NIO's first phone model will be released and begin deliveries in the third quarter, William Li said in April.
NIO (NYSE: NIO)'s first mobile phone model completed radio clearance in China, paving the way for its launch later this year.
The electric vehicle (EV) maker's mobile device, model number N2301, received radio approval on June 19, according to a disclosure on the website of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The device will support 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network standards, and will also support UWB (Ultra Wide Band), a key feature when using a phone as a car key.
The disclosure focuses on the radio specifications for the NIO mobile device, covering frequencies, transmit power, and obtaining the approval is a key process to enable it to be sold in China.
In late March 2022, William Li, NIO's founder, chairman and CEO, confirmed that the company would venture into phone making.
A key driver of NIO's decision was that, in the rise of smart cars in China, owners' experiences are increasingly dependent on a direct and seamless connection between their phones and vehicles.
In March last year, Li told a group of car owners that Apple was closed to the automotive industry, for example, NIO's second-generation platform models come standard with UWB, but Apple does not open up the interface.
NIO has to study smartphones and car-centric smart devices from the user's interest and experience, he said at the time.
On April 1, Li said during a Chinese EV industry forum that NIO's first phone model would be launched and start deliveries in the third quarter.
NIO unveiled the new ES8 at its NIO Day 2022 event on December 24, 2022, and an introductory image of the model shows two cell phones in the second-row center armrest.
The wireless charging pad can wirelessly fast charge two phones simultaneously at 40 W, according to the text on the image.
In an internal speech at NIO last November 15, Li said the launch of the phone was a decision based on 5-10 years of long-term strategic thinking, according to local media outlet LatePost at the time.
NIO's about-face highlights the plight now facing China's EV makers, as they try to navigate an unexpected turn in the road that analysts say could stretch on for some time to come.
This article by Trevor Mo was first published in The Bamboo Works, which provides news on Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong and the United States, with a strong focus on mid-cap and also pre-IPO companies.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
Key Takeaways:
NIO cut its prices last week, reversing its previous position, in response to slowing sales growth over the past two months after many of its rivals made similar reductions.
Smaller firms could be the most vulnerable if the current EV price war drags on, due to their thinner margins compared to larger peers.
Used to being praised for its cutting-edge electric vehicles (EVs), NIO Inc. (NIO.US; 9866.HK) found itself in unfamiliar terrain last week when it became the target of online sarcasm after announcing it would slash prices for all of its electric vehicles (EVs) by 30,000 yuan ($4,209).
Just two months earlier, CEO William Li had proclaimed he would never join the price war now throttling his sector, saying such blind cuts would only lead to "unhealthy competition".
NIO's about-face highlights the plight now facing China's EV makers, as they try to navigate an unexpected turn in the road that analysts say could stretch on for some time to come. Smaller firms are in the most difficult bind since further cuts will further erode their already thin margins. But refusing to stay in the cutting game risks losing sales to industry heavyweights such as BYD (1211.HK; 002594.SZ) and Tesla (TSLA.US).
We'll look shortly at how the recent price war is affecting China's smaller homegrown EV makers, which also include Li Auto (LI.US; 2015.HK), Leapmotor (9863.HK) and XPeng (XPEV.US; 9868.HK), as well as non-listed peers like WM Motor. But first, we'll shift into reverse to see how the ongoing months-long price war has evolved.
Things began last October when Tesla cut prices for its Model 3 and Model Y by as much as 9 percent, then further slashed prices as much as another 13.5 percent in January.
Those cuts prompted others to follow suit, with XPeng announcing reductions in January for its G3i SUV and P5 and P7 sedans by as much as 13 percent. BYD joined the following month by cutting the price of its 2021 Han EV model by 20,000 yuan in Beijing, and the 2021 Qin EV by 15,000 yuan.
Other brands, from domestic heavyweights like GAIC, SAIC, and FAW, to foreign names like Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, and Toyota, also joined the bloodbath. The cuts followed Beijing's retirement of one of the main government incentive programs for EV purchases at the end of last year, which previously helped to double the sector's sales in 2022.
