On the evening of May 20, Founder Motor (002196) announced that the company received a notice from a customer and became a supplier of drive motor stator and rotor assemblies and other parts for a certain model of Guangzhou Xiaopeng Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xiaopeng Automobile”). The project is expected to start mass production and supply in the third quarter of 2025, and the total demand within the five-year life cycle is about 350,000 units.
Fangzheng Motor said that Xiaopeng Motors is a technology company focusing on future travel, committed to exploring technology and leading the transformation of future travel. As the company’s strategic development focus, the new energy vehicle drive motor business has maintained a high level of continuous investment in research and development, manufacturing, etc. in recent years. As the models of the company’s cooperative customers have been mass-produced and launched, the company’s new energy vehicle drive motor shipments have achieved rapid growth, and the shipments are at the forefront of the industry. The recognition of Xiaopeng Motors this time lays the foundation for the company to further expand the new energy vehicle drive motor (core components) market.
Public information shows that Founder Motor’s main business is the research, development, production and sales of sewing machine application products, automotive application products (including new energy vehicle drive motors, supporting motors and powertrain control products) and intelligent controllers.
Through years of technological accumulation and market development, Founder Motor has taken a leading position in many segments such as micro motors and controllers, new energy vehicle drive assemblies, and automotive engine control systems. Among them, the annual output of multi-functional household sewing machine motors is 4 million sets, with a global market share of about 75%; the company ranked third in the market for new energy drive motor shipments in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (according to data from third-party media NE Times), second only to BYD, Tesla and other OEMs that supply their own drive motors; diesel engines, natural gas engines and exhaust after-treatment controllers are the only domestically developed and mass-produced independent brands, which can directly replace products from foreign giants such as Bosch and Delphi.
Against this background, Founder Motor has frequently received project orders from suppliers in recent years.
In September 2023, the company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Founder Motor (Deqing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Founder Deqing”) received a notice that Founder Deqing became the supplier of stator and rotor assemblies for an electric drive project of a well-known domestic new energy vehicle customer (due to a confidentiality agreement, its name cannot be disclosed). The project is expected to start mass production and supply at the end of 2024, with a total demand of approximately 7.5 million units within the 9-year life cycle.
In June 2023, the company also disclosed that Founder Deqing received a notice from a customer that it had become the supplier of stator and rotor assemblies for an electric drive project of Beijing Ideal Auto Co., Ltd. The project is expected to start mass production and supply in 2024, with a total demand of approximately 1.89 million units during its life cycle.
According to the 2023 annual report, during the period, Founder Motor’s new energy drive motor series products have established supporting cooperation relationships with many domestic leading traditional independent brand vehicle manufacturers, new car-making forces and international Tier 1 customers, including SAIC-GM-Wuling, Geely Auto, SAIC Group, Chery Automobile, Honeycomb Transmission, Weiran Power, Xiaopeng Motors, and Ideal Auto.
Among them, Ideal Auto is a new project designated by the company in 2023. The company will provide drive motor stator and rotor components for its new generation of pure electric vehicles, and it is expected to start mass production and supply at the end of the second quarter of 2024. At the same time, the company has also been recognized by international customers, and its international business is being developed. By the end of 2023, the company’s cumulative shipments will be nearly 2.6 million units, and its products will be used in more than 40 models.
With the gradual increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, the market size of new energy drive motors and electric drive systems has grown rapidly. In order to meet the growing demand of downstream customers in the future, Founder Motor continued to invest in capacity construction in 2023, and achieved partial completion and production of the project with an annual output of 1.8 million drive motors in Lishui, Zhejiang; Zhejiang Deqing plans to build a new project with an annual output of 3 million drive motors. The first phase of the project with an annual output of 800,000 units has also been partially completed and put into production, and the main factory building of the second phase of the project with an annual output of 2.2 million units has started construction.
The continued increase in orders also provided support for Founder Motor’s performance.
In 2023, the company achieved operating income of 2.496 billion yuan, an increase of 7.09% over the same period last year; achieved a total net profit of 100 million yuan, an increase of 143.29% over the same period last year; and achieved shareholders’ equity attributable to shareholders of the listed parent company of 1.408 billion yuan, an increase of 11.87% over the end of last year.
Regarding the supplier designation letter for the Xiaopeng Motors project, Founder Motor also warned of risks, saying that the “Supplier Designation Letter of Intent” is an acknowledgement of the product development and supply qualifications for the designated project, and does not constitute an order or sales contract. The actual supply volume is subject to the formal order or sales contract.
At the same time, factors such as new energy vehicle industry policies, the overall situation of the automobile market, and Xiaopeng Motors’ adjustments to its production plans or demand may affect the production plans and demand of vehicle manufacturers, thereby bringing uncertainty to the company’s supply volume.
In addition, the content and progress of the project development and implementation are subject to the joint efforts of both parties. The company will actively carry out product development, production, supply and other work, while strengthening risk management. As no specific orders have been signed, it is expected that this matter will have no significant impact on the company’s revenue and profit levels this year.
Post time: May-24-2024