NIO will begin selling the first model under a mass-market brand as early as September, and it would cost 10% less to make its new electric vehicle models than Tesla’s Model Y, founder and chief executive William Li told investors on Tuesday. This would give NIO “better flexibility” in pricing the first model under a project codenamed Alps, which will be battery-swappable, thanks to China’s highly-developed EV supply chain and the company’s research and development input over the past several years, Li said. Li implied that the luxury EV maker might take a more proactive pricing strategy to compete with rivals in the segment, as the new brand will target Chinese families and focus more on volume, while its NIO brand continues to be gross margin-oriented. The net loss of the Shanghai-headquartered company widened to RMB 20.7 billion ($2.9 billion) for the full year 2023 from RMB 14.4 billion a year ago, while the revenue growth was roughly 12.9%. NIO’s stock rose 2.8% to end the day at $5.48. [TechNode reporting, NIO financial report]
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