On November 9, Ideal Motors (hereinafter referred to as "Ideal") released its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023.。

                                        

Increase revenue and profit, ideal Q3 performance is outstanding

                 

Performance figures show ideal revenue totals 346 in the third quarter.800 million yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of 271.2%, an increase of 21.0%。Among them, the vehicle sales revenue is 336.200 million yuan, an increase of 271.6%, an increase of 20.2%。

On the earnings side, Ideal's net profit for the third quarter was 28.100 million yuan, an increase of 21.8%, compared to a net loss of 16.500 million yuan。

Gross profit for the third quarter was 76.400 million yuan, up 546.7%, an increase of 22.6%。Gross margin of 22.0%, compared to 21 in the previous quarter.8%, compared to 12.7%。The gross profit margin of vehicles is 21.2%, up slightly from 21% in the previous quarter and 12% in the same period last year..0%。

In the third quarter, Ideal's net cash from operating activities was 145.100 million yuan, an increase of 30.5%, compared to net cash used in operating activities for the same period last year of 5.08 million yuan。

Ideal free cash flow also climbed in the third quarter, thanks to strong results, recording 132.200 million yuan, an increase of 37.5 per cent, compared with negative free cash flow of 19 per cent in the same period last year..600 million yuan。

In terms of delivery data, in the third quarter of this year, the total number of ideal vehicles delivered was 105,108, an increase of 296.3%, with an average monthly delivery of 3.50,000 vehicles。Ideal L7 and L8 are firmly in the top two in China's new energy brand sales of more than 200,000 yuan, and Ideal L9 is the first luxury brand in SUV sales of more than 300,000 yuan.。

This past October, the ideal delivery data broke the 40,000-car mark to 40,422, a year-on-year increase of 302.1%, up 12.1%。

As of October 31, 2023, Ideal has 372 retail centers covering 133 cities, and operates 315 after-sales repair centers and Ideal Auto Authorized Sheet Metal Spray Centers in 210 cities。

Li Xiang, Chairman and CEO of Ideal Motors, said: "In the third quarter of this year, in the face of strong market demand, we continued to improve our production, supply and marketing synergy and production capacity, and achieved a number of breakthroughs in delivery performance, becoming the first Chinese new power car company to reach the milestone of 500,000 cumulative deliveries.。The three models of the Ideal L series have been delivering more than 10,000 bicycles for three consecutive months since August, helping Ideal to win China's 300,000-plus SUV and new energy vehicle sales championship.。As the business continues to expand, we will maintain healthy profitability and continue to invest in research and development to support the long-term development of ideal cars。"

                

Cash reserves close to 90 billion, the ideal of not bad money: will increase investment in research and development

                      

In terms of intelligent driving, the ideal revealed that the relevant progress is also very smooth.。City NOA R & D on Ideal AD Max is progressing well。Ideal plan to push AD Max 3 to users at the end of the year.0 of the official version of the software, providing full-scene NOA capabilities。At the same time, Ideal will push AD Pro 3 to users in the first half of next year.0 of the official version of the software, some of the algorithm capabilities of AD Max will be released on AD Pro。Li Xiang said that he is confident that it will become the first echelon of intelligent driving after market verification in the first half of next year。

In a phone call, the ideal chief engineer Ma Donghui said that in the future, intelligent driving leadership will be the ideal core strategic goal。In terms of investment, the ideal smart driving department currently has about 900 people, and the company's plan is to have more than 2,000 smart drivers by next year and more than 2,500 by 2025.。As talent size and talent density increase, Ideal will simultaneously advance product and technology development。On the one hand, we will launch navigation-assisted driving (NOA) for multiple models, including high-speed and urban development, and on the other hand, we will also increase research and development for forward-looking technologies, including intelligent driving and artificial intelligence.。

Ma Donghui also added, "In terms of amount, we will increase vehicle testing, including computing power and personnel research and development investment, we have sufficient cash reserves and cash flow to support the financial support needed for intelligent driving."。"

Third quarter ideal R & D expense of 28.200 million yuan, an increase of 56.1%, an increase of 16.1%。The year-on-year increase in R & D expenses was primarily due to an increase in employee compensation due to an increase in the number of employees and an increase in expenses to support the expanding product portfolio and technology.。

And as of September 30, 2023, the ideal cash reserve reached 885.200 million yuan, a quarterly high。

                                        

New car MEGA design leads to controversy

                      

Ideal so far, on the market to deliver the ideal one, L7, L8, L9 four cars。Such a few and sophisticated models make the ideal basically "every model is explosive"。Therefore, the ideal "new" is quite concerned by the market.。

On October 17, Li Xiang warmed up his new pure electric model MEGA on Weibo and invited netizens to guess the drag coefficient。

