At the end of 2023, Li Bin announced a 10% layoff, and at that time there was speculation that NIO's financial situation was not optimistic, which was verified in the quarterly report released yesterday.
In Q4 2023, NIO delivered a total of 50,045 vehicles, with a total revenue of 17103.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 65%, compared to a decrease of 103%。The gross profit margin per vehicle was 119% from 110% continued to grow, but below the 15% guidance given by management in the previous quarter**.
For the full year of 2023, NIO's total revenue reached 55617.9 billion yuan, a record high. However, NIO's net loss also reached 207 this year19.8 billion yuan, an increase of 435%。This is the third annual loss of more than 10 billion yuan after 2019 and 2022, and it is also the first time that NIO has exceeded 20 billion yuan.
After the release of the financial report, Li Bin revealed more information about the second brand (internally codenamed ALPS) that will be launched this year at the performance meeting. Li Bin said that the first model of ALPS will compete directly with Tesla's Model Y, focus on the home market, and will cost about 10% cheaper than Tesla (referring to Tesla's global cost). He wanted this model to carry the task of carrying the "walk".
On the day of the release of the earnings report, NIO's stock price was **, with the highest increase of 460%, final ** price 5$495,**3.10%。The latest market capitalization is $11.4 billion, which is higher than Xpeng Motors ($8.6 billion), but it is still a few places away from Ideal (about $40 billion).
In 2023, the competition in China's auto market suddenly accelerated, and NIO's deliveries in the first half of the year shrank significantly, with monthly sales falling below 6,000 units at one point.
In the fierce competitive environment, NIO announced for the first time in June that the starting price of all models would be reduced by 30,000 yuan, stripping the previous free battery swap rights from the car price. This strategy quickly paid off in the third quarter. In July, after the price cut, NIO's sales exceeded 20,000 units, and the cumulative number reached 55,432 units in Q3.
Unfortunately, this momentum has not continued to grow. In the fourth quarter, NIO's monthly deliveries were stable at 15-1.80,000 yuan, quarterly revenue ** 103%。
In 2023, NIO will deliver a total of 160038 electric vehicles throughout the year, only a little more than 60% of the sales target of 250,000 set at the beginning of the year, significantly lagging behind the ideal of the main sales range extender products (37.).60,000 units), slightly higher than Xpeng Motors (14., which is also focused on the pure electric market10,000 units).
NIO executives have never been interested in the ** war, whether it is CEO Li Bin or President Qin Lihong have expressed on different occasions that NIO will not participate in the ** war. At the performance meeting on March 5, Li Bin once again emphasized that NIO's main brand will not be better than ET5 (starting at 29.).80,000 yuan) cheaper cars, including (new) models that are being planned. In a previous interview, Li Bin also said that the models of NIO's main brand are all dual-motor versions, which also illustrates the positioning of building a luxury brand. The single-motor model is planned to be in the first place.
Second, the third brand ** now.
Li Bin, Founder, Chairman and CEO of NIOVisual China.
Since it is clear that the main brand will not continue to reduce prices, it is a problem that the management must improve to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
NIO did announce relevant moves and progress in the fourth quarter.
On November 3, Li Bin issued an all-staff letter, announcing that NIO would complete 10% layoffs that month. Judging from the size of the staff at the end of 2022, NIO is the largest among the three new power companies in Wei Xiaoli, and it is roughly estimated that 2,600 people will be affected by this layoff.
In that all-staff letter, Li Bin said that he would postpone and cut projects that would not improve financial performance for three years. After the adjustment, at the beginning of 2024, Yin Shuijun, the head of NIO's mobile phone, announced his departure.
But layoffs do not mean a contraction across the board. Since NIO's main brand has no plans to release new models in 2024, and the first ALPS model will not be delivered on a large scale until the fourth quarter, the eight models sold by NIO this year still have to bear an important role as cash cows.
In the third quarter of last year, NIO recruited a large number of salespeople, and its sales team nearly doubled in size by 3,000 people. After half a year, Li Bin believes that the new sales team is gradually maturing and showing value.
At present, NIO has nearly 500 directly-operated stores across the country, and Li Bin said that the expansion of the number of stores under NIO's main brand is not the top priority this year, but the important thing is to improve operational efficiency. Qin Lihong also said at the ** exchange after the 2023 NIO Day that under the direct sales system, more attention will be paid to the comprehensive ability of market signing, in-store service and energy replenishment, and emphasized that such work is adjusted on a weekly basis.
At the end of last year, NIO acquired JAC's first advanced manufacturing base and second advanced manufacturing base, and according to the announcement released by JAC, the total number of transactions** was 31$5.8 billion. This is an investment in fixed assets, and after the completion of the acquisition, NIO has obtained an independent automobile production qualification. Li Bin said that if NIO were to manufacture the car entirely in-house, the manufacturing cost would drop by 10%.
Geek Park visited NIO's second advanced manufacturing site in January this year. In addition to a series of automated manufacturing processes, the most impressive thing for us is the Rubik's Cube vehicle access platform built by NIO. Different from the assembly line factory layout of traditional car companies, this design is easier to meet the customization needs of multiple brands, multiple SKUs, and different users for different options in the future. Smart manufacturing is also one of the 12 key areas of full-stack self-development announced by NIO last year.
NIO's second advanced manufacturing base |NIO.