The price war later spilled into the fossil fuel vehicle sector as well, with automakers rushing to clear inventory before a new set of stringent emissions standards takes effect in July.
As of late March, more than 40 carmakers had gotten sucked into the Chinese price war by offering discounts on electric and gas-powered vehicles, according to local media outlet Yicai, which cited data from third-party consultancy Positioning Pioneers.
As the cutting gained traction, about 20 percent of passenger cars being sold in China came with discounts of 10,000 yuan or more, according to PingWest, another local news outlet, citing data compiled by research group China Auto Market.
Driving consolidation
The price war is already showing signs of driving consolidation in a crowded sector whose growth was fueled in no small part by strong government incentives that are now being rapidly phased out.
As the war drags on, bigger players are increasingly cementing their leading positions, while smaller ones face sluggish sales. In the first four months of this year, three companies – BYD, Tesla and GAC Aion – held a combined 50.1 percent share of the pure-battery EV market, up from 42.7 percent in the same period a year ago, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). BYD led the trio with 24.9 percent of the market, up 7.4 percentage points year-on-year.
As the big names gained share, many smaller brands moved in the opposite direction. XPeng reflected that group, symbolically dropping off the list of the top 10 EV makers in the first four months of this year.
NIO managed to increase its share by 0.3 percentage points, but its 27.1 percent growth rate in vehicle deliveries during the period was far behind BYD and Tesla, which each recorded more than 60 percent year-on-year growth.
Facing such slowing growth, it comes as little surprise that NIO has finally joined the price war. But it also remains to be seen whether the move will significantly boost its sales.
XPeng's experience suggests otherwise. Its massive price cuts in January failed to lift sales, and the company's total vehicle deliveries actually plunged by 47.3 percent in the first three months of this year.
Another smaller EV startup, Leapmotor, announced similarly dismal results after rolling out its own massive price cuts. The company's vehicle deliveries tumbled by 51.3 percent in the first quarter to 10,509, according to its latest quarterly report.
Not all smaller players have suffered. Li Auto – the last holdout in the intensifying price war – delivered 52,584 vehicles during the first quarter, up 65.8 percent year-on-year. The company also recorded a 933.8 million yuan net profit for the period, making it one of the few EV makers that has been able to operate profitably. Both BYD and Tesla recorded profits during the period, while NIO, XPeng, and Leapmotor all lost money.
The smaller companies' dismal bottom-line performance is reflected in their profit margins that sharply trail their larger peers. NIO, XPeng, and Leapmotor all recorded gross profit margins of less than 2 percent during the first quarter, well behind BYD's 17.9 percent and Tesla's even higher 19.3 percent for its EV business.
That brings us back to the dilemma now confronting smaller firms that will find it increasingly difficult to wage a prolonged price war that sucks up their dwindling cash hordes, with skeptical investors unlikely to provide fresh funds.
NIO's cash fell to 37.8 billion yuan by the end of March from 45.5 billion three months earlier, while XPeng's fell to 34 billion yuan from 38 billion yuan over the same period. Those declines are likely to continue, or even accelerate if the price war continues.
The war has already left a number of the smallest major EV makers teetering on the brink of insolvency. One of those is WM Motor, a former highflyer that is currently facing a financial crunch that saw it reportedly slash salaries and implement mass layoffs late last year and into 2023. Data from the CPCA showed that WM Motor sold just 457 vehicles in the first two months of 2023, down 92.4 percent from the year-ago period.
NIO (NYSE: NIO) will start a trial of a service next month that will allow its car owners in China the flexibility to rent the company's cars while traveling in Europe.
NIO's destination travel service in Europe will begin a trial run on July 1, and those interested can make reservations at that time, according to an article posted today on the NIO App.
The service will be available in Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark, covering 11 cities including Oslo, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, and Amsterdam.
NIO will offer two models, the ET7 and EL7, in the trial, but for now it is only available to NIO car owners.
