According to 36Kr, NIO is speeding up the establishment of a new brand, and it was mentioned that Ai Tiecheng, the former Greater China CEO of WeWork, has joined NIO as the vice president of strategic new business, reporting directly to NIO CEO William Li.
It is expected that the new brand’s car models will cover the consumer market with a price range of 150,000 yuan to 250,000 yuan and will continue to use NIO’s battery swap technology, but will operate through a separate system, such as independent channels, communities, and a separate mobile app.
NIO’s relatively high car prices have been an important factor in its lagging in scaling up. Of course, NIO’s scaling can be simply understood in three ways: battery swap system, service system, and manufacturing system.
Based on the information disclosed so far, I believe that the lower terminal sales price of the new brand could reach a larger user base, which will help further scale-up the three systems and move towards sustainable profitability, forming stronger competitiveness.
First of all, the manufacturing system is beyond doubt, and there is no need to mention manufacturing components. In terms of smart solutions, even if the new brand uses only one Orin chip for a car and only supports a high-end model with LiDAR, it will help to dilute the cost for the entire NIO system.
Regarding the service aspect, yes, that’s right. I think NIO will launch a more affordable service package for worry-free service focusing on cars priced between 150,000 to 250,000 yuan. The reason is that as the scale expands, the cost of sending and picking up cars by drivers will be infinitely diluted, while the cost of car washing and chauffeur services is relatively fixed. The real differentiating factor is in the maintenance of the vehicles, which can be adjusted according to different car models.
Lastly, let’s talk about battery swapping. Actually, when the second-generation station was launched, I heard that it could support cars with different wheelbases for battery swapping. Interestingly, the length of the next sedan will not be less than 4.7 meters, and there is no need to make any special adjustments. At that time, I thought NIO was laying out way ahead of time but now it makes sense for the new brand.
_🔗Source: 36Kr
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.