ChinaAutoInfo

November 18, 2024, 16:01 - Original Source: Auto Home, published in: Beijing

On November 15th, the 22nd Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition officially opened. At this exhibition, Auto Home invited NIO Senior Vice President Wei Jian for an in-depth conversation about the future of the automotive industry.

Wei Jian stated that many people experience battery anxiety, including concerns about battery depreciation, which are hot topics. However, NIO users rarely discuss these issues, primarily because NIO systematically addresses battery life concerns through long-range battery technology and a battery swap system. NIO believes that the battery swap model could be the ultimate solution for electric vehicles, benefiting not only a brand or user but the entire industry.

Auto Home: We are delighted to have you in our interview. We know that the market's main theme this year is price wars. In this context, NIO has mentioned adjusting sales structure and increasing gross margin. How are you planning this?

Wei Jian: NIO has never advocated for price wars. We focus on value rather than price. As a direct-sales channel, we can provide a more stable price. NIO, as a user-oriented company, protects user interests, so a stable price is beneficial for all users. Looking at our annual report, our products are of high quality, ensuring our gross margin. In fact, our product value has provided a very attractive reserve fund, including a 1 billion yuan subsidy for charging. Compared to our peers, our overall business policy is very attractive, and we hope for a stable and balanced price.

Auto Home: A stable pricing system ensures healthy development. We see that NIO's used car sales are very good. What is the reason behind this?

Wei Jian: We have "5 driving forces": starting from the user's interests; providing users with an unexpected full journey experience, which is very helpful for a stable used car price. We have done a lot in this regard, and NIO often does long-term, unseen things.

Firstly, a stable price for new cars definitely helps used cars. This year, many used car dealers have suffered because many new cars keep dropping in price, causing the used car market to collapse.

Secondly, we have an official used car team with hundreds of car dealers. On one hand, we sell at better prices through good mechanisms.

Thirdly, we help used car dealers sell cars. Many people do not know how to sell our cars, so we provide training. This mechanism has shown very good results this year.

Fourthly, we can swap batteries. People who buy electric cars, especially those that are a bit older, are very worried. They don't know the condition of the battery, whether it has been in an accident, whether it has been bumped or touched. Now the driving range has dropped to what percentage, 80%, 60%, 50%? They don't know, which greatly affects the used car price. Since they are worried, they will offer you a lower price. But NIO is different. Both sellers and used car users are very smart, saying that buying a NIO car is very simple. As long as you can swap the battery, there is no problem with the car's battery. Our overall concept of the battery is a very large system. How can we achieve this? We need to make a longer-lasting battery, which many brands also require, but it's a bit too high. At the moment of buying a car, you have to make a 15-year battery, and users can't feel it. You can't say that because of this, sell more, or because I have 15 years and he has 8 years, buy mine, it's not like that. But the battery swap is different. I have the motivation to make a longer-lasting battery, so that everyone can swap without anxiety, and each swap is a check-up. The battery is a very important part of the electric car. Because we swap batteries, used car users will feel more secure, so the price is stable.

Fifth is our brand and service. Because the stronger the brand, the more people are willing to buy used cars at a higher price. Simply put, if I am not willing to buy such an expensive car at this stage, the used car is very good, and the brand can support it, and the price is high. Last month, we provided a set of inspections for the first-generation models. Our cars still have many new functions to provide to the earliest users, making their cars always new. All of these have jointly led to our very good used car performance. Some of our models have been in the top three in the market for four or five consecutive months in terms of used car prices.

Auto Home: We see that many used cars are only one or two thousand yuan less than new cars. Even if you buy a used car, you won't lose money. But some prices are unstable, or there is no guarantee system. After buying, if you lose 50,000 or 100,000 yuan, it is not a positive support for him.

Wei Jian: Yes.

Auto Home: In addition to battery swap services and products, many traditional luxury brand stores are changing to Chinese high-end brands. Are there any cases where NIO has such situations, and some dealer systems want to join?

Wei Jian: There are quite a few. We really started opening stores in auto cities last year, just over a year, because before that, we mainly opened in shopping malls. At that time, the brand was not at this stage. Last year, our brand momentum was at a relatively good stage, and we felt that we could take some good stores in the auto city. These good location stores, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Maserati, these traditional luxury brand stores have already hung NIO's LOGO in 40 stores. We still have 9 stores in negotiation, and we talked about two new stores the day before yesterday.