The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker launched the ET7, ET5 and EL7 in Europe at the NIO Berlin 2022 event on October 7, 2022. The EL7 is known as the ES7 in China and is using that new name in Europe because of the lawsuit with Audi.
ET7 deliveries in Europe started in October 2022 and EL7 deliveries there started on January 31 of this year.
Owners wishing to use NIO's service must place an order 14 days in advance, with a minimum order length of seven days, at a price of 700 euros ($760) per week. Any use of the car beyond 7 days will be calculated at 100 euros per day.
The benefits provided by NIO for consumers of the service include battery swap service free of charge, free NIO House drinks, and 7*24 hours Chinese service.
NIO Houses are NIO's flagship showrooms, which function as a space to display and sell vehicles while providing a quality lifestyle for NIO owners. The company's showrooms also include the much smaller NIO Spaces.
NIO currently has six NIO Houses in Europe, located in Oslo and Kristiansand, Norway; Berlin, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, Germany; and Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
NIO plans to start supporting the use of NIO Credits within its Chinese mobile app for NIO Houses overseas at the end of July, it said.
NIO Capital participated in a RMB hundreds of millions Series A round of funding for CIX Technology, after previously co-leading the company's Pre-A round.
(Image credit: NIO Capital)
CIX Technology, a Chinese startup that builds computer CPUs based on ARM architecture, recently closed new funding from several investors, including NIO Capital.
NIO Capital said today that it participated in CIX Technology's multi-hundred-million-yuan Series A funding round after co-leading the company's Pre-A round.
Following the completion of this round, CIX Technology will continue its efforts in the general-purpose CPU space to accelerate the design and development of next-generation CPU chips, according to NIO Capital.
Founded in 2021, CIX Technology is focused on developing general-purpose CPUs for scenarios including personal computing, in-vehicle computing, and metaverse infrastructure.
NIO Capital's press release today does not mention the amount or valuation of CIX Technology's Series A funding.
According to CIX Technology's press release, the financing was co-led by Tongge Venture Capital, 37Games, and followed by NIO Capital as an existing shareholder.
On July 18, 2022, LatePost reported that CIX Technology closed a new round of funding of about $50 million at that time, co-led by NIO Capital and Qiming Venture Partners.
It was also CIX Technology's fourth funding round in its nine months of existence, giving it a post-round valuation of about $300 million, according to the report.
While most startups want to enter the chip manufacturing market from server CPUs, CIX Technology's first product is a computer CPU, similar to Apple's M1 chip.
CIX Technology's founder, Sun Wenjian, was the former head of AMD's customer customization division in China. He saw the time as ripe to start a business in the field of CPUs based on the ARM architecture after Apple released the M1 chip in November 2020, according to LatePost.
CIX Technology will be responsible for native Arm development, native application support and localization to help build the global Windows on Arm ecosystem, NIO Capital said in a press release at the time.
The EC6 is the last remaining piece of the puzzle as NIO switches models from the NT 1.0 platform to the NT 2.0 platform.
(Image credit: Weibo @肉肉爸比ev)
The EC6 is the last remaining piece of the puzzle as NIO (NYSE: NIO) switches models from the NT 1.0 platform to the NT 2.0 platform. Now, the revamped version of the coupe SUV may not be far from being available.
Long-time NIO follower and car blogger @肉肉爸比ev shared several pictures of the new EC6 on Weibo yesterday, saying that the model is undergoing testing.
The daytime running lights on the front of the new EC6 are the biggest difference between it and other models, the blogger noted.
On February 13, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced a new batch of catalogs of models that will be allowed to be sold in China, and the new EC6 was included.
The page for the new EC6 shows that it uses the same LiDAR and camera setup on the roof as the rest of the NT 2.0-based platform, and the front and taillight designs are similar to the other latest models.
The model is 4,849 mm long, 1,995 mm wide, 1,697 mm high and has a wheelbase of 2,915 mm.
For comparison, the old EC6, based on the NT 1.0 platform, is 4,850 mm long, 1,965 mm wide and 1,731/1,714 mm high, with a wheelbase of 2,900 mm.
