Li Bin, founder of Weilai Automobile: The new plant in Hefei will be officially put into operation next year and three new cars will be delivered

Reporter Xia Zhibin Shi Yingjing reported from Shanghai

"From September 28 to October 15, in order to further increase production capacity and prepare for the introduction of new products such as ET7, we carried out a phased upgrade of the advanced manufacturing base of JAC Weilai Hefei as planned. Affected by this, the total number of deliveries in October was 3667 units. In late October, we have resumed normal production. ”

On November 10, for the reasons for the poor delivery volume in October this year, at the third quarter of 2021 earnings conference call of NIO, Li Bin, founder, president and CEO of NIO, explained to the media, including China Business Daily.

(Picture from the official of Weilai Automobile)

However, Weilai Automobile's third-quarter financial report shows that the company delivered a total of 24,439 vehicles in the quarter, an increase of 100.2% year-on-year, an increase of 11.6% month-on-month, and a new quarterly delivery record.

According to public data from the Association, the penetration rate of pure electric vehicles in China's passenger car sales reached 17.5% in September. The intelligent and electrification transformation of the automotive industry has accelerated, and more and more users are beginning to choose smart electric vehicles. Li Bin said.

It further said: "Weilai's new orders continue to grow, with new orders hitting a record high in October, and the current delivery volume is mainly affected by supply fluctuations, and the total delivery volume in the fourth quarter of 2021 is expected to reach 23,500 to 25,500 units." ”

Revenue in the third quarter was nearly 10 billion

According to the financial report, NIO's total revenue in the third quarter of this year was 9.8053 billion yuan (US$1.5218 billion), an increase of 116.6% year-on-year and 16.1% month-on-month. Among them, automobile sales were 8,636.8 million yuan (US$1,340.4 million), an increase of 102.4% year-on-year and 9.2% month-on-month.

The reporter noted that WEILAI automobile delivered 24439 vehicles in the third quarter, including 5418 ES8, 11271 ES6 and 7750 EC6. "Due to a variety of factors such as the global pandemic and extreme weather, we have experienced multiple supply chain challenges." Li Bin said.

For the tight supply of chips generally faced by the industry, Li Bin frankly said: "Compared with the worst third quarter of chip supply, the current chip shortage has improved, but the overall challenge is still very large. The main problem with chip shortage is that it is difficult to predict which chip will suddenly go wrong, which is where the challenge is relatively large. ”

However, Li Bin also said at the same time: "The good thing is that we have adapted to the shortage of chips and found some solutions as much as possible." Relative to the sales volume of the entire automotive industry, the total proportion of WEILAI automobiles is still very small, so objectively speaking, Weilai automobile will face smaller difficulties than mature automobile companies. ”

"In the case of some chip shortages, we need to find alternative chips to quickly verify and produce quickly, which has a great advantage over ordinary car companies." Li Bin added.

In terms of battery supply, Li Bin said that CATL is the exclusive supplier of the company's batteries, although it has invested a lot to increase production capacity, but the company's current delivery volume is still constrained. "Overall, battery supply is a ceiling for our delivery."

"The supply chain team, R&D team and partners have taken a series of measures together to ensure a new quarterly delivery high in the third quarter, and will continue to do a comprehensive supply guarantee for the delivery of the fourth quarter and the smooth mass production of new products."

In terms of gross margin of automobile sales, NIO automobile sales gross margin in the third quarter was 18.0%. However, benefiting from the double integral sales revenue, Li Bin said that the company's comprehensive gross profit margin in the third quarter reached 20.3%.

For the gross profit margin outlook for the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year, Qu Yu, vice president of finance of NIO, said on the earnings call that the gross profit of models equipped with 75-degree batteries will increase compared with models equipped with 70-degree batteries. "During the quarter, the price of key raw materials such as aluminum, copper and chips increased, putting pressure on cost control, but we are confident of increasing total gross profit through synergy in product design, supply chain adjustments and other aspects."

