Is it a sincere effort to build cars or a malicious attempt to defraud subsidies? What do industry insiders think of Gree's acquisition of Zhuhai Yinlong?

"When you use a Gree mobile phone to control the appliances in your home, enjoy the warmth brought by Gree at home, eat meals cooked by Gree appliances, and drive our electric cars..." This sentence contains all of Dong Mingzhu's dreams, and electric cars are also in Dong Mingzhu's future vision.

Last night, Gree purchased Zhuhai Yinlong for 13 billion yuan, and Zhuhai Yinlong will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gree Electric Appliances. With the dust settling on Gree's acquisition of Yinlong, new energy vehicles have officially become Gree's three new strategic directions alongside mobile phones and smart devices. From mobile phones to new energy vehicles, this series of "cross-border" reflects the anxiety of Gree, a traditional enterprise, in its transformation.

Leifeng.com initiated a discussion on this acquisition in the Hard Startup Open Class. Practitioners in the new energy vehicle industry have different views on this. Generally speaking, their views revolve around the following themes:

| Optimistic about the direction of new energy vehicles

• Smart Car Battery Pack Engineer Zhang Rui ：

It is a good thing, which means that new energy vehicles cannot turn back, and they can only move forward stubbornly. Sister Dong’s personality is that she will not turn back until she hits the wall, and she will not give up until she succeeds. From the national level, so much money has been invested in the new energy market, and bigwigs have entered. How much loss will it be to the national economy if they fail? Therefore, I am optimistic that even if the company cannot take off, China’s new energy vehicles will definitely take off.

| Views on “Subsidy Fraud”

In 2015, the average subsidy for a new energy vehicle was as high as 120,000 yuan. According to regulations, the national and local subsidies are matched in a 1:1 ratio. For example, in Beijing, the amount of subsidies for new energy vehicles purchased by the national government is the same as that of Beijing. Therefore, under this favorable policy environment, the "subsidy fraud theory" has been raised by many people.

• Shao Jie, Marketing Director of Lianzhu:

I am puzzled. It is not so easy to build a car, unless the home appliance industry is really not doing well. I am optimistic about the future of car manufacturing. Subsidies are now declining, and will be reduced by 20% in 2017. It is unlikely to be because of subsidies. This may be for the stock price. For listed companies such as Autex, the charging pile business only accounts for a small proportion, but they can tell a story and go out for financing. However, is it a bit too much to spend 13 billion for the stock price? Although it is all raised money.

| Focus on battery technology

Industry insiders said that Dong Mingzhu's intention is not necessarily to build cars, but to value its battery technology. New energy products will definitely be the future trend, and battery technology cannot be ignored. Therefore, mastering battery technology will give you more say in the next new energy era. In addition, some people believe that it is not impossible for Gree to apply energy storage technology to air conditioners.

• Anonymous practitioners:

At present, the core technology of new energy vehicles is batteries. I am familiar with a battery factory in Chengdu. Now First Automobile and Second Automobile use their batteries. It is said that the new generation of road tests have been completed for summer, and they are waiting for winter ones. It is said that a two-ton small truck can run 500 kilometers. The investment of a battery factory in Chengdu is about 50 million yuan per line. From this, it can be seen that the battery part is too complicated. There are also many policies and subsidies that can be used.

• Guangdong New Energy Vehicle Industry Association Chen Ruihui ：

Not only in car manufacturing, the acquisition of Yinlong will also allow the energy storage technology to be used in air conditioners, truly realizing the concept of air conditioners not requiring electricity, referring to the approach of Tesla's Iron Man.

| Self-driving bus

Yinlong's new energy vehicles are mainly buses, so Gree can continue to deepen its presence in the bus business. Self-driving cars are very popular now, and Yutong Bus's driverless buses have successfully completed road tests. Gree has accumulated certain software development experience while manufacturing mobile phones. On this basis, Gree may be able to enter the field of self-driving buses in the future.

• Marketing Director of a New Energy Vehicle Consulting Agency:

Gree's acquisition of Yinlong is a search for new profit growth points, and Yinlong has accumulated certain technologies in new energy customers. I am optimistic about this acquisition. The intelligence of automobiles is a major trend, and it is hard to say that it will not enter the field of autonomous driving.

• Feng Xiaoyu, Chief Engineer of GAC Research Institute:

Market demand determines production demand. Whether Gree will invest in self-driving buses in the future depends on whether ordinary passengers can accept the product of self-driving.

Gree Electric will face great risks as it enters a new field with large investment, large capacity and high technical threshold through acquisition.

In addition, there is another phenomenon worthy of attention. Public data shows that on June 30 last year, Dong Mingzhu's name was not on the list of the top ten shareholders of Gree Electric. Yesterday, Gree issued 642 million shares to major shareholders, group employees, CITIC Securities and other specific investors. Among them, Dong Mingzhu increased her holdings by 60.15 million shares, making her personal holdings of Gree 100 million shares, and her shareholding ratio increased to 1.3%, surpassing Qianhai Life Insurance to become the company's fourth largest shareholder, and her voice is second only to Gree Group. At this moment when Dong Mingzhu's personal control has reached its peak, we may see more shocking actions from Dong Mingzhu next.