The Dacheng Auto Apartment located at No. 198 Xuebiao Road, Jintan District, Changzhou finally welcomed employees from the factory opposite. However, it was not Mahayana that collapsed before the apartment was built, but Niu Chuang, created by Li Yinan.
"This Niu Chuang should belong to Mavericks. Some time ago, we could see a big brand "Ruidian" hanging on the factory building, using Mavericks' logo. I don't know what happened recently What?" said the owner of a restaurant in front of Mahayana Apartments, pointing to the Niuzhuang factory opposite.
Niuchang Automobile Changzhou Base - This map also shows the "Dacheng Automobile" Industrial Park. The "NIUTRON" logo has been hung up, and the eye-catching blue background wall indicates that it has been recently renovated. In the office building behind the main entrance, several workers were cleaning the exterior glass. A few days later, on December 15, there will be the first "life event" - the launch of a new car brand.
This industrial park is more than 40 kilometers away from LI Changzhou base and more than 30 kilometers away from Mavericks electric vehicle Changzhou base. Niu Electric Vehicle founder Li Yinan and Li founder Li Xiang are said to have a very good personal relationship and will meet on the same track soon. Because the first vehicle Li Yinan plans to manufacture here is an extended-range SUV.
Who is standing behind Li Yinan?
In October 2021, Changzhou Niu Chuang Technology Co., Ltd. completed its registration, and Niu Chuang’s car-building plan surfaced. According to company investigation data, in addition to the actual controller Li Yinan, its main members include executive director and legal representative Yang Jingyi, and supervisor Fang Qing.
"The ups and downs of my life are like a roller coaster," Li Yinan said at the 2021 Mavericks Conference. "Genius boy", "Successor of Ren" and "Founder of Mavericks"...a few words cannot describe his ups and downs in the past 50 years, but they basically "summarize" his life trajectory in the first half of his life. Interestingly, his old employers Huawei and Baidu have joined the car-making wave.
No. 387, Changting Road, Wujin District, 20 kilometers away from Niu Chuang’s Changzhou base, is the global R&D and Niu electric vehicle manufacturing base. This time, from the second to the fourth round of entrepreneurship, Li Yinan also chose Changzhou as his base camp "global headquarters base". According to people familiar with the matter, Li Yinan’s office in Niuzhuang is located at the Changzhou base.
"Li Yinan"
Due to his imprisonment, according to the law, Li Yinan cannot serve as an executive director or director of Mavericks for five years. In 2021, after being released from prison, Li Yinan resigned as CEO of Maverick Electric and joined American Angel Venture Capital as a partner. Currently, there is no direct capital connection between Li Yinan and Mavericks, but Mavericks’ entrepreneurial success may be Li Yinan’s most satisfying career experience. Until now, his Weibo profile is still "Founder and CEO of Niu Dian Technology".
Although Mavericks and Niuchuang are two completely independent companies, Mavericks has publicly stated many times that it has no plans to build a car. However, Mavericks Vice President of Design Liu Chuankai added a little more Mavericks color to the cowl. According to people familiar with the matter, Liu Chuankai’s current specific position is unknown and he will manage the styling design team of Niuchang Automobile in the future.
Liu Chuankai
Liu Chuankai can still be seen in the announcement from Maverick Electric as of November 15th. Public information shows that Liu Chuankai’s team participated in the conceptual design of the Mavericks electric M1. Before joining Mavericks Electric, Liu Chuankai served as design director at Designworks, a creative consulting company owned by BMW. According to sources, more Mavericks will be hired in the future. Li Yinan specifically explained that he is not allowed to work in two companies at the same time.
As the production center planned by Niu Chuang, the Changzhou base naturally needs people who have penetrated the automotive industry to handle manufacturing. Niuchang Auto has also publicly stated that many talents from first-tier car companies have joined. "Many employees are from Great Wall Motors," according to people familiar with the matter. Ge Feng, who is responsible for manufacturing at the Changzhou base, once worked for Great Wall Motors.
Mahayana G70S
As the boss of the Changzhou base, the legal representative Yang Jingyi mainly manages the technical team, and Ge Feng also reports to him. Little information about Yang Jingyi has been publicly asked, but he is also reportedly working for Great Wall Motors. Supervisor Fang Qing, another senior executive identified in corporate survey information, will manage the cost budgeting team.
According to Fang Qing's LinkedIn information, he serves as the cost analysis director at Xpeng Automobile Company and the cost management director at Geely Automobile Research Institute.
Is rent-to-own a stopgap solution?
As early as the beginning of this year, there was news that Mavericks would acquire BAIC New Energy’s Changzhou plant to cross-border vehicle manufacturing, but this was quickly denied by Mavericks Electric. According to people familiar with the matter, although the acquisition was unsuccessful, Li Yinan and BAIC New Energy did negotiate for the acquisition. In the end, he chose Dacheng Automobile Factory, which is more than 30 kilometers away from BAIC New Energy Changzhou Factory.