The old EC6 was previously offered in three versions, priced at RMB 396,000 ($55,566), 436,000 and 496,000 respectively.
The new EC6 is equipped with dual motors produced by NIO's electric drive systems division in Hefei, Anhui province, with a maximum power of 150 kW and 210 kW, respectively, and can support a top speed of 200 km/h, according to the regulatory filing in February.
The two lower-priced versions of the EC6 on the NT 1.0 platform carry dual motors both with a maximum power of 160 kW, while the highest-priced version carries a maximum power of 160 kW for the front motor and 240 kW for the rear motor.
The new EC6 will support the option of retractable electric tow hooks and will be equipped with an electric rear wing.
NIO is launching new models at a very tight pace this year. The company unveiled the EC7 and new ES8 on NIO Day 2022 on December 24, 2022, with deliveries of the former already starting on April 28 and the latter due to begin later this month.
The EC7 is also a coupe SUV and is currently offered in two versions with starting prices of RMB 458,000 and RMB 548,000 respectively.
The EC7 is not the NT 2.0 version of the EC6, which is expected to offer a lower price point to meet the needs of the group that prefers this type of vehicle.
On April 18, NIO launched the 2023 ET7 and unveiled the new ES6 on the NT 2.0 platform on the first day of the Shanghai auto show.
Deliveries of the 2023 ET7 began on May 20, and the new ES6 was officially launched on May 24 and deliveries began that night.
Overall, the ES6 is a very accomplished car. I cannot even pick an obvious problem apart from that lack of storage on the back of the front seat.
This is a guest post by Haoran Zhou, previously a member of NIO's PR team in China. The review was originally published as a video on the YouTube channel Telescope望远镜.
Hello and welcome to the Telescope. Every week we bring you fresh insight from the biggest car market in the world today.
We're on the launch of the NIO ES6. With over 127k units sold, the ES6 was, is, and by the looks of today, always will be NIO's biggest seller.
I know I said that with the ET5, but some people are not happy with some of the compromises NIO made on the ET5. Because of the battery swap system, for example, the seat height. They think the ride is a bit too harsh. They don't like there's not enough room in the back.
None of those problems exist on the ES6. This finally is the complete package.
The color we have here today is the stratospheric blue. This is the only standard color that's not black, white, and gray. So, this is going to be a very popular color.
We are on the optional twenty-inch wheels. I think this is only €600 extra. And this is on the low rolling resistance Goodyear tire.
In a moment you will see some of the performance footage we did on the airfield. This low rolling resistance tire when you are deliberately trying to extract performance figures out of it there is a difference between this and the Pirelli. But most of the time, I recommend people just buy this.
Several features on the exterior. First is this much bigger air curtain to send some airflow to seal off all of the turbulence and the wake of the front wheels. The second feature is only noticeable at certain angles, but once you notice that you cannot unseen it. This fully flush side window. The B-pillar, C-pillar and D-pillar no longer sticks out. It is fully flush with the side window.
This feature is pioneered by the Porsche Panamera. It's also present on the latest Range Rover. This is a design feature but it also has an aerodynamic benefit. Because once you hide all of these pillars away, the airflow from A-Pillar onwards will stay attached all the way to the rear of the car. That cuts drag.
All of these contribute to the 0.25 drag coefficient for this relatively boxy SUV. This is not a coupe SUV. You will find a coupe SUV that has a lower drag coefficient than this. But you will not find another traditional upright SUV that is as slippery as this.
The ES6 of course has all the cameras and a lidar that is standard on all of the NT 2.0 platform NIO models. This will have all the capabilities we showed you earlier in the ET7 NOP+ video. This of course being a NIO can battery swap.
We did a quick swap on the way here. So this car as big and as wide and as heavy as it is, is actually the most potent long-distance electric SUV on the market today. It's irrelevant about its range. It's so strong on long-distance driving purely because of that battery swap.
