captured Norway's first stop, NIO 's "going to sea" speed is accelerating. Recently, NIO announced that it has begun to provide services in the four countries of Germany, Netherlands , Denmark, and Sweden . This is NIO's further business in the European market after entering the Norwegian market last year.
Behind NIO's overseas trip is the embodiment of the continuous strengthening of China's new energy vehicle competitiveness. In the first three quarters of this year, China's total automobile exports reached 2.117 million, and new energy has become a new driving force for automobile exports. In addition to NIO, new car companies such as Xiaopeng , Lantu, and WM Motor, and independent brand car companies such as BYD , MG, and Gely are all entering the global market and gaining recognition from overseas markets with their product competitiveness.
output complete service system
An interesting point is that in the process of NIO entering the European market, ET7, EL7 and ET5 will start booking in the four countries markets with an innovative subscription model. Users can obtain vehicle services through NIO's innovative subscription model, with subscription periods ranging from 1 month to 60 months. In addition to using the vehicle, subscribers can also get a full service experience, including full insurance, maintenance, battery swap services, and flexible battery upgrade services that will be provided in the future.
Why did NIO choose the “renting only but not selling” model? Founder and Chairman of NIO Li Bin said that choosing the subscription model to enter the four European markets has been carefully considered. "After a long time of experience, electric vehicles will gradually become a service, because cars are ultimately a high-value durable consumer product," said . "The four European countries have a very important tradition that companies use cars, high-end cars and subscription services are close to about 60%. In most European countries, automobile usage rights are the mainstream trend, which is related to tax system and consumption habits. Therefore, the subscription service we launched has deeply explored the pain points of users."
NIO will build a complete power-up system in the four countries markets. It has currently connected 380,000 charging piles in Europe and can be accessed directly using NIO NFC cards. The NIO European version of the charging map has also been put into use. As of the end of 2022, NIO plans to build 20 battery swap stations in Europe, and by the end of 2023, this number is expected to reach 120. At present, the Zusmarshausen battery swap station located between Munich and Stuttgart has been put into use, and the battery swap station in Berlin is about to be completed. By 2025, NIO plans to build 1,000 battery swap stations in markets outside China, most of which will be distributed in Europe.
NIO will also use the method of directly serving users in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, and will establish a sales and service network in these four national markets, establish a complete operation system composed of products and services, and create a user community starting from cars.
In this regard, Li Bin believes that car exports are not equivalent to overseas "selling cars", but rather a complete system service output. Li Bin believes that NIO's advantage in export lies in building a system of R&D, supply chain and products according to the development trend of smart electric vehicle . In the era of mobile social networking, brands should think about how to build a system based on cars and interact with users in a community way.
"We have been preparing to serve users globally since the first day of our establishment, because to truly become a competitive company, relying solely on the Chinese market is definitely not enough. We hope to rebuild a whole system for the future, from R&D, supply chain, service to the entire community, completely build a brand new system and build a new business model. This is our biggest advantage." he said.
export competitiveness has been greatly improved
Behind NIO's re-entry entry into Europe is a microcosm of China's independent brand cars' strong entry into the world. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in September, automobile companies exported 301,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 73.9%. This is the second time that China's automobile exports have achieved a monthly export of more than 300,000 vehicles since August this year. The cumulative exports in the first three quarters of this year have reached 2.117 million vehicles, exceeding the export volume for the whole year last year. What is more important is that in addition to the significant increase in export volume, the "quality" of China's automobile exports has also improved significantly, and it has got rid of the label of low-end products.Data from the Passenger Car Association showed that in 2018, the average price of China's automobile exports was US$12,900, and by August 2022, it had reached US$18,900.
Now, new energy vehicles have become a new driving force for export. With the rapid development of intelligence and electrification, the technical level of new energy vehicles has been continuously leading, and has been recognized by overseas markets for their product competitiveness.
is due to its technological development in three-electric technology, intelligent networking and other aspects, and new energy brands are favored by overseas markets. Recently, BYD announced that it had signed a cooperation agreement with car rental company SIXT, which will purchase at least 100,000 new energy vehicles from BYD in the next six years. BYD Yuan PLUS, Han and Tang models have also recently launched pre-sales in the European market and started delivery in many European countries.
In addition to NIO and BYD, new brands such as Ideal, Xiaopeng, Lantu have also entered the European market. Chinese auto companies such as SAIC, Changan , Great Wall, Geely, Chery have even made plans to build factories overseas, which will further support Chinese brands to "take root" overseas and help China's automobile exports continue to heat up.
Entering the strict European market, even Germany, a strong old automobile industry, requires all-round confidence. This is also a proof that China's new energy vehicles are moving towards high-end. "If you do a high-end market, if you don't have good market performance in the United States and Europe, it will be difficult to gain competitiveness around the world. There is no doubt that the European and American markets are the directions we need to do in the long term," said Li Bin.
However, when China's automobile exports usher in an explosive period, they still have to face cruel overseas market competition. As a high-value industrial consumer product, the construction of channels, sales networks, and after-sales services of China's new energy vehicles overseas need to be built urgently, and brand awareness needs to be established. How to better adapt to the usage habits of overseas consumers also requires further thinking about car companies. Li Bin said, "European car companies have a deeper understanding of the market for their grasp of users' psychological needs, especially in terms of car manufacturing accumulation, service network, supply chain system, etc. We are still 'primary school students' compared to them. Chinese car companies need to continue to learn and catch up."
[Reporter] Gong Qianshu
[Author] Gong Qianshu
[Source] Southern Media Group Southern + Client
