NIO’s President Assures Company’s Stability Amid Market Concerns

At the Guangzhou Auto Show held over the weekend, Qin Lihong, the co-founder and president of NIO, responded to recent pessimisms and concerns surrounding the company. He assured that “NIO will not go bankrupt, and there is absolutely no possibility of bankruptcy. Customers can keep their confidence in NIO‘s vehicles.”

NIO experienced a “sales downturn” earlier this year. In April, NIO delivered 6,658 new vehicles. In May, NIO delivered 6,155 new vehicles, with delivery volumes below 7,000 for two consecutive months.

In the face of the challenging sales situation, NIO adjusted its pricing strategy in June this year, with a price reduction of 30,000 yuan across all its models. However, along with the price reduction, NIO also reduced the benefits for new car owners: starting from June 12th, free battery swapping will no longer be included as a basic benefit and users can choose to pay for each battery swap separately.

The proactive price adjustment strategy, coupled with the launch of new models, has yielded positive results. In June, NIO delivered 10,707 new vehicles, a month-on-month increase of 74%. In July, NIO delivered 20,462 new vehicles, setting a new record for deliveries. Among them, more than 10,000 units of the all-new ES6 were delivered, achieving the first monthly delivery of over 10,000 units for a single model.

Fowlloing the release of NIO‘s Q1 2023 earnings report in June this year, NIO CEO William Li (Li Bin) stated on the earnings call, “NIO is very confident in achieving the goal of averaging over 20,000 sales per month in the second half of the year.”

However, in August, September, and October, NIO‘s new car delivery volume fell somewhat from the peak in July, with 16,074 new cars delivered in October.

In early November, William Li announced a 10% workforce reduction. Last week, a recently laid-off former NIO employee posted on social media that many NIO staff had been threatened or implied by their superiors that, in order to keep their jobs, they must purchase NIO vehicles or persuade their relatives to do so.

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