It is learned on April 1 from Blue Whale Finance that From March 31st to April 2nd, China EV100 Forum (2023) was held in Beijing.

With the theme of “promoting the modernization of China’s auto industry”, the forum focuses on the development situation of the global auto industry, the high-quality development path of new energy vehicles, the development strategy of China’s intelligent networked vehicles, the development trend of the supply chain of core industrial chains such as power batteries, and the new generation of automobile consumption. In-depth discussions were held on multiple topics such as the trend of change and the strategy for the coordinated development of automobiles and energy.

At the high-level forum on April 1, Li Bin, the founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, said that under the impact of the epidemic, price wars, changes in the international political situation, anti-globalization and supply chain decoupling, etc., the uncertainty in the automotive industry is very large, and colleagues must face very difficult choices.

Regarding the recent intensified price war, Li Bin said that NIO will not participate in the price war. In addition, he believes that price cuts are a method Tesla has adopted after facing fierce competition in the Chinese market, but it does not have pricing power in China. “Tesla has pricing power in the U.S. market because it has a 60% to 70% market share, but in China, Tesla only has a 7% share.”

For a start-up company like NIO, it is necessary not only to ensure controllable risks and improve efficiency, but also to resolutely invest in the long-term final victory. Li Bin said frankly, “We are not qualified to stop and think too much.”

“Nio did lose some money last year, mainly in research and development. Li Bin did not shy away from NIO’s losses. In the fourth quarter of last year, NIO’s research and development investment was close to 4 billion yuan, and the annual research and development investment reached 10.8 billion yuan. “Last year, our annual revenue was close to RMB 50 billion. It should be said that the ratio of R&D revenue is still very high, and this year’s R&D investment will further increase.”

NIO will continue to invest in the construction of charging and swapping infrastructure. At present, more than 14,000 public charging piles deployed by NIO remain open and shared, and more than 80% of them are non-NIO car owners, including Tesla and BYD. 500kW ultra-fast charging piles have begun to be installed. In terms of battery swapping, 1,326 swapping stations have been built across the country, and 13 swapping stations have been deployed in Europe. By 2025, NIO will fully build a highway power swap network for 19 major urban agglomerations with “nine verticals and nine horizontals”, basically realizing worry-free highway travel.

In addition to the automotive business, Li Bin also revealed in an interview with the media that the NIO mobile phone will be released and delivered in the third quarter of this year.