employees have been owed wages for two months, and some suppliers stopped supplying goods because of the arrears of payment. Even the few Party B who provide advertising and public relations services have begun to be cautious about new cooperation projects.
Like all the "new forces" that faced difficulties last winter and this spring, there is nothing new in the opening of the story of Skycar this spring. Because the news from many internal channels shows that this enterprise has been in deep trouble, and the future outcome can almost be doomed.
Like all previous cases, all the manifestations of problems begin with "lack of money".
The obsession of the old autobots
In fact, this is not the first time that Skycar has sent out a warning because of financial problems. As early as two years ago, in mid-May, 22, some media broke the news: it was learned that Skycar's "capital chain was tight".
At that time, people who broke the news claimed that since mid-219, Skycar has been in arrears with a number of advertising and public relations companies for various expenses of more than 3 million yuan, among which there are many domestic related companies.
The main reason for Sky Auto's "poor reputation" in suppliers is the slow payment. To this end, as early as the beginning of 219, some service providers successively chose to terminate the contract. The subsequent fermentation of this problem even affected Skycar's participation in the Beijing Auto Show that year.
At the CES in Asia in p>219, Sky Auto released the "Zhiyun" car alliance ecology
However, in October 22, new financing was put in place one after another. With the support of "local government industry guidance fund and large banks", Horizon announced that it has achieved its financing goal of 5 billion.
"After layoffs, one person is very tired with the work of three people. (So) I just want to sleep after coming back from work and washing every day recently. "
At that time, an employee of Sky Auto told the interviewed media. However, tired and tired, the temporary crisis is so spent.
of course, the problem of money still exists. Because it was soon discovered that Skycar and its suppliers were still suing for arrears. Isn't this just financing? Where did the money go?
Building a factory ...
By mid-222, Skycar has planned a total of three production bases in China. They are located in Quanzhou, Fujian, Shaoxing, Zhejiang and Changsha, Hunan.
Shaoxing base was put into use in 219, and was originally used to produce Skyline ME7 pure electric medium-sized SUV.
According to the official description of Sky, this factory is manufactured in strict accordance with the technological standards of "German luxury brand". At the same time, according to the standard of Industry 4., the top domestic production equipment such as skid-free intelligent painting workshop was introduced. The planned annual production capacity of the first phase is 6, vehicles.
At the end of December p>219, the first Skyline ME7 was rolled off the assembly line at Shaoxing base.
The newest factory in Sky is located in Changsha, Hunan. The construction of the factory started in the second half of 219, because the report on the epidemic situation of Xiangjiang Morning Post reporter on April 14, 22 was well known.
during the first wave of epidemic in China, Changsha reporters took aerial photos of the factory site with drones.
The Changsha project covers a total area of 5 mu, with a total construction area of about 135, square meters and a total investment of 5.1 billion yuan. It was put into use in June 221. The factory area includes welding workshop, painting workshop, assembly workshop, etc., which can be called complete facilities.
Fake cars, real money/cheat, is a familiar topic in the new energy automobile industry in the last decade, but anyone who knows a little about Skycar will find that this company is essentially different from those "PPT companies" despite many problems.
they are not only building cars, but also building their own production bases from the beginning, without considering the shortcut of OEM production at all. Even the initial development of Wei Xiaoli has proved that it is reliable and can significantly reduce risks.
when the product has not been recognized by the market, it is the product of the thinking of the last era to invest wholly to ensure the production capacity first.
Zhang Hailiang, who has worked in SAIC for more than 2 years, has served as the director, general manager and vice president of SAIC, and is the most standard and professional head of a car enterprise. He is not only a professional in automobile engineering, but also has a doctorate and a senior engineer title.
after leaving SAIC, he joined letv supercar as the global CEO. Since October 217, he has served as the chairman of Skycar. Regardless of education or resume, this is the most typical "old autobot".
technology and products are quite persistent, and car companies must lay a solid foundation for production and manufacturing, which is extremely strong. After the chairman of Sky Auto, it reflected that after the initial completion of product development, it invested a lot of energy and funds to promote the construction of production bases.
Besides the chairman Zhang Hailiang, Niu Shengfu, CTO of Sky Auto, is also an "old autobot" who has worked for Shanghai Volkswagen for more than 2 years. It has made great efforts in product research and development and quality, and has strict checks on supplier selection.
It is precisely because of the above-mentioned characteristics of the corporate helmsman that the R&D team of Skycar mostly comes from traditional OEMs and parts companies such as Volkswagen, General Motors, Delphi, Bosch and Continental. It is almost a story of a fuel team building a new energy vehicle.
and that's why this enterprise has repeatedly hit a wall on the issue of money. Lei Jun wants to build Xiaomi automobile, and will build his own production base from the beginning. For this reason, no less than 1 billion funds have been prepared on the books. But what about Skycar? The 5 billion yuan just melted in, and the stall is so big.
elegy of the old days
Up to now, only two new energy SUV products, ME5 and ME7, have been actually mass-produced in Skyline.
