The situation encountered by Li Bin is a bit grim.
On March 5, NIO released its financial report, with revenue of 55.6 billion yuan and a net loss (adjusted) of 183 yuan in 2023500 million yuan, an increase of 51% over the previous year.
In the past year, Li Bin led NIO to deliver a total of 160,000 vehicles; It's a pityOn average, the loss is about 1150,000 yuan
Compared with itself, NIO's sales are good; If compared with competitors such as Li Auto, it is insufficient. ”
Zhong Shi, an analyst in the automotive industry, told the "21CBR" reporter that if last year's sales fell in the range of 200,000 units, it would be very appropriate.
New energy vehicles have entered the knockout round, and Li Bin is thrifty and strives to get better.
Strict control of spending
Selling a car and losing one, Li Bin first has to keep cash.
As of the end of 2023, NIO held cash and cash equivalents of approximately RMB57.3 billion, an increase of RMB15.1 billion from RMB42.2 billion in the previous year.
There is nearly 60 billion cash in the account, thanks to the "fate" everywhere
In the past year, NIO has received two investment funds from CYVN Holdings Abu Dhabi, with a cumulative income of 29400 million US dollars, equivalent to 211600 million RMB.
In the fall of 2023, the company also successfully issued convertible bonds, totaling 11$500 million.
However, Li Bin still has a large bill to pay.
As of the end of 2023, its ** payments and notes payable are about 297700 million yuan, mainly for the arrears of ** businessmen; Another borrowed 98200 million, to be repaid within a year.
Judging from the cash reserves, Li Bin still has a lot of money, and he can pay off the bills, and Weilai will have more than 17 billion left, if it does not improve, it will only be enough to lose for a year.
Relying on external blood transfusions is not a long-term solution after all.
Improving financial performance is a top priority。Mei Songlin, a senior analyst in the automotive industry, said that it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain financing, and the survival of new energy vehicle companies depends on their own profits.
Li Bin seeks change. A NIO employee told 21CBR that Li is well aware of the company's operations, and now pays more attention to the "cost-effectiveness" of the project and emphasizes the results.
Resolutely avoid ineffective and inefficient inputs, save every kilowatt-hour of electricity that is not needed, save every unwanted document printing, and do not waste every click and inquiry. ”
At the beginning of the year, Li Bin emphasized in an internal letter"Put every penny to good use".
Qin Lihong, president of NIO, said that he and Li Bin have been sharing a 12-square-meter office, and the reimbursement standard for their business trips is the same as that of employees, which is 400 yuan a day.
In the fourth quarter, NIO's gross margin was 119%, cost reduction and efficiency increase.
Sell more
At a critical juncture, Li Bin is stepping up efforts to optimize the personnel structure.
In November, he confirmed that the company had laid off 10 percent of its workforce, admitting that it was a "difficult decision to make".
At the end of February, just after the start of construction, a NIO operation specialist got a "layoff gift package".
She told the "21CBR" reporter that before and after the Spring Festival, more than 20 colleagues in a branch of a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province who left their jobs voluntarily and passively left.
The company is now recruiting on a large scale, and it is sales. NIO's senior management has a KPI for buying a car, and grassroots employees are voluntary. She revealed.
Q4,NIO's selling, general and administrative expenses were 39700 million yuan, a double-digit increase sequentially.
According to the financial report, one of the main reasons is the increase in personnel costs in the sales function.
Li Bin said in August last year that he would recruit sales personnel from luxury car brands to form a sales capacity of 30,000 units per month.
In 2024, one of the company's top priorities is to ensure that sales and service capabilities can respond to market competition, and that sales can be converted into sales as quickly as possible.
According to BOSS Zhipin, NIO continues to recruit marketing personnel, for example, Jiujiang's sales consultant position, with a monthly salary of 8,000-13,000 yuan.
At the same time, Li Bin increased efforts to motivate front-line sales staff to increase sales.
Information from automotive data company Jaylan Road shows that since July 2023,NIO's sales commission for each new car has been adjusted from 800 yuan to 2,000 yuan, the sales commission of inventory cars and exhibition cars will be increased from 800 yuan to 4,000 yuan.
In addition, the post of product expert in the store will be cancelled, and the sales staff will receive the whole process, and the last elimination system will be introduced.
In the second half of last year, news that Weilai's monthly sales income exceeded 100,000 yuan came out from time to time.
A monthly income of 100,000 is too exaggeratedThe monthly salary of sales is generally about 10,000 to 30,000 yuan。A Weilai store sales told the "21CBR" reporter that most of its income comes from commissions, and the company has good benefits, including weekends and five insurances and one housing fund.
As long as you sell more than two cars a month, the salary may exceed 10,000 yuan. The salesman said.
NIO's sales have boosted. From October to December 2023, the revenue was 17.1 billion yuan, exceeding market expectations.
Selling cars is still the focus. The company estimates that in the first quarter, the delivery volume will be 310,000-330,000 units, with a total revenue of more than 10.4 billion yuan.
Open source everywhere
In addition to selling cars, Li Bin is also expanding his financial resources.
He took the lead in forming a "battery swap alliance". At the beginning of the year, the two major car companies of JAC and Chery were newly added; Earlier,Changan and Geely have reached a cooperation
When signing Geely Li Shufu and Chang'an Zhu Huarong, Li Bin was full of smiles and bluntly said "very happy".
The battery swap business has a significant scale effect, and if the utilization rate of the battery swap station increases, the cost per service will decrease.
The cost of a single station of NIO's battery swap station (after the battery is full) is about 3 million yuan, and the cost is about 1,000 yuan a day according to the allocation of fixed assets over the past eight years.
Each battery swap station onlyThe average daily service of more than 50 orders can achieve breakeven。Li Bin took Shanghai Station as an example, a battery swap station can make a profit with 60 orders per day.
According to the data, the average daily order volume of NIO battery swap stations is 35-36 orders. The site can only increase utilization if it serves more car brands.
Li Bin took the initiative to expand his circle of friends, intending to increase his income. In addition, the output of battery swap solutions to peers can also dilute the cost of research and development.
If 60% of the cars in the country use NIO to swap batteries, I will wake up laughing when I sleep. Li Bin said that some partners have purchased battery swap stations and handed them over to NIO to operate, and dozens of battery swap stations are currently cooperating.
On March 5, in the official financial report article released by NIO,The cooperation with Chang'an and Geely is deliberately listed as one of the highlights of the year
He also discovered a business that brought in money.
On February 26, NIO entered into a technology licensing agreement with Forseven, a subsidiary of CYVN Holdings. This means that NIO will receive a license fee for the technology.
CYVN, NIO's largest shareholder, just appointed two new directors to NIO in early February. The new official took office less than 1 month ago and gave an order.
Two new businesses can tell the story of future growth, and it will take time to scale.
This year, the new energy vehicle industry is fiercely competitiveHowever, NIO's main brand will not release new cars, and the second brand will be launched in the second half of the year
The new brand is conducive to expanding new market segments, but it will disperse resources and require strong operational capabilities and huge financial support. Mei Songlin said.
In 2024, there will be fewer tasks for new models to be launched, which is a good time window for us to improve our system capabilities. Li Bin said frankly.
While giving up his illusions, facing the challenges head-on, and saving money, he had to find a way to sell more cars and make a profit as soon as possible.