Source: Smart Electric Eel

 

 

Recently, we (Smart Electric Eel) obtained the declaration information of NIO’s new generation of EC6 from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to the current known information, this car will be released together with NIO ES6 in the first half of this year, and each of the two models will be launched immediately after release, and will be delivered immediately after the launch.

Launch immediately after release, delivery immediately after launch – This kind of efficiency is something NIO has never experienced before. As we all know, NIO has been playing the futures game at the level of new energy vehicles, grabbing enough attention by introducing cutting-edge hardware first, but the final delivery time usually takes a long time.

Judging from the comprehensive changes on ES6/EC6 this time, it can be seen that NIO has also begun to make more competitive adjustments.

Difficulty in delivery has always been an urgent problem for NIO to solve

Now NIO has encountered its own new problems. The product strength of the previous 1.0 platform is no longer enough to support NIO’s higher price. However, due to many problems such as production capacity, positioning and product form, the second-generation platform products also failed to meet the original sales expectations. This has led to more and more new models being launched by NIO, but sales have not seen much growth.

Previously, NIO could easily achieve monthly sales of more than 10,000 units by relying on the three 866 models. Now NIO already has two highly competitive sedans, ET5 and ET7, as well as the ES7 on the same second-generation platform, plus the previous 866, it is even more difficult for the cumulative sales to exceed 10,000.

The delivery efficiency is too low, which has become the biggest constraint for NIO to increase sales. ET5, regarded by the industry as a disruptor of Tesla, whether it is hardware strength, overall pricing, or NIO’s overall brand style and positioning, can be said to be explosive at the time when the product was released at the end of 2021. However, even by 2023, the delivery volume of ET5 is still not very hot, which is about 5,000 vehicles. Due to the failure to increase volume in the early stage, the popularity gradually decreased, and it failed to break through the circle. It was gradually forgotten by users, and it completely missed its golden age, which became a great regret.

With respect to ET7 and ES7, the problem of futures is equally serious, and there are also some problems in product form and positioning. For example, ET7 has been released as early as the end of 2020. The waiting period has lasted for nearly two years. Although the overall product strength is very good, the price has reached the range of 500,000 or even higher. Due to the delay in delivery, it has also been gradually forgotten by users.

Although the delivery time of the ES7, which has not been released for a long time, is not a big problem, the style based on the old platform remains too strong, and the charging port is still placed in the front, which has been criticized by users.

Solving supply chain problems and solving delivery problems has become the issue that NIO must urgently solve at the moment.

 

 

In terms of positioning for ES6/EC6, since the ES7/EC7 model equivalent to the old EC6/ES6 has been released, the overall positioning of the new generation ES6/EC6 will also change accordingly.

It is reported that the positioning of these two models will be lowered. On the one hand, the optional air suspension will be canceled, and the positioning will be separated from ES7 and EC7. More importantly, in terms of price, the two 66 models are likely to drop further, or there will be surprises.

From this point of view, the hardware and experience are expected to have no obvious flaws, the price has been lowered, and the production and delivery efficiency has been comprehensively improved. The EC6 and ES6, which will be delivered as soon as they hit the market, are expected to become one of the few NIO models that can truly be “buy with your eyes closed”, and they are likely to become NIO’s hit this year for increasing the delivery volume.

Do you think the new EC6 and ES6 can significantly increase NIO’s sales volume?