Another automotive parts giant is set to enter the embodied intelligence and low-altitude economy sectors.
Embodied intelligence, as an elastic valuation increment for traditional auto parts companies, has attracted enthusiastic attention from investors. Some investors have directly stated, "We recommend the company accelerate its layout in the robotics industry chain. It's not about waiting until the landscape becomes clear - preparation takes time, and it will be too late if we wait for others to finish exploring before entering."
In response, Yuan Yongbin, Chairman and General Manager of Bethel Automotive Safety Systems Co.,Ltd. (603596.SH), stated at the earnings conference held after market close on September 16 that the humanoid robot business field is advancing, specifically including: establishing a special fund to invest in humanoid robots and low-altitude economy-related fields; the layout of related core components is progressing according to plan.
(Image source: Company website)
**Q2 Revenue Growth Slows Down**
Bethel Automotive Safety Systems Co.,Ltd., a leading automotive parts company under the Chery system, has main businesses covering automotive braking systems, automotive intelligent driving systems, automotive steering systems, and lightweight components.
In the first half of this year, the company achieved revenue of 5.164 billion yuan, up 30.0% year-over-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 522 million yuan, up 14.2% year-over-year; adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders was 509 million yuan, up 20.7% year-over-year.
However, looking at the second quarter, growth declined significantly. Revenue was 2.526 billion yuan, down 4.2% quarter-over-quarter; net profit attributable to shareholders was 252 million yuan, down 6.8% quarter-over-quarter.
Yuan Yongbin explained, "Due to some clients' second-quarter sales falling short of expectations, this had some impact on second-quarter revenue. Based on clients' demand plans for the second half of the year, we predict that revenue in the second half will continue to grow."
From a profitability perspective, Bethel's gross margin in the first half of this year was 18.56%, compared to 22.14%, 22.14%, and 21.11% in the same periods of the past three years (2022-2024), showing a significant decline. However, looking at quarterly performance, there has been improvement, with Q1 at 17.97% and Q2 improving to 19.19%.
Regarding future gross margin changes, Yuan Yongbin believes, "The company's current project orders continue to grow. As revenue scale increases, the proportion of fixed costs will continue to decline, making a positive contribution to gross margin. As the proportion of intelligent electronic control products continues to increase, it will promote the improvement of comprehensive product gross margin. The company will also improve gross margin levels by continuously expanding product self-manufacturing rates."
Orient Securities research report states that Bethel's gross margin declined year-over-year in Q2, mainly due to annual price reduction effects. However, new projects and new product expansion are progressing smoothly, and profitability is expected to gradually improve under product structure adjustment and scale effects. According to their analysis, Bethel added 282 new designated projects in the first half of 2025, up 43.9% year-over-year, with expected annualized revenue of 4.18 billion yuan from new designated projects; Q2 added 162 new designated projects, up 80.0% year-over-year and 35.0% quarter-over-quarter.
**Accelerating Layout in Intelligent Driving and Robotics**
Automotive transformation is moving from the electrification first half to the intelligentization second half. Industry consensus is that L3+ high-level autonomous driving requires multiple redundancy in key execution areas such as braking and steering, making wire-controlled structures replacing mechanical structures a necessary condition.
Among these, wire-controlled braking has become one of the directions for rapid industry breakthrough due to relatively lower technical difficulty, specifically divided into Electronic Hydraulic Braking (EHB) and Electronic Mechanical Braking (EMB). EHB systems continue the traditional hydraulic braking system structure and are currently the mainstream braking system. EMB systems, by abandoning complex hydraulic pipelines and components, have advantages such as fast braking response, high efficiency, light system weight, and low space occupation, representing the future direction of wire-controlled braking development.
Therefore, under the current automotive intelligentization mega-cycle, as intelligent driving penetration rates continue to rise, the mass production progress of "EMB," the last piece of the intelligent driving puzzle, has also attracted great attention from investors.
Yuan Yongbin revealed that EMB and air suspension will become the company's main growth drivers in the future. Related product R&D is progressing smoothly, with production lines for 600,000 EMB units annually and 200,000 air suspension units annually currently under debugging and installation, expected to achieve mass production in the first half of next year.
Yuan Yongbin specifically pointed out that integrated chassis systems integrate braking, steering, and suspension systems, which will form competitive advantages in terms of technology, cost, and per-vehicle value.
Additionally, regarding the embodied intelligence progress that many investors are concerned about, Yuan Yongbin stated that the fund company for investing in humanoid robots and low-altitude economy fields has been established and completed filing with the Asset Management Association of China, obtaining the "Private Investment Fund Filing Certificate." Suitable target research and screening are currently underway.
Interestingly, some investors expressed dissatisfaction with Bethel's recent stock price performance, bluntly asking, "Auto parts concept stocks are hitting new highs, while Bethel has been marginalized in this bull market. What are Chairman Yuan's thoughts on this?"
Yuan Yongbin responded, "We believe the company's value has been significantly underestimated, and the company's stock price has not matched the company's value."
On September 16, Bethel's stock price rose 5.68%, closing at 51 yuan per share, with a total market capitalization of 30.93 billion yuan and a dynamic P/E ratio of 29.61 times.
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