If we go back in time, the relationship between this industrial park and Zotye is quite subtle. When Wu Jianzhong, chairman of Dacheng Automobile Co., Ltd., was the chairman of Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd., he won the Zotye Damai project and produced Damai models at the Jintan base. After Zotye's A-share listing in 2021, the Jintan base was divested and used as Mahayana's Changzhou production base. Wu Xiao, the founder and chairman of Mahayana Buddhism, is the son of Wu Jianzhong. As a result, Mahayana became the first private car company to successfully complete the "second generation" handover according to Wu and his son.
"Wu Jianzhong, Wu Xiao"
What Wu and his son did not expect was that the Mahayana Buddhism established in 2021 would collapse so quickly. The auction announcement announced by the Jintan District People's Court shows that in June this year, Jiangsu Zhongzhiyang Investment Management Co., Ltd. took over Changzhou Jintan Mahayana Science and Technology Industrial Park at a price of 1.551 billion yuan through auction. The former is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Jintan Guofa International Investment Development Co., Ltd., and the latter is a subsidiary of the Changzhou Jintan Municipal Public Assets Management Committee Office. In other words, Jintan District took over the then Mahayana Science and Technology Industrial Park.
It is worth noting that the auction announcement did not mention the production qualifications that are the most critical to ownership. Several people familiar with the matter also confirmed that Niuchang Automobile currently leases and uses the Mahayana Technology Industrial Park from Jintan District. After the process was completed, around August, employees of Niuchang Automobile gradually entered the industrial park.
At the east gate of Dacheng Science and Technology Industrial Park, there is still a signboard of "Jiangxi Dacheng Automobile Co., Ltd. Jintan Branch". Like this huge factory, there are many traces of the big bus. "I often see car shells left behind by Mahayana being cleaned up in batches." A person familiar with the matter revealed that the "Ruidian New Energy" logo previously hung on the wall of the factory near the west gate has also been removed recently. "Now the entire industrial park is divided into three parts: Niuzhuang, Mahayana, and Ruidian, separated by iron mesh." And "Ruidian" is regarded by Mavericks as a core technology? system.
Two-wheeled Tesla "pays homage" to its ideals with four wheels?
In the early days of Mavericks' establishment, it coincided with Tesla's popularity. Mavericks' publicity often "contradicted" Tesla: Tesla had the same battery. In the future, it is still unknown whether Niu Chuang will "translate" Ruidian's power battery technology to build cars. However, the Jintan Economic Development Zone where Niuchang Automobile is located has many automotive supporting companies, including power battery manufacturers AVIC lithium batteries and Honeycomb Energy.
In addition to being very close to the Mavericks production base, Niuchang Automobile’s Changzhou base is also only 40 kilometers away from the LI Changzhou base. Sources also confirmed that Niuchang will build models in the direction of extended range and pure electric vehicles.
According to people familiar with the matter, the progress of the new car is still in the trial production stage. The size and shape of the new car are very close to that of Li ONE, and they are both extended-range models. The new car will be positioned as a mid-to-large SUV, rather than the "old man's music" that has been widely circulated on the Internet. The price of Li ONE is more than 300,000 yuan, and Niu Chuang will avoid direct competition through differentiated positioning.
"Li ONE, Niu Chuang test drive"
In fact, Li Xiang and Li Yinan are also closely related. According to public reports, Hu Yilin, who initially planned to make a Maverick electric car, got in touch with Li Xiang while looking for investors. After being introduced by Li Xiang, Hu Yilin met angel investor Huang Mingming. After Huang Mingming's introduction, Hu Yilin had the opportunity to sit and drink coffee with Li Yinan.
According to investigation information, Jiangsu Niu Chuangxin Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is applying to register multiple trademarks such as "Niu Chuang", "Niu Keliwu" and "SHOTOVER". "In November, the company posted a lot of signs about the first model "Homerider". Later, for some reason, these signs were removed." According to people familiar with the matter, the first car is in the intensive preparation stage. Niuchang plans to release its first car in April next year and officially roll it off the assembly line at the end of October.
However, an insider close to Niuchang Auto expressed his uncertainty about the future. "After all, unlike other new forces that can spend investors' money, now the founder team is basically investing real money." Indeed, with the size of Mavericks' brand, Li Yinan has turned Niu Chuang into another phenomenon It is not impossible for a top-grade brand to exist. However, even if the new forces in front have flooded the water for car manufacturing, capital is still the first difficulty for new car manufacturing companies.
"The end of everything is to build a car." Li Yinan, who did not follow an ordinary path in the first half of his life, cannot avoid this. On this new energy track, not only are more and more hot money pouring in, but more and more players are stopping here. The Mahayana Apartment opposite Niuchang Automobile is a testimony to this. The apartment was originally intended for Mahayana employees, but before it was built, Mahayana ran into trouble.
"No matter how many things you are disappointed with, there is no reason to be disappointed at the best of times." This is what Li Yinan said before he was imprisoned. In the past ten years, whether it is "Zotye" or "Mahayana", the two masters have not changed the fate of "No. 99 Xue Biao Road, Jintan District". In this best of times, I wonder if its fate can be rewritten by Niu Chuang. @2019