AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/26 Report--

A steady stream of news and rumors will again and again be pushed into the public opinion of the new forces. A few days ago, Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO, once again clarified and explained various rumors. In addition, it is also mentioned that the ET sedan will be postponed to 2022, and the delivery of the third SUV model will be postponed to the third quarter of next year.

In the first half of this year, NIO has experienced local layoffs. Its executives have publicly said that the company has nearly 10,000 employees and needs to constantly optimize its internal organization and improve efficiency. At the end of June, there were rumors that NIO would control the number of employees and continue to cut staff by 3%. News of layoffs continues to spread, and officials in Xilai continue to refute the rumors. Until Aug. 23, an internal letter published by Li Bin, the company's founder and chairman, revealed that NIO would continue to lay off staff in September and is expected to lose 1200 jobs worldwide and limit the number of employees to about 7500.

This time Qin Lihong responded, "optimizing the organization is a matter at any time, just like losing weight is losing weight, which is very normal." This is not a leg sawing. " In addition, he also said that the company began to plan layoffs in June, and the first task is to locate the company's core talent, and it is necessary to stabilize the company's team and do internal optimization. It can be seen that Qin Lihong's response is to make corresponding measures in the face of a reduction in funds.

In the cold winter of the car market and the decline of subsidies, it is not only NIO that feels the pressure. Poor sales, falling production capacity and delivery volume are the common phenomenon of most car companies, followed by financial difficulties. For most car companies, layoffs are also an effective way to reduce costs and optimize the internal structure.

When the reporter asked, "how much does it cost to enter the qualifying round?"

Qin Lihong gave the exact figure of $3 billion and explained, "this is a reserve of food and forage for the next generation of products, layout and technology." How much money is invested depends on how we invest and how the product is planned. Under a planning with both demand and feasibility, an investment of $3 billion is necessary. "

Subject to financial constraints, NIO has postponed the car project. Qin Lihong said the car project was postponed because Xilai wanted the first car to have considerable impact, which is expected to be launched from 2022 to 2023. Our first generation of products are mainly SUV, the cost is high, if we want to solve the problem in the second generation production, the investment is too large. Back to the strategic point of view, it is not practical.

At the Shanghai Auto Show in April this year, the first car product of NIO, which is also the first product of the company's second-generation technology platform, the ET preview version, was officially unveiled at the key position of the booth. At that time, the media said that the mass production version of the car, "ET7", would be released at the annual NIO Day in December and launched at the end of June the following year.

However, in the interview room next to the booth, Qin Lihong, president of Lulai, revealed to the chief travel officer that the function of the ET preview on the booth is more to convey the product and design concept to the outside world, rather than the final form of the product. They haven't finally confirmed what models will be released on NIO Day at the end of the year.

Qin Lihong also said that mass delivery of the third production model of Lulai will begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2020. This is based on the first generation of SUV platform (ES8, ES6 are developed from this) to build extended products, but NIO will adhere to the high-end brand image, so it will not enter the 100000-200000 yuan market segment. It is understood that the third model of NIO will be named after ES3. Previously, there was a suspected registration certificate of ES3, and then according to the naming rules of the first two mass-produced SUV models, it is also very possible.

As a result, there are two models already ahead of the planned second-generation platform. If both products are released and delivered on time, the company will be able to maintain the pace of releasing one product a year since 2017. However, the success of the plan also depends on whether ES6 deliveries this year can meet the target. Affected by the recall, the delivery of vehicles by Xilai in July this year was lower than expected, with only 812 vehicles delivered by ES6 and ES8. Although Xilai has announced its product plan, whether it can move forward on time depends on the company's operation.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat