NIO summed up Li Bin's first internal letter in 2024 in one sentence: "Ride a bicycle to the bar, the province should save flowers!."”
With a loss of 63 billion yuan in 7 years, layoffs, price cuts and earnings cuts, many people think that NIO is about to die in 2023, but Li Bin can always get financing at critical moments, turning the crisis into safety again and again, which surprises me at the same time, and also makes me very puzzled, after all, many new car-making forces are in decline, and the financing is not smooth.
As the saying goes, everything has a cause and must have an effect, and recently I found the answer to this question. In the past two days, the first internal letter of 2024 released by Li Bin on the Internet has been published, this letter is very long, in fact, it can be summed up in four words, that is, "open source and reduce expenditure", from this letter, I also found the key to why NIO has always been trusted by investors.
Long-term investment in core key technologies
Throughout the development of NIO over the years, the fundamental reason why NIO has been able to be in a relatively high position in the industry is the continuous research and development and investment in core key technologies. Since its inception, NIO has been under tremendous pressure to insist on self-research and development, and its technology R&D investment has reached nearly 40 billion yuan, leading all other new EV manufacturers in R&D costs and expenses. Although the scale of the battery swap station has continued to lose money because of the research and development of core technologies and the expansion of the scale of the battery swap station, in the long run, it is understandable.
Moreover, NIO's R&D and investment, whether it is the core technology or the battery swap station, are all visible and tangible. At NIO Day 2023 held in Xi'an in December, NIO unveiled its new flagship sedan, the NIO ET9, as well as core technologies including a 5nm MiTAC chip, a 900V high-voltage platform, and a Tianxing intelligent chassis system.
In terms of the layout of battery swap stations, in 2023, NIO has successfully completed the goal of adding 1,000 new battery swap stations, and has accumulated more than 2,300 battery swap stations, and will add another 1,000 in 2024, and the first battery swap station will also be put into operation in April.
In addition to the layout of battery swapping, at NIO Day 2023 in December, NIO also released 640kW liquid-cooled fast charging piles, 900V high-voltage architecture, and matching supercharging cylindrical cells and battery packs, continuously optimizing and improving the energy replenishment system. At the same time, NIO is also the car brand with the largest number of charging piles and the widest coverage area.
Not only that, NIO has also done a very good job in terms of user peripheral services, and NIO has continuously launched trendy new products including clothing, food, outdoor and product peripherals on the NIO app. Although I am not a NIO owner now, I actually eat and wear a lot of NIO.
Make good use of every penny of your investor's money
Many new car-making brands, with excellent products and marketing, and good sales, eventually went bankrupt and collapsed, mainly because of the poor financing. For the new car-making forces with a very thin foundation, whether the financing is smooth or not can even directly determine the fate of the brand.
A large part of the reason why NIO has been able to obtain financing reassures investors is that Li Bin will cherish every penny given by investors and ensure that the money is spent on products and R&D, in short, on the cutting edge. At the very least, it will be like a new car-making brand before, giving 300 employees 50 million snacks a year and thousands of yuan of hot stamping business cards.
In his 2024 internal letter, Li Bin also talked about the importance of opening up sources and reducing expenditure, emphasizing the need to make good use of every penny of investors and shareholders. From R&D, product quality, manufacturing, sales and service, to every kilowatt-hour of electricity and every piece of printing paper, we resolutely avoid ineffective and inefficient inputs, and save the part that does not create value for users and the company.
In 2023, NIO has also reached a battery swap cooperation agreement with Changan Automobile and Geely Holding respectively, which can effectively reduce the cost of battery swap stations while promoting the unification of battery swap standards.
In order to reduce costs, NIO will gradually cut off free battery swaps in 2023, in fact, I was very optimistic about this matter at first, but then I thought about it, and it is understandable for NIO to do this at the moment. In the past year, every adjustment of NIO has been forced and necessary, which is also the only way for it to develop upward as a high-end brand.
Write at the end:
To borrow a sentence from Li Bin's internal letter: "NIO's journey is a marathon on a muddy road, and only by insisting on running every step can we gradually take the lead." "In 2024, the new domestic automakers will face more severe challenges, and it is not surprising that some new automakers will withdraw from the market.
Although NIO is still in the red, and has been affected by the ** in the past year, I have always been very confident in the Weilai brand, and the reason for my confidence is that NIO has always insisted on seeking long-term development with technological innovation and full-stack self-development