After NIO (NYSE: NIO), Chinese electric car startups Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI), and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) both went public in the US this year. Why did they all choose to go public in the US and not in Hong Kong or the Chinese mainland?
An article published today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) explains this, and the following is a translated version of the full article.
Perhaps it never occurred to people that with the tech and financial wars between the US and China so heated, three Chinese auto tech companies, NIO, Li Auto, and Xpeng, have all gone public in the US.
What is the logic behind this, not on the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but on the New York Stock Exchange in the land under Donald Trump's jurisdiction?
Before answering this question, let's take a look at the American electric car startup Tesla.
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Back in 2004, in its second year of existence, Tesla secured Series A funding and went public in 2010.
In the 10 years so far, Tesla's performance in the stock market has not been smooth, but its stock price has risen sharply since its Shanghai factory went into operation, once rising to $2,295, making it the car company with the world's highest market capitalization.
Why can Tesla, whose annual sales volume is only 1/40th of Toyota's, have a market capitalization once close to $500 billion, almost the combined market capitalization of all German, American and Japanese car companies?
Simply put, the core issue is that the disruptive innovations and revolutionary changes it brings to the automotive industry are unprecedented. It is the new energy smart car that represents the future direction of the automobile.
Looking at the three newly listed Chinese electric car startups, while the Trump administration has threatened to reexamine Chinese companies listed in the U.S., these three companies, like Tesla, represent the Internet and high-tech direction of the automobile.
And they have a good market and sales track record in China, especially with high-income earners.
Capital knows the value these companies can bring to the market, so the U.S. capital markets are still rationally enthusiastic about welcoming Chinese electric car startups.
And to protect against uncertainty, it took only 29 days after "Li Auto" for Xpeng to be approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
On August 27, Xpeng successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and raised $1.72 billion (the highest) and $1.5 billion (the lowest), setting a record for the highest IPO in the history of global new energy vehicles.
Xpeng's market capitalization on the first day of listing was nearly $15 billion, and drove the stock price of NIO and Li Auto soared.
In August, the three companies collectively achieved record monthly sales of 3,965, 2,711 and 2,057 units in China.
That's the logic behind Chinese EV startups quickly logging onto the NYSE.
Now back to the SSE's Star Market, where traditional car maker Geely, in addition to Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group, WM Motor, Hozon Auto and NIO, wants to go public. And Geely became the first company in China's auto industry to land on the Star Market on Sept. 28.
Star Market's focus has evolved from technological innovation to scientific innovation, with more emphasis on core technology research. So why did Geely manage to land on Star Market before the new powerhouse?
First of all, its sales and revenue are big enough among these competitors. And Geely's performance is also among the best among domestic car companies, ranking 4th in the sales ranking in August.These are the basic conditions.
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In addition, another important factor is that Geely is already among the top private companies launching satellites in China. Its finished rockets have been placed in a safe and are lining up for launch at the National Satellite Launch Center.
So, from that perspective, Geely seems to be on par with Tesla, the first US private company to launch a rocket, perhaps a key factor in Geely's landing on the BSE's Star Market.
WM Motor, once the third oldest of the new car makers, announced on Sept. 22 that it had raised 10 billion yuan in Series D funding, making it the largest single round of funding in the history of Chinese electric car startups.
More notably, Shanghai State-owned investment platform, SAIC and Baidu became the key strategic investors in this round of financing.
Subsequently, with further collaboration between Baidu and WM Motor, while announcing the mass production of the AVP automated valet parking, it announced the next step in its technology strategy to create an EC (Everything Connected) intelligent terminal for everything connected travel.
By now, Baidu AVP technology will enter the market at the end of this year and early next year with the launch of WM Motor's third generation model.
The process of WM Motor's landing in Star Market will also be further accelerated. In the end, the enhanced application of science and technology in automobiles is the basic logic for its Star Market listing.
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