WM Motors, the Chinese electric car start-up filed to go public in Hong Kong

June 2, 2022: -On Wednesday, Chinese electric car start-up WM Motor filed to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

It is also called Weltmeister; the electric car company revealed that its annual losses became twice of it from the last three years to 8.2 billion yuan, while revenue over doubled, which increased by nearly 170% to 4.7 billion yuan in the previous year.

The pricing information was not included in the public version of the filing.

Although China’s electric car market is the largest globally and a fast-growing one, automakers such as BYD and Tesla overlook sales. Chinese start-ups like Nio and Xpeng, both listed in the U.S. and Hong Kong, have made headlines but still have a small market portion.

WM Motor has sold lesser cars. The company reported in the filing that as of Dec. 31, it had sold 83,495 electric vehicles since its first model launched in September 2018.

Xpeng established its first model about the same time and said its cumulative deliveries surpassed 137,953 at the end of December. Nio said its incremental deliveries totaled 167,070 as of December, although it launched its first car about a year before its start-up rivals.

In January, WM Motor CEO Freeman Shen said that he expected demand for electric vehicles in China to nearly double from the previous year. He added that chip shortages and Covid-related supply chain troubles would increase costs for companies making the cars.

According to the filing, WM Motor’s SUVs and sedans sell in a price range of about 160,800 yuan to 280,000 yuan. That’s similar to Xpeng’s price range.

On Wednesday, the company said its competitive advantages include focusing on the mainstream market, self-owned manufacturing facilities, and intense research and development capabilities.

Last year, the filing proved that WM Motor spent 20.7% of revenue on research and development, while Xpeng reported it spent 19.6% of revenue on that research.

WM Motor had 1,141 employees in research and development, 28.9% of the total headcount. Manufacturing workers accounted for the most influential share, at 54.1%.

For comparison, Xpeng said its sales and marketing team accounted for the most significant share of its employees, at 45%. Five thousand two hundred seventy-one research and development employees accounted for 38% of the headcount.