On May 27th, NIO was exposed to be recruiting talents for manufacturing positions. It is noteworthy that the job location for these positions will be in San Jose, California, USA, which has also sparked speculation about whether NIO will build an overseas factory in the United States.
The positions being recruited by NIO include: Overseas Manufacturing Park Planning Expert, Vehicle Body Process Expert (Overseas Project), Overseas Planning and Infrastructure Expert, and Overseas Logistics Project Manager etc.
Among them, the job description of the Overseas Manufacturing Park Planning Expert position requires candidates to have been responsible for two or more complete masterplan projects, including at least one experience in masterplan projects for the United States; familiarity and understanding of policies, design specifications and planning approvals for various states in the United States; familiarity with American process planning and masterplan principles; fluent spoken and written English expression abilities, etc.
In fact, NIO has long started to lay out the US market, which can be seen in NIO’s globalized layout:
- Beijing – Global Software Development Center
- Shanghai – International Business Headquarters, Global Mass Production Vehicle R&D Center
- Hefei – Chinese Headquarters, Advanced Vehicle Production Base
- London, UK – Global Performance and Forward-looking Concept R&D Center
- Munich, Germany – Global Design Center
- Singapore – Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Driving R&D Center
- San Jose, USA – North American Headquarters, Autonomous Driving R&D Center, Intelligent Connected Vehicle R&D Center
In January of this year, NIO leased a building at 3151 Zanker Road, San Jose, with an area of 18,720 square meters, more than twice the size of its previous office space. This move has been interpreted by the outside world as NIO’s plan to start selling electric cars in North America. Only more than four months have passed, and it has been exposed that talents for manufacturing positions are being recruited, which seems to make some sense when the two things are connected. After all, as the world’s second largest new energy market, building a factory locally in the United States can significantly reduce costs and improve the competitiveness of NIO’s models in the American market.
However, when responding to a reporter’s interview from First Financial on the same day, NIO said that there is no information that can be disclosed regarding the matter of building a factory in the United States.
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.