The new ES6 is about fifty millimeters lower in height compared to the previous generation, which is actually quite significant. You really see it on the rear of the car. They put more shape into this rear body.
This crease here is actually an aerodynamic feature called "the departure curve" being integrated as a design element. This basically sends the airflow away from the car. This deliberately separates the airflow from following the body all the way around, creating more drag.
This boot is competitive in its class in terms of capacity. This is about 580 liters. So it's right in between the coupe version of the Porsche Cayenne and the regular Porsche Cayenne. You also have over 100 liters of underfloor storage. So practicality wise this is competitive in its class.
I know we already did a static review of the ES6. But at that time that was before the press conference. We were not allowed to sit in the only ES6 available at the time. Now sitting in the car one thing i can tell this windscreen is much smaller in terms of opening area than the previous generation ES6.
I think this is where the lowered fifty-millimeter height comes in. To give an example the previous ES6 feels like it has a windscreen that is as big as a Range Rover Sport. This is more of a BMW X3 size windscreen. You probably don't know what I'm talking about. But
If you have sat in the previous generation ES6, now sitting here, this is the biggest difference in terms of overall visibility that you can tell. The rest of the cabin is 95 percent NIO ES7, which means I think is too good for the intended role of the ES6. The only area you can tell that this car is trying to cut some cost is the lower half of the door. It's using the same recycled plastic fiber seen on the ET5.
In the rear cabin, it's surprisingly spacious. The wheelbase has grown by 15mm. The headroom is actually better than the previous ES6 because they drop the floor by as much as, I think, 9-10cm. That is a huge amount in terms of packaging.
They expanded the panoramic glass, so you get a little bit more room by having the glass extended all the way to the top of your head.
Another important area is the seats. Because the slimmer the seat, especially the seatback, the more room you're going to get for the rear passenger. This seat looks significantly slimmer than the previous generation ES6. That has very bulky, sporty-looking seats. Looks cool but it takes up a lot of space.
This is an in-house developed seat system and it does look much slimmer. But one area I still don't understand is why there is still no storage space on the back of the front seats. I mean this may eat away 2cm of knee room. You have more than two centimeters of knee room available. I'm five foot eleven. This is easily doable if you want to add a storage compartment.
We are on an airstrip to demonstrate the performance, but I don't think there's going to be any doubt about this. All NIO models up until this point have an excessive amount of performance. This is no exception. 490ps, 4.5s to a hundred kph claimed. We're going to show you how does that feel like.
This is on the low-rolling-resistance tire. If we are on the Pirelli P-Zero, this should be even better, especially the braking.
The next part is where I was surprised. I actually drove this car briefly about two weeks ago on a damp track. On the solemn 21m apart, the standard setup, ES6 can regularly maintain close to 60 kph. I have recently driven the best-handling petrol-powered SUV on an F1 track.
That car can also only maintain close to 60 kph. So this car's solemn performance is unusually good. I need to sample more high-performance electric SUVs to see if this is an attribute specific to the ES6 or if it's just that all-electric SUVs are very good at this slalom test.
Now we are out of the airstrip and into the real world. This is a closed-off, very nice piece of mountain road that it is reserved for the ES6 test drive. I am happy to report that this is probably the NIO that most people wanted.
I still prefer the ET5 because it is firmer and sportier. This generation of ES6 is head and shoulders above the previous generation ES6. I criticized the dynamics of the first-generation NIO SUVs in the original ES8 review. I thought it was too comfort biased. The whole car is very floaty. This car is not floaty at all.
NIO achieved all of that improvement while making the spring rate on the suspension softer. Overall, you feel this car is a lot more stable. And it grips the road much better than the previous generation ES6 with none of the wobbly sensations.
Another highlight is the ESP system on this car. You probably saw earlier in a slalom test that it's achieving very good average speed. On a closed-off airstrip and also on these mountain roads, we've tested back-to-back to BMW X3.
It's surprising that, to me anyway, the X3 feels like the more conservative setup on the ESP system. I never thought that day would come for NIO to give the drivers more liberty on the body control of the car.
