NIO, which intends to "fly both wings" in domestic and international markets, is clearly not fully prepared to enter the European market immediately. On the contrary, with the official launch of its second brand, Ledao's first model L60, NIO hopes to break the "table" in the domestic energy market.
Isn't this digging a hole for us? Audi can't even afford it, how can we afford it? "On September 20th, the day after the launch of the Ledo L60, NIO Chairman Li Bin denied the rumor of" acquiring Audi's Brussels factory "and said he was not clear about the source of this rumor. It's nothing, we haven't had any contact with Audi
According to Belgian media De Tijd on September 18th local time, Audi is actively seeking buyers for its factory located in the Foster area of Brussels, Belgium. This factory is Audi's first electric vehicle factory, mainly producing the Audi Q8 e-tron. Due to sluggish sales, Audi is planning to restructure this factory. If the factory closes, 2910 employees will face unemployment.
NIO and Audi have long had a 'connection'. In October 2021, Audi filed a lawsuit against NIO in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, Germany, due to the similarity in name between NIO ES6 and ES8 and Audi S6 and S8. In January 2022, the Munich local court made a first instance judgment, ruling Audi in favor.
In October 2022, NIO fully entered four European markets including Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, and successively released five products based on the NT 2.0 platform, including ET7, EL7 (ES7), ET5, ET5 Touring, and EL6 (ES6). However, NIO's performance in the European market is not impressive. According to market research firm Dataforce, NIO's new car sales in the European market will be 2404 units in 2023.
Facing uncertain tariffs and market factors, focusing on the domestic market is clearly a more pragmatic strategy. For NIO, whose monthly delivery volume has remained stable at over 20000 vehicles for four consecutive months, the planned delivery of the Ledao L60 on September 28th may further strengthen this strategy.
The day before Li Bin denied that he would acquire Audi's European factory, the price of the Ledo L60 was officially announced. Among them, the starting price for the whole vehicle is 206900 yuan, and the price for renting BaaS batteries is as low as 149900 yuan. Li Bin predicted the production capacity of Ledao, stating that the Hefei factory can currently produce 10000 NIO and 20000 Ledao cars per month, but the launch of new cars will face a ramp up in production capacity. The production capacity of Ledao L60 aims to reach 5000 units in October, 10000 units in November, 16000 units in January next year, and 20000 units in March next year, "said Li Bin. He stated that he will not announce the sales battle report, but after the release of Ledao L60, it has already exploded.
While expanding production capacity, the Ledao brand is also further expanding its energy replenishment system and channel terminals. According to the plan, by the end of this year, there will be over 1000 available battery swapping stations in Ledao, and the charging system has connected more than 23000 self built supercharging piles and over one million third-party charging piles, achieving county to county connectivity for battery swapping and charging. In terms of channels, Ledao plans to build over 200 stores and connect to 350 service centers.
At this year's second quarter financial report, Li Bin predicted that the long-term goal of the high-end brand NIO is to achieve a monthly sales volume of 40000 units and a gross profit margin of 25%; The sales cap of the Ledao brand will be much higher than that of NIO, with a medium to long-term gross profit margin target of 15%.
The Ledao brand plans to launch a new car every year, and next year will launch a mid to large sized SUV with a 6/7-seater layout. "Li Bin revealed that the new car was approved two years ago and will be delivered in the third quarter of next year.