Deliver in February to Safeguard the Basic Positions, Ideal Growth and Profit Test in Overweighted AI (02015)

On March 1, Ideal Automobile (02015) announced the delivery data for February 2026. In February, Ideal Automobile delivered 26,421 new vehicles, combined with January's 27,668 deliveries, the cumulative deliveries for the beginning of 2026 reached 54,089 vehicles. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in January, the national retail sales of passenger vehicles were 1.544 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 13.9%. The retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles were 596,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 20.0%. The market penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the overall passenger vehicle market in China was 38.6%, a decrease of 3 percentage points from the same period last year. Despite the "cold snap" in the domestic new energy passenger vehicle market in January, with a stable delivery performance, Ideal Automobile demonstrated strong market resilience, paving the way for its annual sales target. As of the end of February 2026, Ideal Automobile's cumulative delivery volume reached 1,594,304 vehicles, surpassing the milestone of 1.59 million vehicles, with a continuously expanding user base. Supporting this achievement is its continuously improving distribution and recharging network: Ideal Automobile currently has 539 retail centers nationwide, covering 160 cities; 548 after-sales service centers and authorized service centers covering 223 cities. Ideal Automobile has deployed 4,054 Ideal Supercharging Stations nationwide, with 22,447 charging piles, continuously improving the convenience of recharging. Despite a steady start to the year, Ideal Automobile still faces severe market challenges. Financial reports show that Ideal Automobile's third-quarter revenue fell by 36.2% year-on-year, with a net loss of 624 million yuan, while the net profit for the third quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2025 was 2.8 billion yuan and 1.1 billion yuan, respectively. Industry analysts pointed out that JPMorgan Chase released a research report stating that the performance of the Chinese automobile market this year will exhibit a mixed trend of 2018 and 2025: 1) Due to the overall growth rate of the passenger car market falling into negative territory (similar to 2018), the industry may show relatively weak performance for the year; 2) However, driven by new vehicle releases, seasonal trends, and changes in profit expectations (similar to 2025), market fluctuations throughout the year may intensify. Whether absolute or relative returns can be achieved ultimately depends on whether corporate profits exceed expectations, and in the context of rising costs, this will be more challenging. Market predictions suggest that Ideal Automobile has already formulated a preliminary growth plan of about 40% for 2026. With the imminent launch of the new L9 in the second quarter, Ideal Automobile's "turnaround battle" in 2026 will officially enter the challenging stage. At a critical juncture when the new energy vehicle market in China is shifting from high-speed growth to high-quality development, whether this transformation can help it achieve its growth plan is worth continued market attention. UBS stated that Ideal Automobile's current valuation level is attractive. Ideal currently trades at a valuation lower than that more than 95% of the time since its listing, with net cash accounting for about two-thirds of its market value, reflecting a fairly pessimistic market sentiment. With the imminent release of the L9, the bank believes that dawn is emerging. Based on its high attractiveness in risk-return, UBS reiterated their "Buy" rating. UBS believes that from now until the second quarter when it is officially launched, market sentiment is expected to gradually improve, aiding in enhancing investors' visibility on other model update plans. The flagship SUV L9 will be refreshed and listed in the second quarter, potentially accelerating growth on top of the low base of 2025. Despite facing challenges of rising commodity costs, the company is expected to be more resilient than most peers due to its high-end positioning and profit buffering. UBS believes that now is the right time to reconsider this stock. Ideal Automobile heavily invests in AI, Li Xiang responds to doubts: 70% of the time is still focused on cars Ideal Automobile is fully committed to body intelligence, with the all-new L9 becoming its first landing carrier. In early February, Ideal Automobile CEO Li Xiang wrote a post to promote the new Ideal L9 and announced that the L9 will be officially launched in the second quarter of this year. Li Xiang said, "In the past two years, many people have asked me whether we are focusing on AI and not paying attention to cars. On the contrary, we deeply understand that body intelligence must be rooted on a good car to truly create value for users. So, 70% of my time is still focused on cars, which allows us to better understand how to evolve cars into true Siasun Robot & Automation." Li Xiang pointed out, "The all-new Ideal L9 is not only a good car but also the pioneering work of body intelligent Siasun Robot & Automation." Huatai issued a research report stating that Ideal Automobile aims to become the best-performing company in the field of body intelligence in the next 3-5 years. The bank believes that with improved organizational effectiveness, technology implementation is expected to accelerate, and body intelligence through VLA breakthroughs in scenarios will become the core competitive advantage for Ideal in 2026.