Made in China does not lose to Europe and the United States. Why does Li Bin have the confidence to say that ＂NIO will not reduce prices＂？

As of January 2021, NIO’s market value broke through the $90 billion mark. However, in the past few years, NIO has experienced a series of setbacks and difficulties such as the collapse of multiple financing plans, major layoffs, executive departures, and the bottom of the company’s stock price. Today’s NIO has crossed the line of life and death and regained the favor of capital.

In Li Bin’s own words: "We were actually beaten to the ground with one punch left and one punch right, then got up again, got beaten to the ground again, got up again. But we stopped."

At the beginning of 2020, NIO, who had just left the "ICU", encountered a bigger challenge: Tesla’s price reduction, capital to seize the new energy vehicle market… What magic weapon does NIO have to deal with? What is the "happiness trouble" mentioned by Li Bin? From "controversy" to "striving for success", how did NIO achieve it?

Let’s look for the answer in the second episode of the fifth season of CCTV Finance’s "Meet Big Coffee" at 10:20 pm on Saturday, February 6.　

Is the Porsche factory inferior to the Jianghuai factory?

NIO uses its strength to explain that Chinese manufacturing is not inferior to Europe and the United States!　

In the fourth season of the program "Meet Big Coffee", Li Bin once boarded a hot search on the Internet because of the sentence "Porsche factory is not as good as Jianghuai car factory", which was questioned by many people.

In this episode, Li Bin specially took the host Shi Xiaonuo to visit NIO’s factory in Hefei. The factory was originally a swamp, and it was completed from completion to production in just 20 months. Walking into the factory, you can see that the internal equipment is advanced and orderly.

Inside the factory, a series of honors won by NIO are displayed: NIO ES8 ranked first in the China New Energy Vehicle Quality List released by J.D. Power in 2019, surpassing well-known car brands such as BMW and Tesla (this list comes from one of the most professional and authoritative market research companies in the world, and is also one of the most authoritative lists in the automotive industry), NIO ES8 won the European Body Award, becoming the first Chinese high-end brand to be shortlisted at the European Body Selection Conference…

In Li Bin’s opinion, this series of honors shows that Chinese manufacturing has reached a very high level, and the spring of domestic electric vehicle brands has arrived.

"I visited the Porsche factory more than 20 years ago. At that time, I felt that there was a big gap between us and Europe… Now, Chinese manufacturing has really reached a very high level in many aspects."

Tesla cuts prices, NIO sales rise,

Why did Li Bin have the confidence to say "NIO will not reduce prices"?

In 2020, new energy vehicles ushered in rapid development, Xiaopeng, Ideal, Weimar and other new car-making forces have made efforts, and Tesla, the leader in new energy vehicles, has reduced the price from more than 400,000 yuan to more than 200,000 yuan. Faced with all these challenges, Li Bin has a "happy trouble": NIO production capacity is not enough. To buy a NIO, users have to wait for two months or even longer.　

Li Bin said that in 2020, NIO’s sales volume doubled compared with 2019, but the automotive supply chain is complex and involves a lot of parts, so the expansion of production capacity will take some time. Li Bin, who has experienced many storms, said it is necessary to be "stable".

The most interesting thing is that Tesla’s price cut, the first price cut, had an impact on NIO’s sales, and later price cuts, NIO’s sales will actually increase.

In the face of "price blows" from rivals, Li Bin said that NIO will not cut prices because he believes that price cuts are emotional damage to old users. "We must be grateful to users who have chosen us and treat them well. This is the bottom line of an enterprise, and the bottom line of each enterprise is different."

Li Bin also said that you get what you pay for. "The price of eating tuna is definitely different from eating crucian carp." Li Bin would rather spend the funds on building more power stations for users and improving services, because "there will always be users in this world who recognize your value, as long as you don’t make black money."

NIO is known as "Haidilao" in the automotive industry by users.

Li Bin only gave NIO’s user service 50 points…

Owners who have bought NIO cars are full of praise for NIO’s service. There is feedback from owners that even when NIO is the most difficult, the service is not discounted. The industry once called NIO the "Haidilao" of the automotive industry.

