AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/21 Report--

The fourth factory of NIO Automobile will be located in the Chuzhou Economic Development Zone in Anhui Province and will be put into production of the third brand product internally codenamed "Firefly", according to the Financial Associated Press. If the above news is true, it means that the firefly project products may have an independent production plant.

According to the report, the new factory that NIO will build in Chuzhou, Anhui Province is based on the existing plant of Cheetah Motors. A person from relevant departments in Chuzhou revealed that the whole vehicle factory of Xilai Automobile will be built here. A person from the local China Merchants Bureau said: "more information may be announced in March or April."

As of press time, Xilai Motor has not responded to the above news.

It is understood that Hunan Cheetah Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: cheetah Automobile) was registered in August 2013. It is a comprehensive automobile manufacturer integrating R & D, manufacturing, sales and service of complete vehicles and parts, belonging to Changfeng Group. Headquartered in Changsha, Hunan Province, it has three major vehicle manufacturing bases: Yongzhou in Hunan, Jingmen in Hubei and Chuzhou in Anhui. The four major spare parts production bases in Changsha, Hengyang, Yongzhou and Huizhou, Guangdong, have an annual production capacity of 150000 light off-road vehicles, SUV and 50, 000 pick-up trucks. Due to poor management, in September 2021, Changsha Intermediate people's Court issued a notice on the selection of managers in the bankruptcy reorganization case of Cheetah Motor. In addition, due to poor management, many factories of Cheetah have been taken over by other car companies, while the factory in Chuzhou has been nationalized.

Tianyan check information shows that in June 2022, the investors of Anhui Cheebao Automobile Co., Ltd. changed. Chuzhou City Investment Xinchi Technology Co., Ltd. accounted for 100% of the shares, and the actual control was Chuzhou Finance Bureau. In August of the same year, Anhui Provincial property Rights Trading Center pre-disclosed the 100% equity transfer information of Anhui Cheetah, which is registered at No. 8 Shanghai North Road.

"Firefly" is the project code name of the third brand, as early as August of 2022, there is news in the market that Lai plans to launch a third car brand in addition to the two brands, the third brand positioning is lower than the second brand, mainly targeting the market of 10-200000 yuan, the project code is "Firefly Project" (internally known as FY), but there was no response to this statement at that time. However, on January 26th this year, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of Xilai, said at an event that preparations for the new brand are in full swing, and that the brand, internally codenamed "Firefly", is expected to be launched in Europe in the third quarter of 2024, targeting Volkswagen POLO. It is also reported that the "Firefly" project will be developed based on an independent new platform, and when the project is launched, at least three technology platforms will be used at the same time.

It is understood that at present, there are two factories in Hefei. The Jianghuai NIO plant is located on Susong Road, Baohe District, Hefei City, Anhui Province. F1 plant is responsible for the production of most of the NIO models, including ES8, ES6, EC6, ET7 and ES7 models. F2 factory mainly produces ET5 models with a planned production capacity of 300000 vehicles. Previously, it was publicly reported that the Lai Automobile Xinqiao Intelligent Electric vehicle Industrial Park will further expand production. In the follow-up, Jianghuai will come to the advanced manufacturing base and Xinqiao Intelligent Electric vehicle Industrial Park to produce the NIO automobile brand and the middle and high-end brand codenamed "Alps".

The "Alps" brand is the second brand of Ulai, with a price range of 200000-300000 yuan and is expected to be mass produced in 2024. Li Bin, chairman of Xilai, has said that the brand's models will compete directly with Tesla Model Y and Model 3 and will be about 10 per cent cheaper than Tesla.

From the positioning and price of the three major brands of NIO, Alps and fireflies, the future three brands will focus on luxury, high-end, and low-end markets respectively, and this time, such as "the fourth factory of NIO Automobile will be located in the Economic Development Zone of Chuzhou City, Anhui Province." and put into production to the internal code-named 'firefly' of the third brand product "if the news is true, it means that fireflies may be able to make rapid progress.

According to the official website, the models currently on sale in Lulai include six models: ES8, ES6, EC6, ET7, ET5 and ES7, covering SUV and sedan models, all of which sell for more than 300000 yuan. At present, all the products on sale are luxury brands, while the internal brands codenamed "Alps" and "firefly" are relatively low-end. Perhaps in the future, NIO will cover the lower-priced market by creating these two new brands.

Data show that a total of 122486 cars were delivered in 2022, ranking third on the annual list of New Power, lagging behind 133246 ideal cars.

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