By 2035, at least five of the top ten global automotive companies will be Chinese, and Chinese companies will account for over 40% of the global market share, "said Li Bin, founder and chairman of NIO, in a media interview on December 22.
In Li Bin's view, as far as the automotive industry is concerned, the development of a company is like a marathon on a muddy road. Whether NIO can enter the top ten in the world by 2035 requires double efforts and cannot be left behind in order to become one of them.
On the evening of December 21st, NIO's third brand, "Firefly Firefly," was officially released on NIO Day 2024. In addition, NIO's most expensive and cheapest models were also launched simultaneously, namely the ET9 priced at 818000 yuan and the Firefly priced at 148800 yuan.
Thus, NIO has formed a product matrix of 11 cars under three brands, covering the price range of 150000 to 800000 yuan in the market. The positioning of NIO's three brands is very clear. NIO's products are priced between 300000 and 800000 yuan; Ledao Motors targets the 200000 to 300000 yuan market; Firefly is positioned as a boutique car, priced the same as MINI after the price adjustment Using two to three brands to face different users is a relatively successful strategy, "said Li Bin
Looking back on the past decade, Qin Lihong, co-founder and CEO of NIO, exclaimed that "there was no wasted effort". He said, "NIO today is definitely more prepared for the next decade than when it was first established ten years ago
Pushing the Most Expensive Car Model "Challenge" Panamera
According to NIO's official introduction, the ET9, positioned as the flagship intelligent electric executive model, has a starting price of 788000 yuan for the entire vehicle purchase plan and 660000 yuan for the battery rental plan. The 999 first limited edition models released simultaneously, priced at 818000 yuan, are currently the most expensive models launched by NIO. The ET9 targets the user base of luxury cars such as the Panamera, Mercedes Benz S, and Maybach Li Bin stated.
Li Bin believes that in the high-end brand market, consumers often expect products to have certain specificity and uniqueness, so the degree of product segmentation will be higher. Taking the ET9 as an example, it's hard to imagine that it can sell 10000 units in a month. If this price band can reach 1000 units per month, it's already quite happy, "said Li Bin. The first limited edition of NIO ET9 has been sold out, and the order volume exceeds expectations.
Regarding the comments from the outside world that the launch of ET9 is a "call to action" to Zunjie, Qin Lihong explained, "You can clearly see that the value orientation of ET9 and Zunjie is not the same, and the two will form a good complement. Including BYD's Look Up, Zunjie, and NIO's ET9, they are all good attempts by Chinese brands in the high-end market. Whether it is the administrative flagship of Chinese brands or the off-road extreme performance vehicle, they are both competitive and cooperative
Qin Lihong stated that in fact, the high-end administrative market where ET9 is located is the "fortress" market for international high-end brands. In this market, it will be more challenging for Chinese brands to make progress. However, it is precisely because it is more challenging that it proves to be more valuable, "said Qin Lihong.
For the competition in the high-end luxury market, Li Bin proposed that the more we move towards the high-end market, especially towards the administrative market layout, the more important the "consensus market" becomes. Now Chinese brands are making efforts together in the high-end administrative market, and even breaking through the higher end market, which can make users think that Chinese brands can be flagship administrative models, "said Li Bin.
Firefly only launches one car in the Chinese market
As a high-end intelligent electric car brand under NIO, Firefly's positioning in NIO is equivalent to BMW Group's MINI brand. Firefly is a brand created by NIO for global users, and it bears more responsibility for NIO's entry into the global market Li Bin said that the small car market where Firefly is located is a global market with a scale of up to 10 million vehicles.
According to Li Bin, the Firefly brand will only have one car for sale in China. In the global market, the company will launch some models tailored to the local market according to different market demands, but not particularly many, with only 1-2 models available in each market. This is a relatively long-term business plan for the company based on the global market and considering various aspects, "Li Bin explained. Because of the cost and overall structure of Firefly, it can support the company to make multiple cars, but in the Chinese market or the global market in the short term, there will definitely only be one car.
In Li Bin's opinion, brands with higher prices tend to have more product styles, while those with lower prices tend to have fewer. Behind this, the main consideration is the purchasing purpose and needs of users within this price range. Based on this logic, NIO will make the most efficient investment decision on how many cars each brand plans to have, "said Li Bin.
It is reported that Firefly will share resources with NIO's main brand in terms of software and hardware resources, charging infrastructure, etc., and will be exhibited and sold in NIO stores. If the Firefly brand only has one product in China, it can achieve higher efficiency in infrastructure, service facilities, communication efficiency, operational efficiency, and other aspects, "Li Bin emphasized.
However, with the appearance of Firefly, its exterior design has sparked discussions among netizens. Regarding the question of whether its headlights imitate the iPhone, Li Bin responded that the headlight design of Firefly Firefly was not inspired by the iPhone. Four circles are Audi, only three circles are left for us, "Qin Lihong said. The Firefly Firefly is an original creation by NIO.