1. The "Old Man Le" sales champion Reading Automobile filed for bankruptcy.
Another new energy car company is going bankrupt. Redding Automobile Group Co., Ltd. added a bankruptcy review case. Both the applicant and the respondent were Redding Automobile, and the handling court was Changle County People’s Court, Weifang City, Shandong Province. According to public information, since 2022, Reading Automobile has been frequently caught in negative storms, with a total of 190 legal proceedings involving a total amount of 206 million yuan. Founded in 2008, Reading Automobile is mainly engaged in R&D and manufacturing of electric vehicles and key components. Its products are mainly low-speed three-wheel/four-wheel electric vehicles, namely "Laotoule". From 2016 to 2018, it won the sales champion of "Old Man Le" for three consecutive years.
In January 2019, Reading Automobile spent 1.45 billion yuan to acquire Sichuan Automobile Mustang, and obtained the production qualification of new energy vehicles, fuel passenger cars and buses. At present, it has three products: Redding Mango, Redding Mango Pro and Redding Mango Max, focusing on the pure electric mini-car market, with the price ranging from 30,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan. What attracted more attention was a "real name tip-off" letter from its founder Li Guoxin on January 14th, 2023. Li Guoxin pointed out that Redding was forced to falsely report its industrial output value and sales output value of 4.683 billion yuan. After that, Li Guoxin also continued to speak on social media platforms, but in the end there was no following. What followed was that the dealer broke the news that the payment was in arrears, and the latest update of the official WeChat official account of "Reading Auto" stayed on March 8.
2. China Consumers Association exposed four major problems of automobile consumption
China Consumers Association released the complaints of domestic consumers in the first quarter of this year, and accepted a total of 304,100 consumer complaints in the first quarter, up 6.59% year-on-year. Complaints about automobiles are mainly concentrated in four aspects: quality, sales, after-sales and supporting services, and used cars. In terms of automobile quality, complaints related to traditional fuel vehicles are mainly related to vehicle safety, component life and driving experience. The problems of new energy vehicles mainly include battery failure, unilateral "power lock" without the consent of consumers, intelligent auxiliary system failure, brake failure and so on.
In terms of automobile sales, some enterprises exaggerate or conceal information such as automobile performance, function, price and preferential treatment in advertisements and promotional materials to mislead consumers. There are also some car operators who unilaterally formulate the "overlord clause", or unilaterally violate the rights and interests of consumers after concluding a contract. In automobile after-sales and supporting services, the problem of imperfect related supporting services has become increasingly prominent, especially the difficulty in installing charging piles has become one of the important factors that hinder the promotion of new energy vehicles.
In terms of used cars, some unscrupulous operators use the information asymmetry between buyers and sellers in the used car market to deliberately conceal the real situation of vehicles, resulting in economic losses and safety risks for consumers. At the same time, due to the lack of transparency in the used car market, consumers can’t get accurate price information, and they are easily deceived or misled by unscrupulous merchants, such as fictional car sources, low-price lure customers, arbitrary charges under various pretexts, and fraudulent deposits.
3. In the first quarter of the world, the loading capacity of power batteries was 133GWh.
According to the latest statistics of SNE Research, a Korean market research organization, the total number of electric vehicle batteries in the first quarter of this year was 133GWh, up 38.6% year-on-year. From the ranking point of view, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited continues to lead, with a global loading capacity of 46.6GWh, up 35.9% year-on-year, accounting for 35% of the global market share; BYD ranked second, achieving a year-on-year increase of 115.5%, with a loading capacity of 21.5GWh, accounting for 16.2% of the global market; Zhongchuang Singapore Airlines, Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Xinwangda also continue to rank in the top ten. The total market share of the three battery companies in South Korea dropped from 26% to 24.7%, and LG New Energy, SK Innovation and Samsung SDI ranked third, fifth and sixth respectively. The only battery manufacturer in Japan that entered the top ten is Panasonic, ranking fourth with a loading capacity of 11.9GWh.
It is worth mentioning that while maintaining the leading position in the world, China battery enterprises are also accelerating the research and development and updating of battery technology to consolidate their long-term advantages. For example, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited released a condensed battery featuring high performance and high safety at the Shanghai Auto Show; Honeycomb Energy Dragon Scale Battery made its debut, with a cruising range of up to 1,000 kilometers. Honeycomb Energy’s first short knife flying stack battery was also successfully mass-produced. Yiwei Lithium Energy also said that 4695 large cylindrical batteries will be delivered in mass production in the third quarter of this year.
