Summary of Key Points
Yadea's revenue and profits both declined in the first half of 2026 (revenue decreased by 5%, net profit decreased by 27.2%). This is due to the electric vehicle industry entering a stage of competitive contention, influenced by the implementation of new national standards, the phasing out of subsidies, and the overconsumption of demand for older models. Traditional brands such as Yadea and Aima are under pressure, while emerging players like Ninebot and Xiniu are experiencing growth against the trend through their focus on intelligence. Yadea has attempted to increase prices and transition to a high-end, intelligent product strategy, but with limited success: price hikes have not covered rising costs, and its high-end models have not shown a clear growth trajectory, remaining vulnerable to fluctuations in the industry cycle.
I. Yadea's Performance: A Rollercoaster Ride, Without Its Own Stabilizer
Yadea's performance closely follows the industry trends: in 2024, as the benefits of product upgrades faded, industry sales dropped by 11.6%, leading to a 18.8% decline in Yadea's revenue and a 51.8% drop in profit; in 2025, policies encouraging the replacement of old models with new ones boosted industry sales by 16.6%, resulting in a 31.1% increase in Yadea's revenue and a doubling of its profit; in 2026, with the reduction of subsidies and the overconsumption of old models, industry sales fell by 12.6%, causing another decline for Yadea.
Why is this the case? On one hand, Yadea is the industry leader with a significant market share, so any industry change affects it significantly. On the other hand, it has not yet found a growth strategy that is independent of the cycle—either through product premiumization or customer loyalty. As a result, it can only ride on the industry's ups and downs.
II. Price Hikes Lead to Increased Losses: Rising Costs Outpace Price Increases, and Expenses Continue to Rise
To counter declining sales, Yadea increased prices by over 300 yuan across all categories in April 2026, with electric bicycles seeing a 8% increase in price and scooters a 3% increase. However, this led to a 14% decrease in gross profit margin, a drop of 1.9 percentage points.
The issues lie in two areas:
1. Uncontrollable Costs: New national standards require higher safety features (such as better batteries and brakes), increasing costs. Yadea cannot pass these additional costs onto consumers for fear of losing market share and must bear them itself.
2. Unreducing Expenses: To attract customers, sales expenses increased by 7% (with advertising spending rising by 52%) and research and development expenses by 9%. These expenses are deducted from profits, resulting in a more substantial profit decline than the decrease in revenue, as well as a 65% reduction in cash flow due to inventory and accounts receivable.
III. Emerging Players Stealing Market Share: Targeting the Mass Market
Players like Ninebot and Xiniu, which previously focused on high-end products, are now entering the mass market. They have reduced their prices by 7.6% and 3.6%, respectively, directly competing with Yadea in its core price range (below 4,000 yuan).
Why are these new players growing despite the industry trends? Consumers now place more emphasis on intelligent features (such as smartphone control and positioning systems). These emerging companies, with a background in consumer electronics, have more mature intelligent technologies. In contrast, Yadea has launched high-end intelligent models, but has not disclosed sales or user activity data for these products, indicating that it has not yet successfully entered this market segment.
IV. High-End Intelligence as the Way Forward, but Yadea Has Not Yet Seized the Opportunity
The industry has shifted from a focus on volume (price wars) to a focus on value. Yadea is trying to transform, but its efforts are superficial:
- It has launched high-end models, but lacks data to prove their success (financial reports do not provide specific sales or profit margin figures for these products).
- It lacks the ability to manage user relationships (it does not disclose the number of connected vehicles, active users, or revenue from software services), preventing it from generating additional revenue from intelligent features (such as membership and premium services).
For Yadea, high-end intelligence is not just about selling a few expensive products; it requires creating a demand for the brand and its intelligent features, ensuring that profits are not subject to industry cycles. Its current position as the world's number one seller is merely a result of its past scale. To succeed, it must demonstrate its ability to generate revenue based on value.
Conclusion
Yadea's current difficulties reflect the typical challenges faced by traditional manufacturing companies during industry transformation periods: relying on scale and cyclical trends while lacking differentiated competitiveness. To break this cycle, it must either fully embrace high-end intelligence or find new sources of profit growth. Otherwise, it will once again be affected by industry downturns. The rise of new players also serves as a reminder to traditional brands that failing to meet consumer demands (in this case, for intelligence) could lead to disruption, regardless of their size.