Tesla is spraying cars onto the roads in numbers that the Nio can only dream of. Still, the brand, which has gone dormant in Denmark, calls Tesla's model program too small.
Although Nio has almost disappeared from Denmark and fled to Sweden, the car manufacturer must not sink to Tesla's level.
At least not if you ask the car brand's chief executive, William Li. At the Auto Shanghai 2023 car show, the director tried to rise above Tesla.
Here he directly called Tesla's cars bad and old. Among other things, Li said that he thought the Tesla Model 3 was a good car. That is, when it came on the market in 2018.
But, says Li, now there are many Chinese electric cars which are far better. However, the Nio boss admitted that the price cuts are also putting pressure on his business.
Back in April last year, William Li said that it might be difficult to reach the goal of selling 220,000 cars in 2023. And he was right. Nio sold just 160,000 cars globally.
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Here at home, Nio only got 41 cars on the roads all of last year, because sales stalled with just 2 cars in the course of the first months of 2024.
Similar to other car brands, the Nio also burned through the money at a furious pace throughout last year. This even though the management – including William Li – had actually expected that the business would make a profit.
Overall, Nio lost a whopping 20.7 billion yuan over the course of the year. This corresponds to 19.7 billion Danish kroner. Conversely, Tesla made a profit of DKK 105 billion in the course of 2023.
William Li also acknowledges that the price pressure on the car market has been and is good for some. Namely the drivers.
– Tesla has had an aggressive pricing strategy for several years, which has put pressure on many competitors. But in the end, it is the quality of the product that determines what you get for your money.
– If you look at comparable products from, for example, BYD and Geely, they also have good cars with competitive prices. For consumers, the price pressure has been good because you get more for your money, says Nio's director and co-founder.
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