On March 13, a screenshot of a document with the official seal of Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was wildly circulated on the Internet. The content of the document shows that Tesla is going through the process and procedures of acquiring Zhongtai automobile.
In this regard, Tao Lin, vice president of Tesla‘s foreign affairs, refuted the rumor through her personal microblog, saying it was “naked false news”.
She is suspected of forging the official seal, and the content of the document is not true. This rumor is a deception to the majority of netizens. Welcome all netizens to prove to us who is the producer of this document? What is the purpose? We will report the case to the public security organ in time. Let’s resist Internet rumors.
In this regard, Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) ( Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) ) also responded on the investor interaction platform that the company had not heard of the matter.
Recently, rumors about Tesla‘s establishment of a second plant and expansion of production capacity in China have been heard all the time; At the same time, Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) ( Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) ), which is deep in the vortex of reorganization, has been repeatedly rumored to be acquired by other vehicle enterprises.
On the one hand, there are electric vehicle enterprises with rapidly rising sales and imminent capacity expansion, and on the other hand, there are traditional vehicle enterprises with idle capacity and about to be acquired and restructured. The two automobile enterprises in different situations show the “cross section” of the increasingly fierce competition in China’s automobile market.
gossip objects continue, and the suspicion of Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) acquisition is still on
In 2019, affected by the shortage of working capital and the sharp decline of automobile sales, the financial situation of Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) was in crisis. From October 2020 to June 2021, 8 Zhongtai companies were successively accepted by the people’s court for bankruptcy due to the debt crisis.
Since then, because Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) could not pay off the due debts and obviously lost the possibility of solvency, Jinhua intermediate people’s Court of Zhejiang Province ruled to accept Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) reorganization according to the application of creditors.
Since the establishment of the Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) restructuring plan, there have been repeated rumors in the industry that the company will be acquired by a certain car company, among which the “gossip objects” include Tesla, Xiaomi, Weilai, Baoneng, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and so on.
On April 6, 2021, Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) disclosed that after verification with Zhejiang Jingheng law firm, the pre reorganization manager of the company, Tesla, Xiaomi, Weilai and Baoneng are not the opposite parties to the relevant agreements mentioned in the Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) announcement on the progress of public recruitment of investors.
Subsequently, Shanghai Zhiyang Investment Co., Ltd. and Hunan Zhibo Equity Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., who intend to invest in Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) said they decided to terminate the investment.
The “sudden brake” of many investors undoubtedly makes Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) in the high-risk area worse.
A few days ago, it was also reported that Great Wall Motor Company Limited(601633) would soon acquire Zhongtai’s Linyi factory. In this regard, Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) issued a special announcement on February 19 this year to clarify that the company and its subordinate Jiangnan Linyi Branch and zhuotai automobile sales company have not signed any strategic agreement with Great Wall Motor Company Limited(601633) yet.
It is noteworthy that under the influence of rumors and rumor refutation, the Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) share price rose all the way in 2021, setting a record of 27 price limits in 42 trading days Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) was also named by the exchange for many times due to frequent changes in share prices, and even suspended for verification.
Since the beginning of this year, Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) share price has started to fall, with a year to date decline of over 40%. According to the latest performance forecast disclosed in Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) disclosure, in 2021, the company expects an operating revenue of 800 million yuan to 900 million yuan and a net profit loss of 400 million yuan to 600 million yuan.
Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) announced that the company has completed the reorganization in 2021, the implementation of the reorganization plan has been completed, and the reorganization income is expected to be 2-2.4 billion yuan. However, the company’s subordinate automobile production bases are basically in the state of shutdown, the production and sales volume of the company’s main products are small, and the total sales revenue is low, so the company’s operating performance in 2021 is still at a loss. At the same time, the company’s main business vehicle business is in the state of shutdown. The company plans to withdraw a large amount of asset impairment reserves and bad debt reserves, totaling about 1.3 billion yuan to 1.9 billion yuan. Therefore, the company’s overall performance loss in 2021.
Recently, Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) said through the investor interaction platform that the focus of the company’s next step is to resume work and production.
strong willingness to expand production capacity, and the location of Tesla’s second plant is a mystery
Tesla, which forms a natural contrast with Zotye Automobile Co.Ltd(000980) ‘s situation, is currently deeply involved in various rumors of capacity expansion.
In 2021, Qingdao, Jinan, Hefei, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi’an, Zhengzhou and other cities have been said to be the location of Tesla’s second factory.
In this regard, Tao Lin also clarified through her personal microblog, saying that “Tesla is very honored to contribute to the development of China Shanxi Guoxin Energy Corporation Limited(600617) industry, and will continue to firmly increase investment in China. Recently, she has received many media inquiries about the second factory. I’m sorry I can’t reply one by one. Please tell you that the information about the location of Tesla’s second factory on the Internet is not true.”
In February this year, the official account of “Liaoning issue” sponsored by the general office of the Liaoning Provincial People’s government pushed an article entitled “five grasping” in Shenyang’s Dadong District, and striving to revitalize the development of the pacesetter. There is a sentence: “combined with the urban renewal of civil service area, open up the space for industrial development and lay the foundation for the implementation of major new energy vehicle projects such as Tesla.”
Immediately after the news was released, there were rumors that Tesla’s second factory had been located in Shenyang. Tesla has again made an urgent rumor, and the official account has also deleted relevant articles.
In fact, the reason why Tesla has been repeatedly rumored to build a second plant in China is related to its current urgent production expansion plan.
According to the latest data released by Tesla, Tesla sold 56500 vehicles in China in February and 116300 vehicles this year.
In the face of rapid growth in sales, Tesla also emphasized the planning of capacity expansion in 2022. According to Tesla’s 2021 annual report, Tesla is planning to increase production capacity as soon as possible. It is expected that the average annual growth rate of vehicle delivery will reach 50% in the next few years. At the same time, Shanghai Super factory will become Tesla’s main export center.
However, for now, will Tesla establish a second plant in China? Where will it be settled? It is still a mystery to be solved.