Another aspect that you know this generation has made a huge leap forward is just that sense of size this car feels on the road. This feels like a much smaller car because the body is and especially the rear and follows the direction so much better.
The previous generation ES6 on the road feels as big as the ES8 while being significantly shorter. This feels like a much smaller car although actually on the size they are virtually the same.
All the time I've been speaking to you on camera, I'm actually in the sport mode which is not a mode that I will use on a previous ES6. All NIO cars previously, they all have a lot of performance. But you never felt like they're set up for enthusiastic driving.
I think this car is set up for the sport mode. Even the sport plus mode is much more usable. For the previous generation cars, not just the ES6, the ES8, and EC6 in general, I will only use the sport plus mode when I was trying to demonstrate performance to new customers or new journalists.
This is actually in daily driving, even the sport plus mode is much more usable. That's just another area you know this car is so much more developed than the previous generation.
Overall, the ES6 is a very accomplished car. I cannot even pick an obvious problem apart from that lack of storage on the back of the front seat.
It's big enough. It's very well made. It's very luxurious inside. It can battery swap. It has very strong autonomous driving hardware. Currently, on software this is behind the Avatar we reviewed a week ago and XPeng on the urban assisted driving functions. But NIO will have that function ready before the end of this year.
But currently, the biggest talking point on the ES6 is not about the car itself, because we know how good the ES6 can be. And it really is as good as we expected. But it's about the price.
If I put my ex-NIO employee hat on, and look at the product lineup as a whole. I can very easily give you a very educated guess on the price of this ES6. Actually, I already did that in the static review of the ES6. I guess it will be priced around 358-368k RMB. By the time you're watching this video, you would have already known whether my guess is correct or not.
Because we are filming on May 16, about nine days before the actual launch. I think if you look at this car close enough, you would come to my conclusion that the ES6 is easily worthy of that price. However, whether the market has the patience to find that out, whether the customers have the patience to find that out, is a separate question that I cannot answer.
That is all from the Telescope today. If you enjoy this video, keep watching, keep subscribing, more videos coming along very soon.
The ET5 Touring vehicles currently being delivered by NIO are produced in advance, and consumers who customize the model will have to wait about 3-4 weeks.
(Image credit: NIO)
NIO (NYSE: NIO) today began delivery of the ET5 Touring, which was officially launched in China and Europe yesterday.
The first owners from several cities across China took delivery of the ET5 Touring on June 16, NIO said in an article posted on its mobile app.
NIO did not announce the number of ET5 Touring deliveries today, though it shared images showing deliveries in cities including Xiamen, Suzhou, Chengdu and Guangzhou.
NIO officially launched the ET5 Touring yesterday, and its pricing is identical to that of the regular ET5.
Including the battery, the version with the 75-kWh battery pack starts at RMB 298,000 ($41,860) and the 100-kWh version at RMB 356,000.
Chinese consumers who choose to purchase the model using the BaaS (battery as a service) service will see the prices start at RMB 228,000 for both versions, with monthly battery rental costs of RMB 980 and RMB 1,680 respectively.
It is worth noting that the ET5 Touring vehicles delivered today are not customized, but were produced by NIO in advance based on designer-recommended configurations to enable quick first delivery.
Consumers who currently customize the ET5 Touring are expected to receive delivery in about 3-4 weeks after locking in their orders, as shown by the information on the configurator for the model in the NIO App.
This is the same approach NIO took when it launched the new ES6 on May 24, when it began deliveries of the SUV the night of the launch.
The pricing of the ET5 Touring was a surprise, as it was previously widely seen to be priced RMB 10,000 to 20,000 higher than the regular ET5.
"Pricing of ET5 Touring is more competitive than we thought -- on par with the incumbent ET5 sedan at Rmb 298k+," Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao's team said in a research note sent to investors yesterday.
With NIO's broad price cut and the rapid rollout of the new NT 2.0 model, its sales can rebound considerably in the second half of the year, paving the way for 20,000 units per month, Deutsche Bank's Edison Yu's team said in a research note sent to investors today.