In addition, on December 18 last year, NIO announced that it had signed a new round of share subscription agreement with Abu Dhabi investment institution CYVN, receiving a cash investment of US$2.2 billion. This is the second time NIO has received investment from CYVN in 2023, and Li Bin has revealed that the first financing took only 3 weeks, and the second was even shorter.
With these two sums of capital from the Middle East, a total of $3.3 billion (about 23.7 billion.)RMB4.9 billion), NIO had cash reserves of RMB57.3 billion as of December 31, 2023. Currently, CYVN has an actual stake of 201%。
As an industry with long-term heavy investment, the automotive industry can never be simply equated to a 90-minute football game, with too much emphasis on short-term sales data and neglect of long-term strategic layout. However, after entering 2024, the competition will become more fierce both in the overall new energy vehicle market and in the market segments in which the two NIO brands are located.
From the perspective of the overall market, BYD, an industry giant that sold more than 3 million units last year, launched the Honor Edition model one after another, launching a fierce attack on the market below 200,000; Before Xiaomi cars were listed, they were already surrounded by a number of new competitors at the same price; Huawei's HarmonyOS Alliance continued to attack strongly, and the Wenjie M9, priced at nearly 500,000 yuan, exceeded 50,000 orders within two months of its launch. Li plans to launch 4 pure electric models this year.
For NIO, the challenge comes not only from its own rhythm of playing, but also from facing some inevitable direct competition.
At present, the pace of each product is extremely fast, and consumers are full of dazzling new products and all kinds of new products from the rhythm of the brand, only one new model has been launched this year, and there will be great pressure on the fault tolerance rate. Think about it, even if it is as strong as Huawei, Hongmeng Zhixing's first pure electric sedan Zhijie S7 After its release, it has become a small and transparent in the market in an instant because of various links such as ** chain and sales, and there is a high probability that it will enter the second investment of restart.
What's more, the ideal that runs the fastest among the new forces in front of us will also officially enter the pure electric market this year, and these 4 new products of the ideal are positioned as pure electric family cars aimed at by ALPS. Maybe the ** segment of the product is slightly different, but it is conceivable that at least at the network ** level, this is likely to be a direct dialogue between the fans of the two car companies.
The pressure is huge, as you can imagine.
Therefore, the outside world naturally pays special attention to ALPS. During the March 5th earnings conference, nearly every questioner had a question about the ALPS brand.
Li Bin's description of the first model of ALPS is a direct reference to Tesla's Model Y. In a recent camouflage photo of the test car taken by a netizen, I even saw the words "better than edamame y" directly pasted on the closed window of the vehicle. Of course, this is just a joke, but the Model Y is still a fairly formidable opponent - with 1.23 million units sold worldwide in 2023, of which more than 450,000 units were sold in the Chinese market, it is the champion model in the Chinese passenger car market, more than gasoline cars.
ALPS's first model camouflage car spy photo |Internet.
Li Bin believes that compared with Tesla, the core advantages of ALPS are expected to be reflected in user experience and cost control.
Battery swapping is still an important trump card in Li Bin's hands, and it is also an important moat for NIO and its brands. Li Bin used the market of cloud services to compare the form of battery swapping to the form of energy supplement, believing that the two will be the same development trajectory, and the head company will open its own network to the entire industry. Recently, NIO has signed relevant energy cooperation agreements with OEMs such as Changan Automobile, Geely Automobile, JAC, and Chery, as well as PetroChina, Sinopec, and China Southern Power Grid.
Li Bin said that NIO will build more than 1,000 new battery swap stations this year, and a considerable number of them will be deployed in the sinking market to match the sales network. These newly-built battery swap stations will be able to serve both NIO's main brand, the second brand ALPS and the battery swap models of partner car companies. At the same time, some battery swap stations still only serve the owners of NIO's main brand, which is equivalent to the difference between public cloud and private cloud.
In terms of cost, Li Bin said that the cost of ALPS can be about 10% cheaper than that of Model Y, and for ALPS brand models, the pursuit of sales will be a priority over gross margin. According to the above data, this model is expected to become a mid-size SUV with a starting price of nearly 200,000 and can be swapped.
NIO*** battery swap station: 23 battery compartments, with a maximum daily service of 480 |NIO.
The core of cost control lies in the advantages of the first chain, but it is also inseparable from the scale effect. Li Bin did not directly disclose his expectations for the delivery of ALPS in 2024, only that when a reasonable amount is reached, the above cost level can be reached. In China, 10,000 units per month for a factory is a reasonable value. 」
The ALPS and NIO main brands will use two separate sales systems, and by 2024, ALPS aims to open no less than 200 sales networks. At present, NIO can reserve and train sales personnel for ALPS.
Globalization will not be a strategic focus for NIO in 2024 for the time being, and NIO will not enter new markets other than the UAE market for the time being. This may also be a concrete tactical embodiment of Li Bin's emphasis on focus and efficiency.
After releasing a large amount of ALPS brand information for the first time, it seems that it still offsets the negative feedback that the market may cause from a loss of 20 billion. On the same day, NIO's share price in the U.S. stock market recorded 310% *
However, until the Q3 product launch and the Q4 large-scale delivery, Li and his team need to continue to focus on improving sales efficiency. After all, for most consumers and investors, sales volume is still the simplest and most straightforward confidence in an automaker**.