On the evening of August 8, Ideal Motors released its second quarter results for the period ended June 30, 2023.。

Performance data shows that the ideal total revenue for the second quarter of 2023 was 286.500 million yuan (RMB, the same below), up 228.1%, up 52.5%。Among them, driven by the rise in vehicle delivery data, the company's vehicle sales revenue reached 279..700 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 229.7%, up 52.6%。

In terms of gross profit, Ideal Auto's gross profit in the second quarter was 62.400 million yuan, up 232% year-on-year, up 62.8%。Gross margin of 21.8%, compared to 21.5%, compared to 20 in the previous quarter.4%。Gross vehicle margin of 21.0%, compared to 21.2%, last quarter 19.8%。Excluding the impact of Ideal ONE, Ideal L-Series vehicle gross margins remained stable from the first quarter。

In terms of net profit, Ideal Auto's net profit in the second quarter was 23.100 million yuan, an increase of 147.4%, compared to a net loss of 6.4.1 billion yuan。

                   

Delivering data to record high, Li Xiang: Confident to challenge BBA

        

In the second quarter of 2023, the Company's total vehicle deliveries were 86,533, up 201.6%。Companies delivered 34,134 vehicles in July, up 227.5%。

Li Xiang, Chairman and CEO of Ideal Motors, said: "We crossed an important milestone of 30,000 monthly deliveries in June, with deliveries reaching an all-time high in the second quarter and all three models of the Ideal L series maintaining sales leadership in their respective market segments.。These achievements have consolidated Ideal's market position as the family's preferred luxury car brand and laid a solid foundation for exceeding the RMB 100 billion operating income target by 2023.。"

The rapid expansion of car deliveries has also led to the expansion of the company as a whole.。

The Company realized revenue from other sales and services in the second quarter 6.800 million yuan, up 173.4%, up 48.1%, mainly driven by increased sales of accessories and charging piles。

Ideal cash flow also recorded a new high in the second quarter.。As of June 30, cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, time deposits and short-term investments were 737.700 million yuan。The company's free cash flow in the second quarter 96..200 million yuan, an increase of 43.6%, compared to 4% in the same period last year..5.2 billion yuan。

Revenues are up, there's more cash, and R & D can be started.。Ideal research and development costs in the second quarter amounted to 24.300 million yuan, an increase of 58.4%, an increase of 31.0%。The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to an increase in employee compensation due to an increase in the number of employees, as well as an increase in expenses to support the company's expansion of its product portfolio and technology。

Li Xiang said: "In the increasingly competitive environment of China's new energy vehicle market, we achieved the best level of profitability in history in the second quarter of this year, while further enhancing our competitive advantage by continuing to invest in research and development, rapidly expanding our business, and improving our organizational processes and operating capabilities.。"

For the third quarter outlook, the company expects vehicle deliveries in the third quarter to exceed the 100,000 mark and will be between 100,000 and 103,000 vehicles, with a monthly average of 3.330,000 to 3.430,000。Total revenue is 323.3 to 333.0 billion yuan, up 246.0% to 256.4%。

For capacity guidance is still in the 30,000-vehicle range per month, Li Xiang said in an earnings call that the company currently operates two L8, L9 and L7 production lines in Changzhou。The total capacity of the two-shift system is about 50,000 units per month.。The bottleneck of production is still the supply of parts.。In response to the additional demand, the company made plans to expand production in the second quarter, but it will take some time to test the production line and validate these plans。The company expects monthly delivery to exceed 40,000 after capacity increase in the fourth quarter "without any problems"。

Li Xiang is also confident that he will be able to challenge the leadership of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi (collectively known as BBA) in China, "which means that we will surpass their sales in China and become China's best-selling luxury brand.。"

        

Rising delivery data drives continued expansion of stores and charging stations

        

By the end of the second quarter, Ideal had 331 retail centers in 127 cities.。Driven by strong results, Ideal Auto's retail center expansion accelerated significantly in the second quarter, up nearly 11% from the previous quarter.。

In July, the company added six new retail centers, which, as of the end of July, had covered 128 cities and operated 323 after-sales repair centers and Ideal Automotive Authorized Sheet Spray Center in 222 cities.。

Ideal Motors says it will consider investing in new stores and expanding its sales network。By 2025, the company will have more models and more sales than it does now。So, the company is still committed to opening more stores, covering more cities, covering more users。and said the company plans to continue expanding into lower-tier cities in the coming years。

With the rapid growth of delivery data, the expansion of supporting facilities such as charging stations is also on top of the ideal plan.。The company expects to launch 300 super charging stations by the end of this year.。By 2023, charging stations will mainly cover Tianjin-Beijing-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Greater Bay Area, Sichuan-Chongqing and other economic zones; by 2025, the company will build 3,000 charging stations, covering more than 90% of highway mileage and major cities in China.。Li Xiang also revealed that all of the company's highway charging stations will be built and operated in-house, and urban charging stations will adopt a franchise model.。

                  

Autonomous driving enters the era of big models

          

In June, Ideal held a home technology day at its smart manufacturing base in Changzhou, when the company announced the launch of its self-developed cognitive large model "MindGPT."。

Regarding the progress of MindGPT, Li Xiang said on the conference call that the company has established full-stack internal development capabilities for large language models, including data, large model training, algorithm evaluation and security, and application delivery.。MindGPT is now the first version, in September the company will share more detailed progress of MindGPT, is currently undergoing internal testing, the test will be passed after a wider range of tests。

Ideal as a car company, its self-developed large model is to apply AI large model technology to its NOA (Navigation Assisted Driving Function)。

According to the official introduction, with the help of AI, Ideal Auto delivered the city NOA function that does not rely on high-precision maps to internal users in Beijing and Shanghai in June, allowing users to have a continuously evolving "AI driver."。In the second half of the year, the commuter NOA function will be opened to users, allowing users to have their own "exclusive elevator," and autonomous driving will enter the era of large models.。

Li Xiang said it is expected to provide city NOAs to 100 cities by the end of this year.。He said: "We are using imitation learning algorithms, which learn from the behavior and decisions of a large number of human drivers to ensure that the urban NOA can stay safe on the track and obey traffic rules.。We have the largest autonomous driving or NOA training test fleet in China, as well as the most training miles and a large reserve of cloud computing power, which we believe will be our absolute competitive advantage.。"

In addition, Ideal's first 5C pure electric super flagship model, Ideal MEGA, will be released in the fourth quarter of this year。Li Xiang said, "We are confident that the ideal MEGA, which embodies the latest scientific and technological achievements of the" dual energy strategy, "will become the first new explosive product with more than 500,000 sales.。As a growth-driven enterprise, we will continue to learn, train and grow, and continue to create products and services that exceed user needs.。"