Here are more images of the first ET5 Touring deliveries shared by NIO on its mobile app.
While touring cars might be relatively niche compared to sedans, some comparable offerings in the market can still deliver monthly sales of about 10,000 units on a consistent basis, Tim Hsiao's team said.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
NIO (NYSE: NIO) officially launched the ET5 Touring yesterday, and its pricing looks competitive to analysts.
"Pricing of ET5 Touring is more competitive than we thought -- on par with the incumbent ET5 sedan at Rmb 298k+," Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao's team said in a research note sent to investors yesterday.
While the segment could be relatively niche, NIO management believes the ET5 Touring is likely to outsell its sedan version, the team noted.
In China, the available versions and pricing of the ET5 Touring are identical to those of the regular ET5 sedan.
Including the battery, the 75-kWh version starts at RMB 298,000 ($41,890) and the 100-kWh version at RMB 356,000.
Chinese consumers who choose to purchase the model using the BaaS (battery as a service) service will see the prices start at RMB 228,000 for both versions, with monthly battery rental costs of RMB 980 and RMB 1,680 respectively.
Compared to the regular ET5, the ET5 Touring has more rear-seat headroom, and more vertical space in the trunk, while it also has a lower driving position, and the option for electrochromic sunroofs, Hsiao's team noted.
"Such retrofits will help increase the TAM of the ET5 family by attracting users who attach greater value to the in-car space," the team said.
It's worth noting that in China, derivatives of sedans are a niche market.
However, the unexpected success of the Zeekr 001, the first model of Geely's Zeekr brand, has made such models increasingly popular.
For the full year 2022, Zeekr delivered 71,941 Zeekr 001s, reaching its goal of delivering 70,000 vehicles for the year.
While touring cars might be relatively niche compared to sedans, some comparable products in the market still manage to deliver monthly sales of about 10,000 units on a consistent basis, according to Hsiao's team.
In China, the competitive landscape in the touring market is relatively benign, with the main comparables coming mainly from foreign brands such as the Audi S4, Mercedes-Benz CLA and Volvo V60, according to the team.
Whether NIO can successfully ramp up sales of the ET5 Touring in the coming months to meet its goal of reaching 20,000 units per month in the second half of the year remains to be seen, the team said, adding that the company's management expects the ET5 family to contribute about 30 percent of sales.
The ET5 sedan, ET5 Touring and the new ES6 will dominate NIO's sales, Hsiao's team said.
NIO launched the new ES6, the most important model in its history, in China on May 24, with deliveries starting on launch night.
As with the new ES6, NIO produced some ET5 Touring vehicles in advance based on a combination of designer-recommended configurations, and its deliveries officially began today.
With NIO's broad price cuts and the rapid rollout of new NT 2.0 models, it could see a considerabe sales rebound in the second half of the year, according to Edison Yu's team.
NIO (NYSE: NIO) management expressed a rare cautious approach to future spending during last week's earnings call, and this week let the purchase threshold for the entire lineup drop. To Deutsche Bank, this series of moves suggests that NIO is finally starting to show real urgency.
"Our main takeaway following 1Q earnings and hosting NIO management (CFO in person in NYC this week) is that the urgency to capture volume and cut back spending is finally here," analyst Edison Yu's team said in a research note sent to investors today.
With NIO's broad price cut and the rapid rollout of the new NT 2.0 model, its sales can rebound considerably in the second half of the year, paving the way for 20,000 units per month, the team said.
In addition, as NIO reduces spending on non-core initiatives, its operating expenses and capital expenditures should be much more controlled, the team added.
The company's management said during the earnings call that NIO will manage its cash flow carefully, postpone some of its fixed asset investments and focus on the countries it has already entered in Europe.
NIO is confident that it will see sales of more than 20,000 units per month in the second half of the year, William Li, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, said at the time.
On June 12, NIO lowered the starting prices of its entire new model lineup by RMB 30,000 yuan ($4,200), but the previously free battery swap service several times a month became a paid option.
