Even though NIO Chairman and CEO Li Bin predicted last year that the competition in the automotive industry would become even more intense next year, he never let NIO participate in the battle. However, NIO may not compromise, but the "newcomer" Ledo can, and their goal is directly towards Tesla Model Y. On the evening of September 19th, the first model of NIO's subsidiary brand, Ledao, the Ledao L60, was officially launched. The standard 60kWh version is priced at 206900 yuan, while the long-range 85kWh version is priced at 235900 yuan, with a starting price 43000 yuan lower than the Tesla Model Y.
As early as 2021, Li Bin stated that NIO's related preparations had accelerated and would enter the mass market through a new brand. In May of this year, NIO's second brand was named "Ledao" and the first model L60 was announced to have a starting price of 219900 yuan. Compared to the pre-sale price, the official launch price of this model has been reduced by 13000 yuan. Meanwhile, backed by NIO, Ledao also directly used BaaS (battery rental service) to further expand the price range of L60. Ai Tiecheng, President of Ledao Automobile, announced the adoption of BaaS battery rental service, reducing the starting price of Ledao L60 to 149900 yuan, of which the monthly rental fee for standard range battery (60kWh) is 599 yuan. With the advantage of separating the ownership of car electronics, the starting price of this model can directly reach within 150000 yuan. A netizen said, "Ledao wants to become BYD in the new force of car manufacturing
As a benchmark brand against BBA (Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi), NIO's models were priced at over 300000 yuan before the launch of the ET5 series. However, the high price market share is limited, and for brands that need to further increase sales, how to achieve volume through the combination of high and low models becomes the key. Previously, in the era of fuel vehicles, many car companies had positioned themselves in the high-end mass market through multiple brands, such as Toyota and Lexus, while NIO increased its presence through the Ledo. In terms of sales, the upper limit of Ledao is much higher, and maintaining a gross profit margin of over 15% is a reasonable goal. Li Bin expects that the monthly delivery volume of Ledao will reach 20000 vehicles next year.
Data shows that in the first half of this year, the cumulative sales of models in the 100000 to 150000 yuan segmented market reached nearly 1.184 million units, accounting for 29% of the overall new energy vehicle market. However, the penetration rate of this segmented market is only 39%. Yan Jinghui, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, stated that Ledao and NIO have formed significant differences in brand positioning. NIO continues to focus on the high-end market, while Ledao covers the price range of the first model in the 150000 to 250000 yuan market through vehicle sales and "rental electricity" sales models, enhancing overall competitiveness.
It is reported that previously, Ledao conducted a survey on pre order users, and the results showed that 39% of users first compared Tesla Model Y with Ledao L60. When the Ledo L60 was launched, Ai Tiecheng also compared the Tesla Model Y with the Ledo L60 multiple times. Firstly, in terms of body size, the Ledo L60 has a wheelbase of 2950 millimeters, while the Tesla Model Y has a wheelbase of 2890 millimeters. In terms of CLTC range, the standard version of the Ledao L60 has a range of 555 kilometers, the standard version of the Tesla Model Y has a range of 554 kilometers, and the Ledao L60 wins by 1 kilometer.
In addition, Ai Tiecheng stated that the Ledao L60 adopts a full range 900V high-voltage architecture and is equipped with a self-developed 900V silicon carbide motor, with an energy consumption of only 12.1 kWh/100km, while the Tesla Model Y has an energy consumption of 12.5 kWh/100km. In terms of price, compared to Tesla Model Y, the starting price of Ledao L60 is 43000 yuan lower. Data shows that Tesla sold over 600000 vehicles in the Chinese market last year, with Model Y being a major sales driver. In Yan Jinghui's view, Tesla's overall sales have formed a scale effect and become the global electric vehicle sales champion, as well as a competitive target for various car companies.
Not only Tesla, but also the LeDao L60's BaaS battery rental service, coupled with its lowered starting price, directly competes with models such as the Deep Blue S07, BYD Song L EV, and Xiaopeng G6. Therefore, in addition to the selling price, Ai Tiecheng stated that the entire Ledao L60 series comes standard with the OSD Ledao intelligent driving system, among which the high-speed city navigation assistance NOA has a national coverage rate of 99.99%; The delivery of full scene navigation assisted NOA has reached 726 cities, covering over 2700 county-level administrative regions; The success rate of intelligent parking is over 99%.
Faced with fierce competition in the current new energy vehicle market, relying on NIO's battery swapping system has also become a competitive weapon for Ledao. It is understood that Ledao Automobile can share NIO Power's "rechargeable, replaceable, and upgradable" full scenario energy replenishment service system. According to the plan, by the end of this year, there will be over 1000 available battery swapping stations on Ledao, and consumers can experience the convenient 3-minute fully automatic battery swapping and energy replenishment after picking up their cars. Meanwhile, the Ledao charging system has connected over 23000 self built supercharging stations and over a million third-party charging stations. Industry insiders believe that the advantage of Ledao is based on NIO's investment in research and development, as well as NIO's system capabilities. NIO's battery swapping system has also become a bonus for Ledao.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Liu Xiaomeng