crack the price war. This also buys precious time for SAIC Volkswagen to speed up product and intelligence catch-up. This is the backdrop of the efforts to win back the former "king" of the Chinese car market.

Editor | Wang Xiaojuan

After delivering impressive third-quarter performance, everyone expected li auto inc to experience a stock price surge like tesla's, however, the market provided the opposite feedback.

On the evening of October 31st, li auto inc took the lead in submitting the paper and announced the financial data for the third quarter. The strong sales of L6 allowed li auto inc to achieve both quantity and profit, with a total sales volume of 0.1528 million units in the quarter greatly exceeding expectations, driving revenue and net income to historical highs of 42.9 billion and 4.4 billion yuan, respectively.

Even more remarkable is that analysts had originally predicted that with the introduction of L6 as an entry-level product, li auto inc's gross margin would fluctuate accordingly. However, the financial report showed that li auto inc's car gross margin pleasantly increased by 2.2 percentage points sequentially, reaching 20.9%. The industry speculates that this may be because li auto inc has successfully seized the smart driving track, leading to an increased proportion of high-priced Max and Ultra models being purchased, offsetting the impact.

In summary, with L6 and smart driving as the two "heroes", li auto inc successfully navigated the "Mega storm" and reigned supreme among its peers in the third quarter.

Surprisingly, the market does not seem to buy it. The following day, the stock prices of Li Auto Inc in both the US and Hong Kong plummeted, with the intraday decline reaching nearly 14%. In the absence of new products and with competitors launching year-end offensives, Li Auto Inc indeed failed to tell a more appealing story to the capital markets. However, this is the mountain that it must climb to become an industry giant.

The decline in stock prices may mainly result from investors' dissatisfaction with its fourth-quarter expectations.

At the earnings conference, Li Auto Inc provided delivery guidance for the next quarter of 160,000-170,000 units, only slightly higher than the 3rd quarter's increase of 7,000-17,000 units, and the main driver of Li Auto Inc's incremental volume will still be the L6. Sources close to Li Auto Inc revealed to Wall Street that the current monthly production capacity of the vehicle is 260,000 units, and Li Auto Inc is working with suppliers to expand production efforts, aiming to achieve a scale of 300,000 units per month.

The growth expectations are mediocre, and constrained by the increase in mid-range car models, Li Auto Inc's revenue growth prospects are also facing compression. The fourth-quarter revenue guidance of 43.2 billion-45.9 billion yuan represents a year-on-year increase of only 3.5-10%. In addition to new products, autonomous driving development, and increased investment in supercharging stations deployment, all will weaken Li Auto Inc's profit capabilities in the fourth quarter.

Facing a test of growth potential, Li Auto Inc did not choose to "please" the market during the conference call, revealing information about pure electric vehicle models, only to be met with harsh treatment from investors.

To reassure everyone, Director Li Xiang stated that despite intensifying competition in the extended-range market, the L series extended-range models will still be in the prime of their life in the next year or two. "Without the launch of a pure electric SUV, our market share in the 200,000 new energy market has been increasing every quarter, reaching 17.3% in Q3. The company will continue to explore the potential of the L series."

Li Xiang has set a more ambitious KPI, aiming to capture 25% of the market next.

However, this will not be easy, as Li Auto Inc's ambitious goals will have to contend with the unpredictable market dynamics.

Insiders at Li Auto Inc revealed that currently, the market share above 0.3 million yuan is declining, and the growth of the 0.2 million-0.3 million yuan track is also below expectations. This means that in order to smoothly achieve a 25% market share, new growth drivers must join.

At the earnings conference, Li Xiang revealed a 'killer move.' He firmly believes that in the next 3-5 years, AI will become the biggest variable in the auto industry. 'AI-based intelligent driving and cabin will bring consumers a completely different experience, marking the true beginning of a qualitative change.'

Therefore, Li Auto Inc is determined to become an AI technology company by heavily investing in both hardware and software, while also preparing for the launch of pure electric products. They aim to continue solidifying their position in the high-end market.

Li Auto Inc's CEO, Ma Donghui, revealed that in December this year, they will push the end-to-end intelligent driving system to all AD MAX users, supporting a 'one-click parking to parking' intelligent driving experience. They have already started the pre-research for L4 level internally.

Meanwhile, Li Auto Inc is intensively increasing its investment in infrastructure for supplementary energy, which will be a crucial step for the success of the pure electric lineup.

Senior Vice President Zou Liangjun stated, 'We plan to establish the largest scale of factory charging network in the industry and take an absolute lead.' The specific plan includes deploying 2,000 fast-charging stations upon the launch of Li Auto Inc's pure electric products, increasing to 5,000 by 2025, with a focus on covering 90% of the national high-speed network.

Although emphasizing the importance of confidentiality, Li Xiang vaguely revealed to the outside world that the company has tremendous potential in the pure electric field. He bluntly stated that in the current market above 0.3 million yuan, there are no pure electric models comparable to the L series.

This means that once the conditions such as supplementary energy infrastructure and intelligent R&D are in place, Li Auto Inc could quickly replicate the success of the L series on the pure electric M series and launch another round of market share offensive. 'We will strive to make the pure electric SUV become the leader in the high-end pure electric market,' said Li Xiang.

From zero to the one millionth delivery, li auto inc has taken a preliminary foothold in the new energy fund sector, but this is not its only ambition. Only by becoming one of the few giants in the industry, can it hope to survive until the end. li auto inc is trying to realize this wish with a story of technology AI.

The grand blueprint has been largely drawn, and the expectations have also been fully met. However, in order to truly gain market recognition, li auto inc must fulfill its promises one by one, steadily implementing the 'dual-wheel drive' global strategy.

Perhaps next year in the new energy fund market, there will be more drama unfolding. The most exciting year in the autos industry is also about to come.