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Today, according to the official Wechat account of Automobile City, NIO launched an attack on millionaire luxury cars. It said the news came from close NIO insiders that the project has entered the design stage, the model is a million-class ultra-luxury sedan. In addition, it also said that the million-class car continues to operate under the flag of Ulai, against the Standard Maybach S-Class. If all goes well, the model will be launched as early as 2024 and sold worldwide at the earliest.

It is understood that there are ES8, ES6, EC6, ET7, ET5 and ES7 models on the market at present. The model matrix covers SUV and sedan models, and the prices of the six models are all above 300000 yuan. In essence, if Lai Motors launches millions of ultra-luxury cars, it can better enhance the brand image. After all, there is no representative model in the million luxury model camp. By exploring the advantages of the market to grab a larger territory, we can accurately meet different consumer needs, and to a certain extent, it is also conducive to the growth of the overall sales of Lulai cars.

At present, Lulai has yet to respond to the news that it will launch a million-class super-luxury car. However, there has been news about the launch of other sub-brands by Xilai. In May this year, it was reported that NIO will launch the "Alps" sub-brand, which will focus on the mid-and high-end market, with models priced between 150000 yuan and 300000 yuan, and is scheduled to be completed and put into production in 2024.

In June, Li Bin, CEO of Xilai, said at a user communication meeting that Xilai was speeding up the research and development of models worth more than 200,000 yuan and had signed an agreement with the Hefei municipal government on the second phase of the Xinqiao factory to produce a new brand model with a price of 200000 for the mass market. the new model will be sold on Standard Tesla Model Y and Model 3, which is about 10 per cent cheaper than Tesla. In addition, according to 36 Krypton reported earlier, in addition to the two brands of Ulai and Alps, NIO will also plan to launch a third car brand, focusing on the middle and low end of the 10-200000 yuan market.

From the early high-end brand route to the launch of Volkswagen models priced at 200000 or million-class luxury cars, they will eventually seize more market and increase profits. According to the latest third-quarter results released by Xilai Automobile, its revenue was 13 billion yuan, an increase of 32.6% over the same period last year. Of this total, revenue from the automobile business reached 11.933 billion yuan, an increase of 38.2% over the same period last year.

Xilai delivered a total of 31607 vehicles in the third quarter, an increase of 29.3% over the same period last year. However, although delivery has increased, the cost of sales of Lulai has also been increasing. Data show that in the third quarter of this year, the cost of sales of Lailai was 11.267 billion yuan, an increase of 44.2% over the same period last year. Of this total, the cost of car sales was 9.978 billion yuan, an increase of 41 per cent over the same period last year. NIO said, "in addition to the increase in the level of delivery, due to the increase in battery prices, the cost of bicycles' batteries is higher than last year, resulting in an increase in the cost of bicycle sales."

The car is oversold, but the loss is increasing. NIO posted a net loss of 4.11 billion yuan in the third quarter of this year, a four-fold increase over the same period last year and nearly 50% more than the net loss in the previous quarter. The gross profit margin of NIO vehicle in the third quarter was 16.4%, compared with 18.0% in the same period in 2021 and 16.7% in the second quarter, which was on a downward trend. In the third quarter of this year, the overall gross profit margin of Xilai was 13.3%, and the gross profit margin of vehicles was 16.4%, both of which were lower than the same period last year. In response, Li Bin said that the rise and fall of gross profit margin this year is mainly due to the record high prices of batteries and lithium carbonate, which are also expected to be affected in the fourth quarter.

At present, all the models under NIO are positioned as high-end models, and the prices of the products are not less than 350000 yuan. The launch of new 200000 models with lower positioning or luxury models with a price of 1 million can complement the existing product system of NIO. This may also help NIO to further increase the scale of sales, seize more market share, and improve the overall gross profit margin of vehicles.

Earlier, Li Bin said he hoped to break even by 2024. However, in terms of the current state, it is still a bit difficult for NIO to make a profit. Because from the perspective of its vehicle cost, marketing cost, and the degree of competition in the market, it is not easy for Xilai to make a profit in 2024. In the face of fierce market competition, it is only by further expanding the scale effect that it is possible to achieve a break-even.

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