Why does this happen? There are several reasons: First, although these traditional luxury brands are developing well overall, sales have been greatly challenged in some places. Moreover, our cooperation with traditional dealers is a relatively innovative way. We do not press cars; we only rent their exhibition hall at a very reasonable price. On the sales side, many 4S stores are losing money now. One is that the selling price is lower than the purchase price, and we also need to reduce the cost of occupation and support a group of sales personnel, losing a lot of money. In this case, we rent an exhibition hall and let them earn this money without worries.

For this relatively innovative way, many dealers like it very much. Even, the second month of our cooperation, they made money!

Auto Home: I can understand that the store is still the store, and the people are still these people operating, just changing to a brand.

Wei Jian: No, every NIO fellow is a full-time NIO employee. This way, I can ensure the best experience for users. We now have a concept that we do not consider sales to be a very short-term behavior. Our way must be direct sales, which can ensure prices and user experience, and it is a long-term planting of their experience, which is our way.

I rent the front exhibition hall, and the people are mine, so you don't have to worry about it, just collect the rent. For the maintenance in the back, we will send some people to do some reception and empowerment. If it is done well, we can even let the dealers do it, that's the way it is, so this kind of cooperation has indeed received very good results.

Actually, the most important thing is that everyone has seen the development of NIO. In September of this year, NIO's share in the high-end pure electric market above 300,000 yuan reached 45.9%, which means that the high-end pure electric market is basically divided into two parts, with NIO accounting for half. These 4S store bosses feel that if electrification is a direction, and if new energy is something I want to do, and high-end is what I want to do, choosing NIO is the most reasonable. We are now choosing some good locations for stores, and we will not accept all traditional luxury stores just because they are traditional luxury stores.

Auto Home: The most important thing is long-termism. We have always advocated long-termism, and we have been developing for ten years. It will be the next ten years in December. What else is worth looking forward to?

Wei Jian: We were established in November 2014, and this month is our birthday. This year's NIO Day will be held in Guangzhou. The characteristic of NIO Day is that users apply for it, and users vote, and the company does not directly participate in the decision. At that time, our company also selected a group of users, and we called them the user advisory group. We determined together, 10 into 3. Which 3 can be voted, and then all users vote to decide. Guangzhou has been applying for 6 years, and Guangzhou has been in the top three for 3 times, and this time it was also a narrow victory. This time, it was a sudden reversal in the last 30 minutes, and then Guangzhou won.

Auto Home: Are all users really voting?

Wei Jian: Users from all over the country vote for the city. The first time we did it was in Chengdu, Chengdu and Suzhou competed that year, and the entire voting process had 6 times of alternating leads, which was more intense than the "election". This time it was also, it has always been Hangzhou leading, leading to the last 30 minutes, and then the Greater Bay Area of Guangzhou made a effort, and suddenly it overtook, and as soon as it was closed, it won, and everyone was very excited. This time Guangzhou should be very serious in applying, and this year should be one of our NIO Days with the most people, with users from all over the country, and Guangzhou users have arranged a lot of food, drink, and entertainment projects, including a large annual meeting. This year, we will also release the third brand, which everyone is looking forward to.

Moreover, our NIO Day this time is relatively long, with two days. The first day is the normal itinerary, and the second day is a trunk market held by many users. We will hold activities on the entire Haixinsha Island and welcome citizens to participate. We don't have any thresholds, and we hope everyone will participate in charity donations. In short, this is a very much looking forward to NIO Day. We will thank the process of the past ten years, everyone's companionship, including the development of the entire technology, which is a summary of the tenth anniversary.

Auto Home: Because Chinese car culture is also a bit weak, NIO Day has been stratified over the years. The last question, many topics today are discussing battery anxiety, including decay, cost, from the perspective of NIO users, what feedback do you have?

Wei Jian: If you are a NIO user, you will know, especially if you are in this industry, different car friend WeChat groups, as long as it is not NIO, people who consider battery issues are particularly numerous, including how much depreciation, how much depreciation, including many range-extended cars are also like this, they are hot topics. Our NIO group almost never discusses these issues, especially because we systematically solve battery life problems. One is by long-range battery technology, and the other is by the battery swap system and mechanism. We believe that if you want to drive an electric car, it is very likely that the battery swap model will be the ultimate model. This model is not only for a brand or a user but also for the entire industry, which will be healthier.

Auto Home: Is the third brand also based on the logic of battery swapping?

Wei Jian: I can't say about the third brand, you have to get it from the official, I can't spoil it in advance!

Auto Home: Thank you!