Energy Weekly – LEAP MOTOR will get 2.5 billion in financing

Here is Energy Weekly report. We are committed to bringing together all the hot topics and new launching vehicles in the new energy area.

Last week, the Chinese new energy brand- LEAP MOTOR announced that it planned to accomplish the A-round financing of 2 billion yuan. After this round of financing, the valuation of LEAP MOTOR will be more than 8 billion yuan. In addition, the price of Tesla Model 3 in China has been released finally after two years of launching. And another two models of Tesla have gone on a big sale as well. And now let’s have a total look at it.

The latest news

1.     Smart will stop the booking of gasoline model next year. In 2020, only EV version will be launched in Europe.

Recently, the Smart Germany Official announced that Smart will only launch EV version in Europe from 2020. And the deadline for online booking of gasoline model is March 31, 2019. Previously, Smart has canceled all the BRABUS models. And now the gasoline model will be gone next year, too.

Editor: From now, Smart is very firm in the transformation of electrification and the tiny models such as Smart seems to be more suitable for full electrification. The only consideration is whether the fully electricized Smart can be accepted by European users.

2.     LEAP MOTOR will accomplish the financing of 2.5 billion yuan and aims at 10,000 units next year.

Recently, LEAP MOTOR announced that it planned to accomplish the A-round financing of 2.5 billion yuan and it has reached nearly 2 billion yuan at present. It is led by Shanghai Electric and followed by Industrial Securities and the old shareholder Sequoia Capital. Among them, Sequoia Capital also participated in the Pre-A round of financing. After the A-round financing, the valuation of LEAP MOTOR will exceed 8 billion yuan and officially become one of the unicorn companies.

Editor: LEAP MOTOR has rarely announced its financing situation. Although it always keeps a low profile among the new automakers, it has achieved a lot. Its first model will be launched on January 3, next year. And in terms of the delivery target, Zhu Jiaming, founder and chairman of LEAP MOTOR, said that 10,000 units would be ready to delivery next year. And let's look forward to it. 

3.     Tesla released the price of Model 3, big sale of Model S/X

Recently, Tesla has offered the price of Model 3 to the pre-order customers. Model 3 Long Range Dual Motors starts at 540k yuan and Model 3 Performance starts at 590k yuan. In order that more and more Chinese consumers could enjoy Tesla products with lower vehicle cost, Tesla chooses to bear majority of tariffs. The price of Model 3 and Model X sold in China has been reduced by 12-26%.

Editor: Tesla goes on sale with the biggest mark-down, you may be interested to check it out. 

New Models

1. New Audi Q7 e-tron, price: 808,800 yuan

On November 21st, the Audi Q7 e-tron 2019 was officially launched with the price of 808,800 yuan. The appearance and the interior of the new model are basically the same as those of the old model. And there will be more configurations adding, including heated seats, luxurious atmosphere lights, negative ion generators and  smart phone port etc. In terms of power, the new model is still equipped with a plug-in hybrid system consisting of a 2.0T turbo-charged engine and an electric motor, which could make a pure electric edurance of 56 kilometers and the total cruising range of 1,070 kilometers.

Editor: The new Audi Q7 e-tron has a reduction of 70,000 yuan, compared with the old model. And lots of practical configurations are added at the same time. With this kind of sincere upgrade, those who are thinking about purchasing a new car could take it into consideration.