According to officials, the drag coefficient of this car is only 0.215, surpassing the coupe, breaking the record of mass production MPV drag coefficient。Generally speaking, the drag coefficient directly affects the battery life and energy consumption。For every decrease in drag coefficient of 0.01, CLTC cruising range increased by 7 km。At the same time, the faster the speed, the more energy loss caused by air resistance, the lower the drag coefficient, and the lower the energy consumption。Tesla Model Y and Model 3 are both 0.23。

But the drag coefficient is not the most interesting point of this car. Netizens are focusing on the unique appearance of this car.。For this appearance is different from the past car, netizens' evaluation is also very two-level differentiation, some say "not good-looking," and some people said "quite like this more strange future appearance style."。

Interestingly, in May, there was a big V network broke the appearance of the ideal MEGA。At the time, Li wanted to forward it directly, saying, "If it's really designed like this, I'll kill the design team and jump off a building myself.。"

And now from the MEGA picture that Li wants to publish, the appearance is almost the same as the picture at that time。As a result, this car was dubbed by netizens as "jumping off a building."。

In the earnings report, Li Xiang also mentioned the new car MEGA: "Our first 5C pure electric super flagship model, the ideal MEGA, is progressing smoothly and 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 in the pure electric market, and promote the process of large-scale replacement of traditional fuel vehicles with extended range technology。At the same time, with the promotion of pure electric strategy, we are accelerating the construction of super charging network to provide users with more convenient and reliable energy supplement experience。"

In a follow-up call to Third Financial Report, Li Xiang also responded to MEGA's related controversy。He said that the ideal pure electric products should have three important breakthroughs, namely, charging, space and appearance of the breakthrough。He said: "The styling of all our pure electric vehicles will redefine all levels, whether it is MPV, SUV, or sedan. We will put the design from the next few decades directly on today's electric vehicles, and put the shapes and concepts that everyone thinks will appear in concept cars on today's electric vehicles.。"

Bank of Communications International believes that the success of the ideal first pure electric model MPV MEGA will directly affect the marketing of pure electric models in the second half of next year。With reference to the precise judgment of past ideals on product and customer needs, as well as Mega's current successful warm-up, the bank expects MEGA to lay the foundation for the success of subsequent pure electric models.。

In addition to MEGA, Ideal also plans to launch Ideal L6 in the first half of next year and launch three pure electric products for delivery in the second half of next year.。Li Xiang said: "next year will be the most abundant products since the establishment of the company."。

                 

Fourth quarter guidance to a new high, ask the world new M7 "menacing"

                      

For the fourth quarter outlook, the ideal projected revenue totals 384.600 million to 393 million.800 million yuan, up 117.9% to 123.1%。Vehicle deliveries of 125,000 to 128,000 units, up 169 YoY.9% to 176.3%。In other words, Ideal has set itself a delivery target of more than 40,000 vehicles for the next three months (monthly average of 4.170,000 vehicles - 4.270,000 vehicles)。

Considering that the ideal October delivery data has reached 40,422 units, as long as the ideal can maintain the October quarter-on-quarter growth rate (12.1%), the fourth quarter delivery target is actually not difficult to meet.。

But the premise of all this is that the ideal product is not subject to major challenges。And unfortunately, one of the ideal major competitors has emerged, the recently hot new M7。

The new M7 went on sale from September 12 to October 8, announcing a breakthrough of 50,000 units.。This level of popularity makes many friends and businessmen both afraid and jealous.。Ideal is one of them.。

The ideal car now has two main models in the price range of 200,000-300,000 yuan, and the new M7 happens to be in this range.。Moreover, the new M7 not only has the advantages of the ideal main space, but also the various black technologies that Huawei has blessed.。

According to the official introduction, ask the world's new M7 series invested five billion yuan to build a new, through Huawei's deep empowerment, equipped with Huawei Hongmeng intelligent cockpit 3..0 、 HUAWEI ADS 2.0 Black technologies such as high-end intelligent driving system and HUAWEI DriveONE extended-range electric drive platform。

Recently, Yu Chengdong and He Xiaopeng's AEB debate, but also for the safety performance of the questioning community to fire a wave of heat.。

In the same price range, many consumers compare, the ideal moment is "not fragrant."。

In addition, the ideal main consumer group has always been the group with children, and now the consumer demand of this group has been ideally tapped to a certain extent.。A third-party organization estimates that the ideal penetration rate of the child group at the level of 300,000 and the penetration rate of the child group at the age of 35-54 & second-line and above are both about 15%.。According to the law of user group expansion of the Innovation Diffusion Theory, the ideal has passed the innovator stage in this group (2.5%), early adopter stage (13.5%), came to the inflection point of striving for the early mass stage。

For the ideal, it is not easy to further expand the penetration of this group.。In the early days, the larger range of Volkswagen groups meant that the aesthetic would be more diverse, the demand points for car selection would be more diverse, and now with the increase in competing products on the market, all of this is a challenge for the ideal.。

Ideal can withstand the pressure, the next two quarters is critical。New challenges are just around the corner, how the ideal will deal with it, and whether we can get through it smoothly, let's wait and see.。