Smart and Sustainable Electric Mobility
NIO aims to grab market share from Volkswagen by introducing a model priced below 30,000 euros to the European market, a German magazine quoted William Li as saying.
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NIO (NYSE: NIO) aims to grab market share from Volkswagen by introducing a model to Europe priced under 30,000 euros ($33,060), according to a Reuters report today.
William Li, the founder, chairman and CEO of the Chinese electric vehicle company, told German magazine Der Spiegel about the plan, according to the report.
"Yes, in terms of price that means we are also attacking Volkswagen more strongly than before," Der Spiegel quoted Li as saying, without providing further details.
Li has previously said on several occasions that NIO is creating two sub-brands codenamed ALPS and Firefly to target the broader mass market.
On January 26, NIO co-founder and president Qin Lihong said at a face-to-face communication with owners that NIO is preparing models for a sub-brand codenamed ALPS, with deliveries expected to begin within 2024.
The Firefly project is also in the planning stage and will be delivered first to European consumers, Qin said.
A smaller model of NIO is in development and will debut in Europe and is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2024, according to Qin.
A source told CnEVPost on January 31 that NIO's F4 plant for the Firefly project will be located in Chuzhou, Anhui province, while the F3 plant for the ALPS project will continue to be located in Hefei, which is home to two current NIO plants.
The F4 plant will also assemble vehicles for the Firefly project and produce some parts, the source said, adding that the brand will initially produce vehicles mainly for export to Europe, with production scheduled for the third quarter of 2024.
The Chuzhou plant will produce small cars priced at around 100,000 yuan (15,000), the source said.
The F3 plant, which will remain located in NeoPark, will mainly produce models under the mid- to high-end sub-brand internally codenamed ALPS, targeting a market with prices ranging from RMB 150,000 to RMB 300,000, according to the source.
On February 21, local media Cailian reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that NIO's fourth vehicle assembly plant will be located in Chuzhou, Anhui province, and will produce models of the Firefly.
The Firefly model will first be sold in Europe, targeting the Volkswagen POLO market, Cailian said, citing the source, adding that, like NIO's other products, they will support battery swap.
Compared to the main NIO brand and the ALPS program, the Firefly models will have weaker smart driving features, but they will still have a significant smart advantage over the European carmaker's offerings, the source said.
NIO is currently switching models based on the NT 1.0 platform to the NT 2.0 platform, while the ALPS project, which targets a price tag of around RMB 200,000, will be based on the NT 3.0 platform, a Yicai report said on February 21.
The main NIO brand's models are too large for European consumers, and the Firefly project's smaller models will be more popular with European consumers, Yicai said, citing an unnamed NEV company executive.
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On April 28, NIO saw a record 62,746 battery swap services provided in a single day, with the stations along highways providing 104 percent more service than the previous day.
NIO (NYSE: NIO) saw its battery swap stations reach a new record high in services as China heads into the Labor Day holiday travel rush.
On April 28, NIO provided a record 62,746 battery swap services in a single day, the company announced today.
April 29 to May 3 is the Labor Day holiday in China this year, which is usually the peak of driving trips for Chinese people.
NIO owners will have free and unlimited access to the company's battery swap stations along highways from April 28 to May 4, although vehicles used for operations are excluded, it announced on April 25.
Most NIO owners currently have the benefit of four to six free battery swap services per month, with a few early adopters having unlimited access.
On April 28, NIO's battery swap stations along highways provided 16,584 free services to owners, up 104 percent from 8,115 the previous day, according to figures released today.
This is the second time NIO has offered such benefits to owners after the Chinese New Year holiday earlier this year.
NIO offered free access to battery swap stations from January 13 to February 5 during the Chinese New Year holiday, which ran from January 21 to January 27.
On January 27, NIO's battery swap stations provided 62,356 services in a single day, which was the previous high.
As of April 29, NIO had 1,379 battery swap stations in China, 364 of which are located along highways.
The company also has 2,536 charging stations in China, offering 15,068 charging piles, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.
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Disgruntled ES7 owners have asked NIO to offer additional benefits as compensation, but have been denied. | NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG
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The new ES6 will be a strategically important model for NIO (NYSE: NIO), and it has sparked complaints from ES7 owners ahead of its official launch.
Many ES7 owners recently formed WeChat groups in order to collectively protest to NIO that the automaker has betrayed them because the new ES6 will not only have lower prices, but also have competitive edges with their vehicles.
As background, the NIO ES7 was launched on June 15, 2022, and is the company's second model based on the NT 2.0 platform, and the first SUV on the second-generation platform.
The NIO ES7 is currently offered in two versions, priced at RMB 468,000 ($67,710) and 548,000 including the battery. If consumers choose to purchase using the battery rental service BaaS, the starting price is RMB 398,000.
NIO began deliveries of the ES7 on August 28, 2022, with a cumulative total of 15,123 units delivered by the end of January this year, according to data monitored by CnEVPost. Delivery figures for the model in February and March are not available.
The NIO ES7 is similar to the new NIO ES8 in appearance and key specifications, but is smaller in size and less expensive. Previously, the model that sits behind the flagship ES8 in NIO's product array was the ES6.
It is worth noting that the ES7 is not the NT 2.0 version of the old ES6. The old ES6, based on the NT 1.0 platform, was still on sale after the ES7 was released.
On April 18, NIO officially launched the 2023 ET7 sedan on the first day of the Shanghai auto show and unveiled the ES6.
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Pre-orders for the new ES6 are already being taken, but the official launch will be in late May. William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, said the model will move quickly from official launch to delivery.
Although NIO has not yet announced the prices of the new ES6, the model is widely seen as starting at less than RMB 400,000, considering that the old ES6 previously had a starting price of RMB 386,000 including the battery.
The unveiling of the new ES6 has unexpectedly sparked discontent among many ES7 owners, who believe the upcoming SUV has a strong appeal but significantly lower prices, despite the ES7's stronger features and space.
These owners also believe that the ES7 uses many NT 1.0 platform components, while the new ES6, by contrast, uses all NT 2.0 platform components.
To calm the discontent of these ES7 owners, NIO held a communication meeting with them on April 27, with Li's personal participation.
However, a recording circulating on the Internet shows that the communication was inconclusive, and Li denied the owners' request for additional benefits, despite a lot of pressure from them.
Notably, on Weibo, a large number of users expressed support for Li, arguing that the owners' demands were unreasonable and that NIO should stick to its current stance.
($1 = RMB 6.9121)
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