But Li Bin himself gave NIO’s service level only 50 points (out of 100). Because he felt that "satisfying users is NIO’s goal, not a means." On the road of being good to users and car owners, NIO has no end.

At an internal staff meeting, he asked his employees wholeheartedly, who was more determined to buy a car than the company’s employees during NIO’s most difficult time in 2019? "We pay our employees, but the owner buys our car, and if the company fails, he will suffer actual property damage."　

Li Bin said that what makes him "very unhappy" is that so far, no company salesperson has fought for greater benefits for customers in front of him. Li Bin himself has long led by example and got along with NIO owners like relatives.

He logs in to the NIO APP every day, sends big red envelopes to car owners, and regularly attends rider meetings to "listen to the most primitive and authentic voice in business logic".

What is it like to grow up with a brand?

Many car owners have gone through the process of competing wits and courage with their families before buying a NIO, but once they drive it, they rarely regret it. There are also owners who bought two NIO cars in a row and asked Li Bin: "Why is the NIO so attractive?"

Li Bin’s answer is warm and sincere: "Technological progress brings emotional experience… [buying NIO], and owners are willing to watch it grow up. It is impossible to have a mature car brand today that will give owners a chance to grow with it, but NIO can. You see how it overcomes difficulties little by little, watch it grow, and even become a part of its growth."

It is probably this sense of achievement and value that has made NIO owners make a lot of warm actions: on the day of the NIO Auto Show, hundreds of car owners will be present as volunteers to help NIO sell cars; in NIO’s most difficult time, users did not abandon it, but actively helped NIO sell cars and pulled it back from the cliff.　

Why does Li Bin think NIO’s listing was "unsuccessful"?

In 2018, NIO boarded the New York Stock Exchange. When everyone cheered for NIO’s listing, only Li Bin himself felt that the listing was not successful. He revealed in "Meet Big Coffee": NIO plans to raise 2 billion US dollars, and in the end only 1.10 billion. The funds originally raised should be enough for NIO to "burn" for two years, but now, it is only enough for one year.

What makes Li Bin even more uncomfortable is that in a public occasion, an American fund investor openly stated that you are all liars. Compared with the last time Li Bin successfully listed in the United States with Yiche, Li Bin felt that "an era is over". But even if the rhythm was disrupted, Li Bin’s confidence in entrepreneurship remained as firm as ever.

Li Ning is on the NIO platform,

Li Bin revealed his small goal: to have one of three points in the world

This left-behind child from the Dabie Mountains started a tortuous entrepreneurial life from the time he was admitted to Peking University. He has experienced four startups and made three companies listed.

In Li Bin’s opinion, each of his startups has its own difficulties, but he basically does not worry about gains and losses, and always talks about "big things" as a mantra. He said that he does not care much about NIO’s stock price, because the mood always follows that, so there is no way to continue the business.

At NIO’s NIO DAY, Li Ning happily "stood on the platform" for NIO. As the founder of Guochao sports brand, Li Ning has a bit of "mutual admiration" for Li Bin. Li Bin revealed to Li Ning the development direction of NIO: "The market we are targeting is the market of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi… Let’s see if there is any opportunity to achieve one of three points in the world in five years." Li Ning gave NIO encouragement and shared his entrepreneurial secret: "Entrepreneurship, living is a great victory."

Indeed, the road to entrepreneurship is not easy. On the one hand, there are flowers and applause, and on the other hand, there are cliffs and failures. For this venture, Li Bin has big dreams, such as NIO being able to "share the world" with first-tier foreign brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. At the same time, he also has a calm attitude: "Many people have asked me if I want to start a business. In fact, it is very simple. You have to think, what should you do if you fail? If you fail, you are still willing to do it, then do it."

On the track of new energy vehicles, the road ahead is still full of unknowns and dangers. At the end of the show, Li Bin said that the only thing he can do is "look forward, move forward"… More stories about NIO, on February 6th, at 10:20 pm on Saturday, the second episode of "Meeting Big Coffee" broadcast by CCTV Financial Channel continued.