The "national team" extends an olive branch to Leapmotor

Author | Chai Xuchen

Editor | Wang Xiaojun

After the impressive performance release, the good news for Leapmotor is still "exploding."

On August 20, it was reported that FAW is planning to invest in Leapmotor to become its strategic shareholder, with a preliminary plan to acquire about 10% of Leapmotor's shares. This plan is currently being promoted within relevant departments of FAW.

This means that the "national team" has decided to deeply bind with Leapmotor, and the marriage between the two has progressed from "jointly developing new energy passenger vehicles and component cooperation" five months ago to equity binding.

Leapmotor stated to Wall Street Insights that it would not comment on this but did not deny it.

In fact, Leapmotor has long made its intentions clear, emphasizing in its cooperation agreement in March this year that "both parties will explore cooperation in the capital sector." Vice President Li Tengfei also revealed to Wall Street Insights that both parties have a high capital intention.

The timing of the "national team's" olive branch is quite subtle.

In the first half of the year, Leapmotor became the sales champion among new forces by selling cars and successfully achieved half-year profitability, proving its competitiveness in the industry. At the earnings conference on the evening of August 18, Li Tengfei further announced that the annual breakeven target has been changed to annual profitability, while the annual sales target has been raised to 580,000-600,000 units, aiming for 1 million units next year.

Clearly, Leapmotor, which has gained both fame and fortune this year, has become a golden signboard for FAW's subsequent models.

It is understood that the first model developed in cooperation with FAW Hongqi is already in the development process and is planned to be launched for sale in the second half of next year using FAW's overseas channels. During this earnings meeting, Leapmotor revealed that its cooperation with FAW on components is also deepening, with "both parties having in-depth cooperation ideas in various aspects such as complete vehicles, software, and platforms."

Zhu Jiangming told Wall Street Insights that Leapmotor's strategy has also undergone some changes this year, expanding its self-research scope from the original three electric systems, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent driving to high-value-added components, including AR-HUD and seats.

This is quite attractive for the "national team" and joint venture car companies that urgently need to reduce costs and improve product competitiveness. Earlier, Zhu Jiangming had publicly stated that Leapmotor has already reached supply agreements with 10 domestic and foreign OEMs for its self-researched three electric systems.

From car manufacturers to tier 1 suppliers, Leapmotor's role in the industry has further expanded, and its self-researched technology system has thus entered a return cycle. According to institutional analysts, if Leapmotor can continue to open up a model of licensing electronic architecture to car manufacturers and turn its revenue into recurring income, its valuation multiple may still have room for further upward movement.

It can be said that Leapmotor has become the big winner in the automotive circle this year, but it does not intend to rely on the "external supply" route to make money passively. Li Tengfei pointed out that Leapmotor's long-term strategy is to focus on its own brand and will not replicate cooperation models similar to XPeng and Huawei.

"Because we are an OEM, we need to focus on our own brand, and externally, we will work more with core partners to achieve complementary advantages and continuously fill our own shortcomings." Li Tengfei emphasized that partners like this will be chosen very carefully internally and will not develop cooperative businesses as the main business of the future company It is evident that Leapmotor is strategizing a big game, leveraging cooperation to build momentum for itself, ultimately paving the way for its dream of becoming an automotive giant with annual sales of 4 million units, rather than just making a quick profit