Overcoming the cold winter is spring. At the end of 2023, NIO Motors, which has experienced many setbacks this year, may be heading towards its own "spring" ahead of schedule. In November, NIO continued to release positive news after obtaining partnerships with large enterprises such as Changan and Geely and obtaining independent vehicle manufacturing qualifications through the opening of the battery swapping station.
On December 18th, NIO announced the signing of a new round of share subscription agreement with Abu Dhabi investment firm CYVN Holdings (referred to as CYVN). According to the agreement, CYVN Holdings will make a strategic investment of approximately $2.2 billion in cash to NIO through its subsidiary CYVN Investments. Affected by this news, NIO's stock price rose more than 11% before trading. As of press release, NIO's stock price rose 10.78% to $8.84 per share.
Amidst the cold winter of capital, NIO has once again received strategic investment from CYVN after half a year. Coupled with NIO's successful issuance of convertible senior bonds totaling $1.15 billion in September and October this year, NIO's cash reserves on the books have been greatly replenished. It is reported that after the completion of this investment, NIO and CYVN will continue to carry out strategic and technological cooperation in the international market. It is revealed that the issuance price of the shares this time is determined based on the weighted average closing price of the 21 trading days before the signing of the contract, which is 7.50 US dollars.
CYVN has invested in NIO twice this year. According to public information, several sovereign wealth funds in Abu Dhabi rank among the top globally in terms of scale and are known for their commitment to long-term value investing. CYVN Holdings, which is making strategic investments in NIO, is an entity primarily funded by the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Finance and is affiliated with the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Investment Fund system, which manages assets of over trillions of dollars. Jassem Al Zaabi, Chairman of CYVN, is also the Minister of Finance of Abu Dhabi and serves as Vice Chairman of the Central Bank, Vice Chairman of Sovereign Fund ADQ, and Director of Sovereign Fund ADIA and Oil Company ADNOC. Simultaneously demonstrating Abu Dhabi's determination to invest in product and technological innovation and clean energy transformation.
The 2023 third quarter financial report released by NIO on December 5th shows that NIO's operating conditions are gradually improving, with revenue and delivery reaching historic highs in the third quarter, with revenue reaching 19.07 billion yuan, a month on month increase of 117.4% and a year-on-year increase of 46.6%; The delivery volume in the third quarter was 55432 units, a month on month increase of 135.7% and a year-on-year increase of 75.4%. At the same time, NIO's gross profit margin for the third quarter of the year returned strongly to double digits, reaching 11.0%, maintaining a leading position in the pure electric field; The cash reserve reached 45.2 billion yuan, an increase of 13.7 billion yuan compared to the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, in the third quarter of this year, NIO's R&D investment was 3.04 billion yuan, exceeding 3 billion yuan for four consecutive quarters. It is reported that in the past few years, NIO has invested nearly 40 billion yuan in research and development, making it the enterprise with the highest R&D investment among new forces. The profound technological accumulation brought about by R&D investment has laid a solid foundation for NIO's long-term high-quality development. At present, NIO has established research and production institutions in Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, San Jose, Munich, Oxford, Berlin, Budapest, and Singapore. As of the end of November this year, NIO has a total of approximately 7700 pending and authorized patents worldwide, far exceeding other new energy brands.
In terms of product layout. At present, NIO has fully entered a strong product cycle, with 8 second-generation technology platform models on sale forming the strongest product matrix. In the price range of 300000 to 600000 yuan, it can fully meet the diverse needs of users, covering the main sales market with 80% of BBA sales. In the third quarter of this year, NIO ranked first in the electric vehicle market in China with an average transaction price of over 300000 yuan, with a market share of over 45%.
Li Bin, founder of NIO Auto, pointed out that previously, "oil to electricity" mainly came from mass market users. In 2024, the high-end market "oil to electricity" will accelerate, and the construction of infrastructure will promote the process of "oil to electricity". At present, NIO has deployed over 700 battery swapping stations in the Yangtze River Delta region, and the sales of BBA products in Shanghai and several surrounding counties and cities have exceeded those in the same price range.
With the gradual cooperation of NIO with Changan Automobile and Geely Holdings in battery swapping business, NIO's battery swapping system will officially move from private domain exclusivity to public service field. Battery swapping will become the mainstream way of electric vehicle energy replenishment, and NIO's battery swapping lines are taking a path of "infrastructure first - internal closure - full scenario verification - external opening"
It is worth noting that a series of actions taken this year have shown the outside world the efforts and determination made by NIO in dealing with fierce external market competition. Li Bin emphasized that NIO has recently completed a comprehensive planning of the company's two-year operational plan to determine key goals, priorities, and action plans, and has identified opportunities for organizational optimization, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement. Next, NIO will continue to focus on advancing core technologies, developing key products, and enhancing sales and service capabilities.
Wen/Guangzhou Daily · New Flower City Reporter: Deng Li