A123 Wanxiang is standing in the frontier of the world in the field of new energy.
January 15, 2024
After experiencing the twists and turns between gains and losses, Lu Guanqiu finally took the coveted A123 into his arms. Will China's electric vehicle industry go on the road to prosperity?
On January 30, Wanxiang Group announced that on the evening of January 28, US local time, the US Foreign Investment Commission (CIFUS) formally approved and agreed to acquire Wanxiang Group’s A123 system company. Wanxiang and A123 will deliver the acquisition and it is expected to be completed soon. At this point, this purchase that lasted more than five months is finally drawing to a close.
Wan Guanqiu, chairman of Wanxiang Group’s Board of Directors, opened his first business after the acquisition was successful. He said, “The acquisition of A123 makes it possible for us to enter the frontier of the world after entering the new energy field for 14 years.”
Universal's interest in A123 dates back to the 2010 World Expo. At that time, Wanxiang was the battery supplier for the World Expo New Energy Vehicle, and when the manufacturer talked about electric vehicle cooperation, the other party dropped the following sentence: "A123 is the world's best new energy battery company." "Must try to find ways to cooperate with A123." After returning from Shanghai, Lu Guanqiu took the initiative to attack American companies.
Lu Guanqiu successfully acquired A123. SAIC appears quite calm. "The joint venture between SAIC and A123, Shanghai Jiexin, is operated as a battery supplier for the Roewe electric vehicle, and the battery supply is also operating normally." SAIC (16.88, -0.27, -1.57%) said that with the success of Wanxiang With the acquisition of A123, there may be changes in the shareholders in the future, and changes to the future operations of the company may be scheduled later.
In March 2012, A123 became financially troubled due to the battery self-ignition. In August, Wanxiang signed an investment agreement with A123 and eventually acquired 80% of A123's equity. Subsequently, Wanxiang injected the first capital of 25 million US dollars. To the surprise of the outside world, two months later, A123 suddenly announced the termination of its cooperation with Wanxiang and filed a bankruptcy application with the court. For these twists and turns, Lu Guanqiu said, "In this merger and acquisition case, Wanxiang has never been out of the game."
China regards electric vehicles as the main direction for the development of new energy vehicles, which has prompted a large number of electric vehicle support companies to begin transferring to China. "The next five to ten years, the biggest opportunity for the development of electric vehicles in China, which is one of the reasons why A123 eventually chooses Chinese buyers." National analysts pointed out that the China Alliance is actually the largest market for A123 batteries, with With the acquisition of Wanxiang, it is expected that more domestic auto makers may choose their battery products, and the scale effect will help the battery cost to further decline.
Even at present, compared with overseas car dealers, the cost of Chinese electric vehicle batteries is 10%-20% lower. “China has a complete industrial system and relatively low labor costs, which provides conditions for the production of battery packs for electric vehicles.” The analyst said that Chinese auto companies have multiple considerations when choosing electric vehicles as a development direction. It is expected to be popularized first in the public transportation field.
