Nio Launches Mobile Device for Chinese EV Drivers
Nio Inc., an emerging player in the electric vehicle sector, has taken a different approach by launching its inaugural mobile phone, despite the longstanding desire of Chinese tech firms to enter the EV industry.
The unprofitable automaker is targeting its loyal customer base with a phone that syncs with Nio cars as a key fob, displays information such as battery charge and controls such as self-parking and the cockpit infotainment system. The Android-based handset will be priced from 6,499 yuan ($890) – the same as Huawei Technologies Co’s latest flagship, the Mate 60 Pro – Nio said when announcing the phone at the “Innovation Tech Day” event in Shanghai.
“We want our phone to seamlessly integrate with the car and bring a better user experience to our car owners,” founder and CEO William Li said at the event. The phone is sold through Nio’s online store, although initial deliveries may be limited due to delivery restrictions.
Founded in 2014, Nio has yet to turn a profit from its core car business and is burning through cash. It made a bigger-than-estimated loss of more than $800 million in the last quarter. In June, it raised about $738 million in a stock sale to Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings LLC and earlier this week sold $1 billion in convertible bonds, sending its shares plunging 17 percent.
Despite a recent increase in monthly deliveries, Nio delivered just 94,352 vehicles in the first eight months of the year, less than half of its annual target of 250,000. To boost sales and strengthen its balance sheet, the company has cut prices and trimmed customer benefits, introduced facelifted models and delayed some investments.
In a separate news conference Thursday night, Li said the company’s gross margin should return to double digits in the third quarter and then improve further after falling as low as 1% in the previous three months. In the longer term, Nio aims to reach 20%, Li said, adding that falling lithium prices will help.
Nio has stuck with the mobile phone plan that was first announced last year. In addition to presenting the phone, Nio also presented so-called full-stack technology at Innovation Tech Day, including battery systems, chips, electric powertrains, vehicle design, intelligent driving, intelligent cabins and artificial intelligence.
The company has already started mass production of the laser-based radar memory control semiconductor, which can save several hundreds of yuan per unit, Li said. However, the car manufacturer will not achieve the goal of building battery exchange stations in Europe this year.