4. Haval Xiaolong and Xiaolong MAX are listed in the middle of this month.
We learned from Harvard officials that Haval Xiaolong and Xiaolong MAX will be officially listed in mid-May. Among them, Haval Xiaolong locates the compact SUV and Xiaolong MAX locates the medium-sized SUV, which is the first vehicle equipped with the new hybrid architecture Hi4. In terms of appearance, Xiaolong MAX adopts a borderless front grille, Xiaolong adopts a common closed front face, and the headlight group adopts a T-shaped shape. There is a two-stage spoiler at the top of the rear of the car and a high-position brake light in the style of pilot light.
In terms of interior, Xiaolong adopts a dual screen design, and the overall design style is relatively young and sporty. Xiaolong MAX adopts triple screen, which has stronger overall luxury and richer configuration. It will be equipped with a new generation of Coffee OS system and Snapdragon 8155 chip. The power is equipped with a plug-in system consisting of a 1.5L engine and a motor, and is equipped with a ternary lithium battery.
5. The new Chevrolet Explorer starts at 184,900 yuan.
The 2023 Chevrolet Explorer announced its listing, and the price range of the five models was 184.9-23.99 million yuan. The new model cancelled the 1.5T border version, and the starting price increased by 15,000 yuan compared with the old model.
The official said that the 2023 model will add the body color matching of morning sky gray, and the 1.5T Yujie version will provide Redline Shang Hong series kit. In terms of configuration, in addition to the entry-level models, SBZA side blind zone alarm, LCA lane change assistance, RCTA rear traffic alarm and mobile phone wireless charging function are standard; The light-mixed 2.0T RS 9AT four-wheel drive smart version will also be equipped with a streaming rearview mirror.
6. Listed in the fourth quarter, the new Elantra N interior was launched.
Hyundai N brand track day was officially launched at Shanghai International Circuit, and the new Elantra N interior was unveiled for the first time. According to previous reports, this car is expected to go on sale in the fourth quarter of this year. In terms of appearance, the fully blackened front, the newly designed X-shaped front enclosure and the red decorative line added to the lower edge of the car body, together with the exhaust gas from both sides of the thick rear and the black tail, set off the sports atmosphere.
The interior adopts black layout, the double screen is preserved, and the red exclusive buttons on the steering wheel, the suede material of the seat and door panel also highlight the sense of movement. The power is equipped with a 2.0T engine, matched with an 8-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox, and the acceleration time of 0-96km/h is 5.3 seconds.
7. Bao Junyue also launched two pickup trucks.
SAIC-GM-Wuling has released the official map of two pure electric pickup trucks of Baojun Yueye, which will provide three body colors of starlight purple, lake blue and jungle green. The appearance continues the design language of SUV version, adopting a straight and tough style, with a cargo hopper at the rear of the car body and an external spare tire.
As can be seen from the official announcement video, this car will provide a soft-top convertible version, and the roof and rear cargo hopper have been strengthened. At the front fender of the car body, you can also connect sports cameras and other equipment. Like the previous KIWI EV and Air ev (Clear Sky), Bao Junyue has once again taken an exquisite and fun route. It is expected that the price will be close to these two models and more inclined to an electric "big toy".
8.FF 91 delivery continued to "skip tickets", and Jia Yueting was again restricted to high consumption.
Recently, Jia Yueting, Faraday’s future founder, chief product and user ecological officer, was taken to restrict high consumption because he failed to fulfill the legal judgment within the specified time. He had been resumed twice before, and the execution target exceeded 1.514 billion yuan. At present, the accumulated outstanding amount of Jia Yueting and its subsidiaries has exceeded 9.246 billion yuan. In addition, FF 91 continued to "skip tickets", and the latest news said that the delivery time of new cars may be postponed until the end of May.
With the continuous mass production of FF 91, Faraday’s future coping strategy seems not to "put out the fire" in time, but to focus on new areas. On May 2nd, Faraday announced the launch of the generative AI product group in the future, which will be integrated into FF 91. Faced with the delayed landing of FF 91, many consumers and investors think that the introduction of AI technology into the automobile product group is just another "pie" painted by Jia Yueting.