Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Business
    Home / Business / Motoring

    Nio hopes to tide over money troubles with new models and customer loyalty

    By Li Fusheng | China Daily | Updated: 2020-01-06 10:17
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Nio showcases its EP9 supercar at the 2019 Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao International Auto Show. [Photo by Zhang Dandan/China Daily]

    Vehicle sales on the up thanks to renewed confidence in brand and word-of-mouth recommendations from owners

    Chinese electric car startup Nio has survived difficult times thanks to growing sales and enviable brand loyalty, but it is still in urgent need of money, said a senior executive.

    The company had about $274 million cash on hand at the end of September. But the money is not enough to continue its operations for the next 12 months without external financing, according to a third-quarter financial statement released on Dec 30.

    "We are in need of nothing but some money to tide us over," said Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of Nio in an interview a day earlier. The startup held the annual Nio Day in Shenzhen, Guangdong province on Dec 28. Nio car owners showed unbelievable loyalty; the Nio Day was in large part the result of 65 Nio owners' efforts.

    Thousands more shouted their support at the event. Outside the venue, more than 100 local car owners volunteered to ferry participants between the city's railway stations, airport and hotels.

    Earlier in the year, some Nio car owners funded commercials out of their own pockets for the struggling startup. Others raised 300,000 yuan ($43,062) for a booth to showcase Nio cars at a car show in Macao.

    Qin said that Nio sold more than 20,000 vehicles in 2019, with 48 percent sold thanks to customer recommendations.

    That brought the accumulative sales of the startup to around 30,000.

    "We call ourselves a user company-and users' trust in us is our cornerstone-just like the 100-year brand history for Mercedes and the image of Tesla's science geek boss Elon Musk," said Qin.

    He admitted that Nio was on the verge of going broke around the late second quarter and early third.

    "Many things conspired against us: the government's subsidy cuts for new energy vehicles, consequent sales fall in the segment and our recall following a car catching fire," he said.

    He said the recall was a quick decision and done in a fast way. It cost 700 million yuan and almost became the last straw. But it restored customers' trust and confidence. After that, sales started to recover.

    A total of 4,799 cars were delivered in the third quarter, which generated $242.5 million, up 22.5 percent from the second quarter, according to its financial statement.

    Nio said it expected more than 8,000 to be delivered in the fourth quarter, which would be a record of quarterly deliveries.

    Following the news, its stock prices at Nasdaq hiked more than 50 percent to close at $3.76 on Jan 3 from $2.42 on Dec 27.

    But Nio is still losing money. Net loss in the third quarter stood at $352.8 million, but that was down 23.3 percent from the second quarter of 2019.

    "Nio remains financially challenged but what we feel now is different as our users show great enthusiasm and our sales grow," said Qin.

    Hope lies in the company having a larger lineup. At Nio Day, it unveiled the third production model, the EC6 SUV coupe and an update of its flagship ES8 SUV.

    It also showcased the 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which is expected to improve the driving range of all its models thanks to its battery-swap technologies.

    The EC6 boasts a range of up to 615 kilometers. The model, whose prices will be announced in July and delivered in September, will take on Tesla's Model Y compact crossover, said Qin.

    "Actually, our showrooms in several cities have Tesla as neighbors. Statistics show that of the visitors who tried models of both, the chances they choose us is 50-50," said Qin.

    At a conference on Dec 30, Nio Chief Financial Officer Feng Wei said that the company has made "significant positive progress" on securing new funds. But he said those projects are still ongoing and declined to disclose any other information.

    He said Tencent had loaned the company $100 million-money reflected in its third quarter earnings report.

    Nio founder and CEO Li Bin also loaned the company roughly $90 million out of his own pocket as part of that agreement.

    Chen Qingtai, president of the industry's leading think tank China EV100, encouraged investors to be farsighted as the automobile industry is asset-heavy.

    "You cannot focus too much on short-term gains. Tesla is 16 years old and has been losing money for 16 years in a row. But it is worth around $70 billion in the stock market, higher than GM and Ford," said Chen.

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    CLOSE
     
    无码国产乱人伦偷精品视频| 中文字幕av无码一区二区三区电影| 免费a级毛片无码免费视频| 色综合久久中文字幕综合网| 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕| 亚洲真人无码永久在线| 伊人热人久久中文字幕| 西西4444www大胆无码| 无码人妻AⅤ一区二区三区| a亚洲欧美中文日韩在线v日本| 久久久久无码精品| 久久综合精品国产二区无码| 精品人妻无码区二区三区| 中文字幕在线看视频一区二区三区| 国产免费黄色无码视频| 亚洲精品色午夜无码专区日韩| 亚洲国产午夜中文字幕精品黄网站| 中文字幕VA一区二区三区 | 欧美中文在线视频| 久久久无码精品午夜| 无码国内精品久久人妻| 亚洲中文字幕无码久久精品1| 无码人妻丰满熟妇啪啪网站| 亚洲欧美中文字幕| 日本乱中文字幕系列| 制服丝袜人妻中文字幕在线| 无码少妇一区二区浪潮av| 成人无码区在线观看| 久久久久无码精品| 亚洲AV永久无码精品一区二区国产 | 久久久久久国产精品无码超碰| 中文有无人妻vs无码人妻激烈| 久久久久久精品无码人妻| 蜜桃无码一区二区三区| 久久久久久国产精品无码下载| 国产台湾无码AV片在线观看| 久久精品aⅴ无码中文字字幕不卡 久久精品无码一区二区WWW | 精品久久久无码人妻中文字幕| 免费看又黄又无码的网站| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码APP| 野花在线无码视频在线播放|