Source: GAC Weilai

    "The strategic investor is finally determined, pack up and start again!" On the evening of January 5, GAC NIO CEO Liao Bing said with emotion on social media, "It's worth noting the life of Autobots."

    That evening, GAC Group issued an announcement, agreeing to the joint venture GAC NIO New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. to implement a capital increase and share expansion plan through the introduction of strategic investors, and sign a capital increase and share expansion agreement, with a total capital increase of approximately 2.405 billion yuan. As GAC Wei’s first large-scale financing after the angel round, this is almost the life-saving money of GAC Wei.

    According to the announcement, GAC Group increased its capital by approximately 482 million yuan through its wholly-owned subsidiary, GAC Aian New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., and Guangdong Zhutou Intelligent Technology Investment Co., Ltd., as a strategic investor, increased its capital by approximately 1.923 billion yuan. After the capital increase, the company and its wholly-owned subsidiary, GAC Aian New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., will hold 25% of the equity of GAC NIO New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd.

    According to the data from Tianyan Check, in the current capital structure of GAC Weilai, GAC Group and Weilai Auto still hold 45% each and are the major shareholders of GAC Weilai.

    The background of GAC NIO’s capital increase and share expansion is that GAC Group, Zhujiang Investment Management Group and Guangdong Yuanzhi Technology Group have reached a smart car project contract. GAC Group issued an announcement stating that the smart car project will create a new generation of smart cars for generation Z users. , And strive to deliver 250,000 vehicles by 2025, with a total output value of over 40 billion yuan, and nearly 4,000 new jobs. The first phase of the project is expected to invest 3 billion yuan, and the follow-up investment will exceed 10 billion yuan.

    The carrier of this smart car project is GAC Weilai.

    GAC Weilai, which was established in 2018, relies on the two big trees of GAC Group and Weilai Automobile, but its presence in the new car camp is not high. Strengthening users’ brand recognition and recognition of GAC Weilai has become a top priority .

    After the financing is completed, GAC Weilai's business model may usher in adjustments. Liao Bing once told Future Auto Daily that the arrival of funds is mainly to accelerate the two aspects. First, the mode of running out of local areas is quickly copied to other areas, and the second is to accelerate the company's free technology preparation and free platform development.

    Liao Bing revealed that in the future, GAC Weilai will open two new product lines, including passenger cars and special vehicles. Among them, the brand-new product sequence will expand three to four models, mainly crossover cars and SUVs. Special-purpose vehicles are neither like cars nor SUVs. They are "more special vehicles".