Yu's team said in the research note today that they applaud the move as demand for NIO's existing models, particularly sedans, has been struggling in recent months.
"In our view, pricing is an issue for getting incremental buyers considering premium BEVs in general have sold poorly this year," the team wrote.
Despite the ongoing platform changeover for NIO's three first-generation SUVs, combined sales of the Avatr 11, IM LS7 and XPeng G9 averaged only about 4,500 units per month this year, about half of what the Audi Q5 sells locally in China, the team noted.
NIO's pricing is the highest among the upstart brands. In addition to price adjustments, the company must effectively compete with internal combustion engine vehicle makers, and extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) makers, and enhance its brand appeal, Yu's team said.
The electrification of China's premium car market appears to be proceeding more slowly, which may be counterintuitive to those outside of China, the team said.
They explained further:
Based on our analysis of the premium SUV market (>300k RMB), the BEV mix is only 12% YTD, compared with PHEV (includes EREV) at 18%, leaving 70% for ICE.
This compares with the overall market that is 21% BEV and 10% PHEV, showing customer preferences are quite different depending on the sub-segment.
The team's interpretation of this is that the EREV value proposition is resonating with a broader audience than expected, and Li Auto has done a very effective job at maximizing.
In addition, Yu's team believes that NIO's brand appeal has hit a wall of sorts as it struggles to gain momentum outside of Shanghai and surrounding provinces and outside of financial and tech social circles.
The performance of NIO's best-selling ET5 is a case in point. Nearly 40 percent of the model's sales come from Shanghai and surrounding provinces, and while the ET5 theoretically has the broadest appeal among NIO's offerings, sales in the south have been quite poor, the team said.
"Moreover, based on our channel checks, affluent older customers simply are not buying into the brand (yet) and still prefer traditional BBA cars (i.e., greater loyalty)," the team said.
For investors, they are shifting to a less negative view as NIO's sales and cash burn trajectory appears to be reversing, the team said.
Depending on how the second half of the year plays out, NIO's stock price could remain volatile until there is a clear upward trajectory in sales, according to the team.
NIO has produced some ET5 Touring vehicles based on designer-recommended configurations, and deliveries of these non-customized vehicles will officially begin on June 16.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
NIO (NYSE: NIO) launched the ET5 Touring, a derivative of the ET5 sedan, in China yesterday, and consumers who want to order a customized vehicle will have to wait about a month to get delivery.
Consumers who currently customize the ET5 Touring are expected to get delivery about 3-4 weeks after locking in their orders, information on the configurator for the model in the NIO App shows.
Pricing for the ET5 Touring in China is identical to that of the regular ET5, starting at RMB 298,000 ($41,760) for the version with the 75-kWh battery pack and RMB 356,000 for the 100-kWh version, including the battery.
Chinese consumers who choose to purchase the model using the BaaS (battery as a service) service will see the prices start at RMB 228,000 for both versions, with monthly battery rental costs of RMB 980 and RMB 1,680 respectively.
NIO began allowing consumers to lock in their orders for the ET5 Touring after the model's launch, and the company has already produced some ET5 Touring vehicles based on designer-recommended configuration combinations, with deliveries set to begin on June 16.
The wait information for other NIO models is unchanged today from what was shown previously.
The expected delivery time for the new ES8, which was launched at NIO Day 2022 on December 24 last year, remains June.
The wait time for the ES7 remains about 3 weeks. The model was launched on June 15, 2022, with first delivery on August 28, 2022.
The wait time for the new ES6 is still about 5 weeks, the model was launched on May 24 and deliveries started that night.
The wait time for the EC7 is about 4 weeks, the model was launched on NIO Day 2022 on December 24, 2022, and the first delivery was on April 28 this year.
The wait time for the ET7 is about 3 weeks. NIO launched the 2023 ET7 on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, with deliveries starting on May 19.
The wait time for the regular ET5 is about 3 weeks. The model was launched on NIO Day 2021 in December 2021, and the first delivery was on September 30, 2022.
