BAIC BluePark has recently attracted attention for its impressive performance.

Amid the overall market downturn, BAIC BluePark's stock price has risen against the trend.

As of the close on July 5, BAIC BluePark's stock price closed at 9.12 yuan per share, with a total market value of 50.8 billion yuan. Compared with the lowest point of 3.56 yuan per share in February this year, BAIC BluePark's stock price has increased by 145.82% in just five months, and its market value has soared by over 30 billion yuan.

Behind this round of stock price surge against the trend, Huawei undoubtedly plays an important role.

As early as March, the media revealed plans for the first model under the cooperation between BAIC BluePark and Huawei's Smart Selection model. Recently, BAIC BluePark's Enjoy S9, a collaboration with Huawei, has been listed on the Huawei Mall HarmonyOS Smart Travel family, priced between 450,000 and 550,000 yuan, and is expected to go on sale in August.

In fact, Kankan Finance has previously tracked BAIC BluePark multiple times. As a former new energy sales champion, BAIC BluePark has not developed smoothly in recent years. Now, by choosing to emulate Seres and deepen its cooperation with Huawei, can BAIC BluePark truly replicate Seres' comeback myth?

Enhanced Cooperation

This is not the first time BAIC BluePark has cooperated with Huawei.

As early as September 2017, BAIC BluePark's high-end automotive brand "Arcfox" had already signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei.

In the cooperation, both parties will carry out comprehensive cooperation in areas such as technological research and development, product innovation, and intelligent transformation. Among the three modes provided by Huawei, BAIC BluePark chose the "Inside" mode, which is mainly led by the automaker. After integrating resources from both parties, they jointly define and jointly develop, and the automaker will use Huawei's full-stack intelligent vehicle solutions.

However, this model did not succeed. According to statistics, Arcfox sold only 4,933 vehicles in 2020, while Seres SF5 Huawei Smart Selection orders exceeded 6,000 in just one week.

Of course, unlike Seres, which chose "ALL IN" Huawei early on, due to background limitations, BAIC BluePark's cooperation with Huawei appears hesitant. From a product perspective, Arcfox's vehicles seem more like "assembled" new energy vehicles. Their bodies come from "contract manufacturing emperor" Magna, autonomous driving technology comes from Huawei and Bosch, intelligent cabins and electronic control systems come from Huawei, batteries come from CATL and SK Innovation, and the powertrain is jointly developed by international first-tier parts manufacturers such as Siemens, Valeo, and BorgWarner. Arcfox is more responsible for the final "assembly" stage.

Currently, Arcfox's 2023 models include the Alpha S Pioneer Edition, Alpha S Forest Edition, Alpha T Forest Edition, Alpha T5, and the compact MPV Koala. Although there are many models, sales are not impressive. According to data from Chezhujia, Arcfox's total sales in 2023 were 30,016 vehicles, and its sales in the first five months of 2024 were 9,818 vehicles. As of the end of May, Arcfox's total production had just exceeded 60,000 vehicles. It is worth noting that Ideal Motor's monthly sales have already exceeded 30,000 vehicles.

Against this backdrop, BAIC BluePark chose to deepen its cooperation with Huawei.

In May this year, BAIC BluePark and Huawei jointly held a pre-sale launch for their first Smart Selection model, the Enjoy S9, the first executive-level luxury flagship sedan powered by HarmonyOS. At that time, Yu Chengdong personally explained that in addition to announcing the price and launch date, the Enjoy S9 would reshape executive-level luxury, rivaling D-class luxury sedans such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Long Wheelbase and BMW 7 Series Long Wheelbase in terms of interior space. This has also attracted a lot of attention and pursuit from investors.

From the current perspective, the capital market is clearly expecting BAIC BluePark to become the next Seres.

Ideal vs Reality

After cooperating with Huawei, Seres achieved a comeback.

Whether it's stock price or performance, today's Seres is vastly different from Dongfeng Xiaokang. Especially in terms of stock price, as of the close on July 5, Seres' stock price closed at 86.9 yuan per share, with a market value of 131.2 billion yuan. Before cooperating with Huawei, Seres' stock price hovered around 8.5 yuan for a long time. In other words, Seres' stock price has multiplied by 10.

With the example of Seres, it is inevitable that people will have more imagination about BAIC BluePark.

However, can BAIC BluePark truly replicate Seres' comeback myth? The answer is full of uncertainty.

First, the Enjoy S9 launched by Huawei this time is mainly positioned as a high-end executive-level new energy sedan, with a starting price of over 450,000 yuan. In contrast, Seres' Wenjie models are mainly priced in the 200,000-300,000 yuan range. It is important to note that the automotive market has a "pyramid" structure, with smaller market capacity as you go up. With such a high positioning, the Enjoy S9 is destined to have difficulty achieving high sales.

Second, considering BAIC BluePark's current operating conditions, it is difficult for it to make a "big bet" like Seres. According to financial reports, BAIC BluePark has suffered losses for nine consecutive years, with a net loss of 5.4 billion yuan in 2023 and a net loss after deducting non-recurring gains and losses of 6.018 billion yuan. Years of losses have also put increasing pressure on BAIC BluePark's cash flow. As of the first quarter of this year, BAIC BluePark's asset-liability ratio was 79.87%, with short-term borrowings and payables reaching 5.523 billion yuan and 7.165 billion yuan, respectively. In contrast, BAIC BluePark's monetary funds were only 4.768 billion yuan.

It is worth noting that Seres' current achievements are not solely due to Huawei's help, but also due to its own efforts. From 2022 to 2023, Seres' sales expenses alone reached 4.82 billion yuan and 5.465 billion yuan, respectively, resulting in losses of 3.832 billion yuan and 2.45 billion yuan in 2022 and 2023, respectively. In contrast, BAIC BluePark's sales expenses in 2022-2023 were only 1.992 billion yuan and 1.999 billion yuan. If BAIC BluePark wants to reach Seres' level, its sales expenses may need to more than double, but the current cash flow is not sufficient to support such an operation.

Of course, it is not difficult for BAIC BluePark to raise funds. According to statistics, since its restructuring and listing, BAIC BluePark has raised a total of 12.6 billion yuan through market-based financing. In May last year, BAIC BluePark completed a financing of 6.03 billion yuan through private placement.