On June 20, William Li, CEO and co-founder of Nio, arrived in Germany and attended China-German Economic and Technological Cooperation Forum and Sino-German Entrepreneurs Roundtable alongside Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who also met with Chancellor Olaf Scholtz.
Nio announced its participation on its Weibo channel and added that fifteen Chinese and German companies attended the Roundtable, including SGCC (State Grid Corporation of China), banking behemoth ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China), and AI software provided SenseTime. Nio said it was the only smart EV company among invitees.
On Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang embarked on a five-day journey to Germany and France, two influential European powers and prominent European Union (EU) members. Business delegations usually accompany such state visits.
On June 1, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, arrived on a surprise visit to China, where he spent two days, visited the Shanghai Giga factory, and met with foreign minister Qin Gang and CATL CEO Robin Zeng.
For Musk, it was the first visit to the Middle Kingdom in three years. Li’s recent trip to Europe marked his second visit to the continent within a relatively short period. In September, he and his co-founder Qin Lihong embarked on a 10-day road trip, exploring various destinations across the Old Continent.
Nio entered the German market in October last year and registered over 700 EVs since then. Cumulative registrations in 2023 are 205 units, including 44 cars in May. On June 15, in Germany, Nio launched a station wagon version of its ET5 mid-size sedan called ET5 Touring and EL6 SUV (ES6 in China).
William Li said on his Weibo upon launch that ET5T is the ‘world’s first smart electric station wagon.’ Well, poor MG 5 is probably not smart enough.
ET5 Touring. Credit: Nio
Nio already sells ET7 sedan, ET5 mid-size sedan, and EL7 SUV in Germany and three other EU countries – Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden. Nio’s European HQ is in the Netherlands, and NIo’s battery swap station (PSS) factory is in Hungary. The Hefei-based startup currently operates 13 swap stations in Europe with the goal of 120 by 2023, which was recently quietly reduced to 80 PSS. In China, Nio operates over 1400 PSS.
ET5 Touring. Credit: Nio
On June 12, Nio entered the price war in China by dropping the price of every single model by 30,000 yuan (4,200 USD), including ES6 second generation, launched less than a month ago. The new ES6 is the most important model for Nio, as the previous generation was responsible for 40% of all Nio sales, delivering almost 130k units since its launch in 2019.
Nio previously announced a goal of 250k deliveries in 2023, and officially this goal wasn’t dismissed yet, but analytics agree that reaching 180k deliveries will be a success for Nio this year.
Keyword: Nio’s CEO, William Li, arrived on a surprise visit to Germany