Qu Yu further said that NIO's vehicle gross profit target for next year is 20%, but with the launch of NT2.0 products, the long-term target for NT2.0 models is 25%. "From the perspective of NT2.0, the growth of scale and some optimization in all aspects, our vehicle gross profit target in NT2.0 is 25%, and the initial production capacity climbing stage definitely needs a process." Li Bin added.

The reporter noted that among the other sales revenue of Weilai Automobile in a single quarter, 517 million yuan came from the sales revenue of double integrals. Qu Yu said that excluding the sales revenue of the double integral, the gross profit margin of other sales revenue will fall from -5.6% to -12.6%.

"This was mainly due to the expansion of the sales service network in the third quarter. The construction of sales and service network infrastructure is accelerating faster than the growth rate of sales, especially this year. So while other sales revenue will grow, this part of the gross profit will decline in the fourth quarter. Qu Yu said.

The second plant will start operations next year

"In addition to the capacity improvement and overall upgrading of jacques Weilai advanced manufacturing base, the construction of the second production base located in Hefei Xinqiao Intelligent Automobile Industrial Park is also proceeding as planned, starting on April 29, capped the main structure on August 26, and equipment installation will begin at the end of November, and will be officially put into operation in the third quarter of next year." For the production capacity of Weilai Automobile, Li Bin said.

Will the existing capacity meet the company's development needs? "We now have a factory in production, and the capacity has been increased, and the new factory will also be in production in the third quarter of next year. Overall, two plants are sufficient to support our capacity needs in the short term. Li Bin said, "Next year there will be some new models, produced at the second factory in Xinqiao Park, it will have a climbing process, and there will be no impact on the current products." ”

The reporter noted that for the users of Weilai Automobile, it is now necessary to wait for about two months to place an order to pick up the car. Li Bin said: "Now order Weilai's car, you need to wait for a while. Some time ago, the company issued a policy to retain user orders, and we will give some points to reward. ”

As for the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, Li Bin said, "At present, the subsidy for new energy vehicles has not yet introduced a policy, and everyone expects that there may be some decline, but there are not many market subsidies now, and the price we announced has always been the price before the subsidy." The average selling price of our products is also relatively high, so I don't think it will have a substantial impact on the pace of our sales and deliveries. ”

The reporter learned that the development of NIO's NAD software and hardware system is also progressing smoothly, and the development of two other new models based on the NT2.0 platform is also being carried out as planned, and it is expected to be delivered to users in the second half of next year.

For the progress of NIO's first car ET7, Li Bin said, "ET7 will be delivered in the first quarter of next year, and it is currently planned to exhibit real cars in the exhibition hall around the Spring Festival, and the follow-up will begin to deliver." Now that it has been determined that the ET7 uses a lot of very new sensors and chips, on the whole, the pressure of mass production is definitely there, but it is still on schedule. ”

Li Bin added: "In September this year, the first batch of prototype vehicles of et7's full-process production line have officially rolled off the production line, and have completed the trial production and commissioning of the whole process production, and began to prepare for the final mass production. ET7 has made a series of product optimizations during mass production, such as the wind resistance coefficient from 0.23 to 0.208. ”

In terms of sales and service network, the reporter learned that NIO now has a total of 32 NIO centers and 285 NIO spaces, covering 132 cities in China. In addition, NIO has 43 NIO service centers and 181 authorized service centers in 141 cities in China.

"We will continue to increase and optimize the layout of NIO Center and NIO Space, so that NIO's brand can penetrate deeper into more second- and third-tier cities, and we will continue to strengthen the construction of service centers to provide higher quality services for fast-growing users." Li Bin said.

While laying out the domestic market, WEILAI is also developing overseas markets at the same time. "On September 30, the NIO Center in Norway began operations and received widespread public and media attention. We started the first deliveries of the ES8 on the same day and started serving local users. The ES8 receives a five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP, and its product performance and experience are highly recognized by local users and media. Li Bin said.

Li Bin further said: "The current order demand exceeded expectations, and 92% of all orders chose BaaS. NIO's products, services and innovative business models are not only applicable to the Chinese market, but also have their unique value and advantages in the global market. In 2022, we will continue to vigorously promote the layout of the global market. ”

(Editor: Quartzing Proofreader: Yan Yuxia)