ME7 is a medium-sized pure electric SUV, with moderate overall characteristics, not outstanding performance such as battery life, and no attractive features or functions. However, its price has reached 238,8 ~ 269,8 yuan, which is not low.
Skyline ME7
This car debuted at the Guangzhou Auto Show at the end of 218, and was pre-sold at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 219, and was officially launched in September 22. By the end of 22, the cumulative sales volume of this model is even less than 1 units.
"The biggest problem of Skycar at present is brand power." In mid-221, when Chongqing media went to the Sky Auto Xiexin Starlight Times Square store at No.28 Jiangnan Avenue in Nan 'an District for an interview, the long-suppressed sales consultant could not help but admit frankly.
"product strength" has always been the biggest flaw of Skycar. Even, most of the time, this is not even enough to talk about the level of product strength-because those who go outside the automobile industry know about Skycar are almost ignorant. Many people know this name for the first time, even because they accidentally found its store while shopping, and then went in for a walk.
and then what? Of course, there is no "then".
at that time, there was only one ME7 car in the store, and the subsidized price was between 238,8 and 269,8 yuan. No matter two years ago or now, this price is not cheap, and the price of its high-end models is only 1,9 yuan lower than the starting price of the domestic Tesla Model Y that has been listed at that time.
and if users are not obsessed with SUV models, then whether Tesla's Model 3 or Tucki's P7, there are some products with more competitive prices and higher popularity to choose from.
Nowadays, the boss of automobile enterprises ranks first in storytelling ability.
Starting from storytelling, it will continue to PUSH the popularity of brands and products, and help enterprises get through the long cycle from official announcement to product announcement to new car listing, which is the unanimous choice of almost all the new forces who are still successful at present.
during this period, through constant PUSH, event marketing again and again, a batch of iron powder was absorbed and transformed, and under the impetus of these spontaneous communicators, the brand power was continuously improved. After the delivery of the real car, as long as the product can basically fulfill the initial promise and the quality is still passable, then this new force can naturally complete a positive cycle.
Tesla goes without saying. Looking at Weilai, Tucki and Ideality, these new forces, which have been successful so far, have all achieved their foothold in this way. However, it is difficult for us to find the slightest bright spot in the whole process of listing Skycar.
Everything is like the state-owned enterprise-style advertisement more than ten years ago, and it is almost impossible for C-end customers to look at you ...
In terms of the lip service and storytelling ability of creating hot spots, this coffee spot is actually squeezed into the top three
car companies, and many of them despise or even despise the promotion of products. Many people still firmly believe that the so-called "peaches and plums don't say anything, the next step is to find a way", and they think that as long as they do a good job, they will certainly open up the market. However, this kind of understanding is only reasonable in that particular historical period and environment.
Of course, the old autobots of that generation have their own areas of expertise and strengths. But what is certain is that it is not marketing. I don't know how to 2C or 2B, and I don't understand the "storytelling" that is necessary for new forces to start from scratch in this era, and I don't know how to take advantage of the wave of internet fever to root my brand image in the hearts of everyone who is being spread.
on the contrary, the experience and habits of dealing with foreign partners and government departments all the year round have made them develop serious path dependence. Some people can't even tell the fundamental difference between GR and PR.
In fact, after realizing the problem, Skycar did not consider making changes. ME5, which adopts extended range mode, and ME-S, a B-class pure electric coupe concept car, which is checked by Spyder designers from porsche 918, can be seen from the product level that it has made considerable efforts.
Although it is a pity, the ME-S is doomed not to be mass-produced.
However, Skycar has not made any substantial breakthrough in brand image building.
the consequences are extremely serious. Throughout 221, the total sales volume of Skyline was only 1,778 vehicles. Although the performance in 222 has improved, the total sales volume of 5321 units cannot make any investor have hope for the future of the brand.
Two years ago, the commune interviewed Zhang Hailiang. When asked what the label of Skyline brand is, he thought for a moment and then replied: Be a popularizer of electric SUVs with more than 2, yuan.
Maybe he hasn't figured out what to do until then ... What about now?
however, no matter now, it's too late for the head to have a clear direction and set a realistic tonality for the product.
How many people can survive this leap?
in p>223, "national compensation" has been doomed to exit. China's new energy automobile industry, and even all related enterprises inside and outside the industry, must completely get rid of this crutch called "subsidy" and immediately learn to rely on their own legs and move forward.
A mighty battle of elimination and merger is about to begin. I'm just sorry that Skycar may have been doomed and can't go further.
this article comes from the author's automobile commune of Yiche number, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author if you reprint it in any form. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with car change.