Welcome back to the podcast. Neo deliveries and margins are improving. Chinese EU factories on the way and Lee Auto slips into the red. Plus stay tuned. Later in the show, I'll tell you why one Chinese people carrier set a world record for the amount of people on board. Welcome to EV News, China, the podcast dedicated to the world's largest electric vehicle market.

Each day, I bring you the latest headlines, insights and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry

and decode how fast-moving developments in the East are shaping the global EV landscape.

We'll start with Neo-Q3 deliveries are swelling as margins and cash are improving. In the third quarter,

Neo delivered 87,071 vehicles. That's up 41% on the quarter compared to last year,

and 21% up on Q2 this year. Revenue hit a record 21.79 billion yuan. That's around $3 billion, rising 16.7% year-on-year and 14.7% quarter-on-quarter.

And the quality of its finance is improved as well. Gross margin climbed to 13.9% while vehicle margin reached 14.7. The balance sheet also looks less fragile.

Neo ended the quarter with 36.7 billion yuan in cash, nearly 10 billion yuan more than three

months before, and it turned both operating and free cash flow positive. And the outlook is more

cautious on volume, but ambitious on hitting a

profit. For the fourth quarter, Neo guides to 125,000 deliveries implying growth of around 72%

from a year ago, with revenue up to 34 billion yuan. That is roughly 30,000 vehicles below previous targets that they

had set. But it's a clear signal that management now values margin, cash flow and the quality of the

business over just growing for growth's sake. Well, Great Wall Motor wants to be a major European player,

not a niche importer. So the Chinese carmaker is planning a European factory

with the capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year by 2029 and has started scouting sites across the block.

The push is part of an effort to revive weak sales in the region. According to Reuters,

Great Wall will launch at least seven new models or derivatives for Europe in a first wave from mid-20206.

Parker Shee, president of GwM International, says teams are weighing factory locations in Spain and Hungary,

among other options.

It's the most detailed update on the group's European ambition since 2023.

Great Wall is following a path already taken by its Chinese rivals.

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