Creating a pleasant lifestyle for the user is the word that will be heard in every event of NIO. In fact, NIO’s attention to and care for users is indeed unprecedented, and even the development plan is always given priority to users. On August 4th, at the opening ceremony of the 19th NIO House in Wenzhou China, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO, revealed many plans that had never been mentioned.
Establish a high-end brand image, and push one low-priced EV in the next two years
Qin Lihong said: “Our average retail price is higher than the average retail price of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi in China before subsidies.” This is the two models that NIO is selling – the ES8 and the ES6.
As the first production model and flagship product, the ES8 has a pre-subsidy price range of 448,000 to 456,000 without any optional package. The second model ES6 positions slightly lower, but the pre-subsidy price is also 358,000 – 498,000 yuan, directly compete with major XUVs such as BMW X3 and Audi Q5L. Moreover, the statistical data is still ES8 with a higher price because the ES6 is delivered from June 18 this year.
Combined with the market performance of NIO, the current average retail price is still very convincing and reference value. NIO’s second quarter earnings report for 2019 shows that NIO ES8 has delivered a total of 18,890 units as of the end of June, NIO ES6 has only 19 days of delivery time. Although the capacity has not been released yet, there are 413 deliveries. In the data collected by the CPCA, the cumulative sales volume of NIO ES8 in the first half of this year was 6,823, which ranked 10th among SUVs with a starting price of over 300,000 yuan (~US$42,485).
The high sales volume of a high-priced model is the recognition of the value of the product and the brand. It is not enough to rely on the high-priced model if a brand wants to establish a high-end image, the product sales and reputation are also good enough. Qin Lihong said: “NIO Automobile has initially established a high-end brand image.”
According to Qin Lihong, NIO will launch a new EV in the next two years, positioning below ES6. He also mentioned that the new car is currently under planning and will be implemented in a low-cost and fast way, which is expected to utilize the existing body structure design basis, molds, components and supply chain. According to the information we have received before, even if it is a low-priced car that is lower than ES6, but because it is based on the first-gen platform, the cost will still be higher, the final starting price will be around 300,000 yuan.
ET7 will first mass-produced in as earlier as 2022 and build on the second-gen platform.
In addition, there is also news the NIO ET Preview of the pure electric car released by NIO at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show. Not surprisingly, ET’s mass production time is postponed, and it will be launched in 2022 or later because the investment is too large. At the event, Qin Lihong called the new car “ET7”.
At the same time, Qin Lihong also revealed the detailed product information of ET7 for the first time: NIO ET7 will be built on the second-gen platform currently under development, it will be equipped with L4 driving assistance system. According to previous information, the second-gen platform of NIO will skip the L3 automatic driving system and directly develop the L4 driving assistance system, the EIC technologies will also improve.
Continue to build NIO Power
In terms of services, NIO Power, which has super charging piles, charging cars, one-button power supply, and battery swap station, it is the core part of NIO. However, perhaps due to the financial situation, NIO has slowed down the construction of NIO Power some time ago, and there are rumors that business ofNIO Power will be split.
All along, the battery exchange mode of NIO has been widely controversial in China, the slowdown construction has created many associations. At the event, Qin Lihong made a statement on NIO Power business: “We have never dumped it.” But he also said that the current NIO Power construction is indeed affected by the strategic adjustment, it will later increase the construction speed. According to reports, the substation of the Shenhai Expressway in the southern section of Wenzhou will be opened in August.
Written at the end
The battery recall made NIO ES6 schedule slower, subsidies were rampant to curb demand. NIO’s development has been affected in a short period of time, the impact is likely to be reflected in the second quarter earnings report. With the availability of new round financing, NIO’s R&D operations are expected to return to the established speed, the launch of lower-priced models in the next two years will give the stock market more confidence.
