GAC Aion hat eine Ankündigung veröffentlicht und auf die Bezeichnung "der Evergrande im Automobilmarkt" geantwortet: Die Mitarbeiter-Equity-Incentivierung wird normalerweise vorangetrieben.

Unexpectedly, the so - called "Evergrande in the auto industry" has become associated with GAC Aion, once the leader among new - energy vehicle startups.

Statements like "IPO seemingly aborted", "valuation discounted", and "Evergrande in the auto industry" have been spreading widely.

As public opinion intensified, GAC Aion responded.

However, the disputes hidden behind this incident seem to be more than that.

GAC Aion Responds to the "Evergrande in the Auto Industry" Theory

The trigger dates back to June 14th (last Saturday), when multiple unsigned posts appeared online, targeting GAC Aion.

These articles stated that since 2022, GAC Aion has implemented a mixed - ownership reform and launched an equity incentive plan, allowing all employees to hold shares.

At that time, 679 employees of GAC Aion and 115 scientific and technological personnel from GAC Research Institute jointly invested 1.782 billion yuan, with a lock - in period of five years. On average, each person invested over 2 million yuan.

It is reported that employees generally participated in the subscription through loans or pledges. Before May this year, employees only needed to pay interest, but they need to start repaying the principal at the end of June.

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Due to factors such as the industry's valuation correction and GAC's strategic adjustment, GAC Aion's valuation has dropped from the peak of 103.2 billion yuan in the Series A round to less than half, resulting in a 58% depreciation of the shares purchased by employees.

However, some articles also stated that GAC Aion's listing target has been postponed repeatedly, and the current IPO plan is "seemingly aborted". This means that the stock dividends promised to employees have become invalid, but employees still face high - interest repayments.

If employees forcefully withdraw their subscription funds, they can only get back about 42% of the principal.

This series of descriptions is somewhat similar to the collapse path of Evergrande. Therefore, the label of "Evergrande in the auto industry" has fallen on GAC Aion.

Previously, neither GAC Aion nor anyone else could have imagined this association, even though they are both Guangzhou - based enterprises.

Of course, GAC Aion quickly responded.

On the evening of June 16th, GAC officially issued a statement titled "Statement on Recent Malicious Online Rumors", clearly stating:

GAC Aion has detected that some self - media have published false information about GAC Aion's employee shareholding... Such remarks are completely baseless and are purely malicious rumors.

The statement also emphasized that GAC Aion's development has full support from GAC. Currently, the company's operations are normal, and the equity incentive plan is "being advanced in accordance with laws and regulations".

Moreover, there is currently no clear news that GAC Aion's IPO plan has been rejected or abandoned.

Last year, Gu Huinan, the general manager of GAC Aion, said that the current is not a good time for an IPO as the entire capital market is not in good shape. The progress of GAC Aion's IPO mainly depends on whether the market can recover.

After clarifying the weekend's public opinion, GAC's stock price rose by 0.7%.

However, for GAC Aion, once the sales champion among new - energy vehicle startups, its current performance is not satisfactory.

What's the Current Situation of GAC and GAC Aion?

Both GAC Aion and its parent company GAC are moving forward under pressure in the wave of new - energy vehicles.

In the first half of this year, different from the overall year - on - year growth trend of new - energy vehicle startups, according to GAC's production and sales report, GAC Aion delivered a cumulative 88,791 vehicles in the first five months, a decrease of 11.77% compared to 100,637 vehicles last year.

Especially in May, GAC Aion delivered 18,280 vehicles, a significant year - on - year decrease of 39.91%.

Not only GAC Aion, but GAC is also "turning around like a giant elephant" in the wave of new - energy vehicles. From the financial report of the first quarter of this year, GAC's situation is more urgent.

First, revenue decreased by 7.95% from 21.346 billion yuan in the same period last year to 19.65 billion yuan.

In terms of profit, GAC's gross profit in the first quarter was 271 million yuan, with a gross profit margin of only 1.4%, a year - on - year decline of 6 percentage points.

Compared with the gross profit margins of other established automakers in the same period, such as SAIC's 10% and Changan's 13.9%, GAC's current gross profit margin level seems insufficient.

More importantly, GAC's net profit attributable to the parent company in Q1 continued the loss trend in the 2024 annual report. It directly turned from a net profit of 1.22 billion yuan in Q1 last year to a net loss of 732 million yuan this year, a year - on - year decline of 160%.

The decline in profit is related to GAC's decreased revenue and increased expenditure.

To cope with the pressure of market competition, GAC significantly increased its investment in sales in the first quarter.

The sales expenses in Q1 were 1.254 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 10.62%. The R & D expenses were 377 million yuan, basically the same as last year.

In terms of cash, the net cash flow from operating activities of GAC in Q1 was - 11.21 billion yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 82.59%.

However, as of the end of the first quarter, its cash and cash equivalents still amounted to 38.356 billion yuan, a year - on - year decline of 2.92%.

It should be noted that recently, many automakers responded to the call and promised that the payment period for suppliers would not exceed 60 days. GAC was the first to issue a statement.

Moreover, GAC then took the lead in issuing a new announcement, stating that it would complete the dealer rebate payment within two months.

For suppliers, this is undoubtedly a significant positive example. But for GAC, it means bearing relatively more cash pressure and requiring more solid cash reserves.

Currently, GAC's financial situation is under pressure in the short term. The most core factor is sales volume. The deliveries of its joint - venture segment and self - owned brands have declined to varying degrees.

Based on the production and sales report data, GAC's total sales volume in the first quarter was 371,087 vehicles, a year - on - year decline of 9.42%.

Among them, the sales volume of new - energy vehicles was 62,442 vehicles, a year - on - year decline of 6.46%. The penetration rate was 16.8%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

Looking at different brands, among the joint - venture brands, GAC Honda sold 92,729 vehicles in the first quarter, a significant year - on - year decrease of 20.73%.

GAC Toyota sold 161,600 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 3.55%. It is the only core subsidiary of GAC with growth in Q1 and the main sales force of GAC, accounting for 43.5% of the total sales volume.

Among the self - owned brands, Trumpchi delivered 69,241 vehicles in the first quarter, a year - on - year decline of 19%.

GAC Aion, the core new - energy brand of GAC, delivered 47,103 vehicles in the same period, a year - on - year decline of 3.61%, accounting for 12.7% of the total sales volume, an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

Nearly half of the year has passed. For the annual delivery target of 2.3 million vehicles, GAC has only completed 16.09% in five months. To achieve the annual target, it needs to deliver at least 275,000 vehicles per month in the following months.

What does this mean? It is a level second only to BYD and SAIC.

However, GAC is not making empty promises. Its biggest bet this year - the cooperation with Huawei - has not yet reached its peak but seems to be about to emerge.

Recently, some media reported that Huawang Automobile, jointly developed by GAC and Huawei, is currently conducting large - scale recruitment in Nansha, Guangzhou, covering R & D, technology, products, sales and other fields, with more than 100 recruitment positions.

Insiders said that GAC's cooperation with Huawei will not follow the "HI model" or the "smart - selected vehicle model", and will be different from Huawei's existing cooperation models.

The cooperation intensity of the new model will be "a bit deeper than that of Avita and a bit shallower than that of AITO", and the vehicles will be produced on GAC Aion's production line.

According to the information previously disclosed by GAC, the first model of Huawang is positioned in the 300,000 - yuan class, and the product definition and positioning will be led by Huawei.

Now, a new question arises: Will the success of AITO be replicated in Huawang under the new cooperation model?

This article is from the WeChat official account "Intelligent Vehicle Reference" (ID: AI4Auto), author: Jessica. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.