Automotive News Europe - July 2019 - 10

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

Q&A

QA Baby steps

Nio CEO cautiously eyes Europe entry for Chinese EV startup

X3 and Mercedes GLC. Our performance
is better, our service is better, maintenance and operating costs are lower and
charging is much more affordable than
filling up with gasoline. Not only that,
the license plate is free [in Chinese cities
such as Beijing the plate can cost more
than the vehicle] and you don't need to
leave it at home one day out of the workweek [to comply with driving restrictions
in China to reduce air pollution].

or about two years, the Nio EP9
sports car prototype had the fastest
lap time of any electric vehicle on the
grueling Nürburgring Nordschleife at
6:45.90. Although the EP9's record fell
last month to the Volkswagen IDR, the
result proved that Nio's innovative technology could compete with the world's
best. Nio founder and CEO William Li
spoke to Automotive News Europe Correspondent Christiaan Hetzner during
the Shanghai auto show about the EV
maker's plans for Europe, competing
with German rivals in China and the
need for fresh funding after listing on the
New York Stock Exchange.

Do you see any further need to raise
funds after floating Nio on the New
York Stock Exchange last September?
This question is very sensitive. Speaking
in general, we do need to raise new funds
in the appropriate approach with the appropriate tools. If you look at Tesla, they
raised tens of billions of dollars after their
IPO [initial public offering]. We may not
need such a huge amount of money, but
we do need to raise more funds for future development so we can maintain our
edge in this fierce competition.

The best chance for a Chinese automaker to break into the European
market is with EVs. Does Europe appeal to you?
Yes. We want to be a global brand. We
have almost 200 people in Munich, for
example. But we are still a very young
company and have limited resources. If
we expand abroad, we should be profitable. That's why we should be very careful when we expand outside of China
because it's very easy to enter a market,
but very hard to survive and win.
German brands dominate the Chinese premium car market. How can
Nio break though?
We just entered the segment with a vehicle that is not cheap, it [the ES8] costs
about $75,000. As a competitor to the
Audi Q7 seven-seat premium large SUV,
we have a market share of more than 10
percent, and that is just the beginning.
Do you see the German automakers
as dinosaurs that are too slow to react to new trends?
They are powerful, have lots of money
and they are already changing. So while
they may be giants, I do not see them
as moving slowly. As a startup, however,
we need to move faster.
You showed the ET Preview concept
sedan at the Shanghai auto show in
April. When will this Tesla Model 3 rival debut?

www.autonewseurope.com

Would you wait until the share is at
least trading back above its IPO price
of $6.26?
Of course, we will be planning for our future fundraising based on the stock price
and the capital market performance. Obviously this is not the right time.

Meet the boss
❚ NAME: William Li
❚ TITLE: Nio CEO
❚ AGE: 45
❚ MAIN CHALLENGE: Achieving

sustained profitability while
expanding into new segments.

That was just to show the car's styling.
We will gather the feedback and then decide when and how to launch a sedan in
that segment.
What's next for Nio?
We have started delivering the ES6 SUV
that competes with the Audi Q5, BMW

Do you already have a commitment
from Chinese Internet giant Tencent
to invest additional funds in any new
share sale?
Nio has a lot of strategic shareholders.
We maintain close contact to keep them
up to date on our latest business. Right
now, we don't have anything special to
announce in regard to this.
What kind of lesson can Chinese startups such as Nio teach the established
automotive brands?
We define the user experience and the
digital experience differently. If you look
at our culture and organization, you will
find we are very people-oriented. We
want to build a community of users who
are all connected by our cars. ANE

JULY 2019

http://www.autonewseurope.com

Automotive News Europe - July 2019

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