On March 16th, at the China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum (2024), NIO CEO Li Bin stated in an interview with Shanghai Securities News and other media that in ten years, five of the top ten global intelligent electric vehicle industries will be Chinese companies. Among them, BYD and Geely have already secured two seats. Meanwhile, in the global automotive market competition, China will surpass Japan and South Korea.
When asked about how to view the escalating industry price war, Li Bin responded, "At present, price war is a very normal thing and a normal business process. However, price war will eventually return to the essence of business, that is, value creation, and what value brands create for users."
Li Bin analyzed that during the oil and electricity handover period, various pressures will accumulate together. And gasoline cars can make money, with a foundation for price wars. So a price war for gasoline vehicles will definitely spread to new energy vehicles, and everyone must survive.
Li Bin believes that the value created by products at different prices is different, and currently, brand stratification has not been formed. At the same time, he revealed the names of three major brands under NIO, including NIO, Ledo, and Firefly.
On March 14th, NIO and CATL officially signed a contract on their long-life battery business, and NIO's BaaS battery rental service has also been adjusted. Regarding the reason for the layout of long-life batteries, Li Bin responded that over 19.4 million new energy vehicles will have expired battery warranties in the next 8 years. Currently, most new energy vehicles have an 8-year warranty, and after driving over 100000 kilometers, the batteries can only guarantee 70% health. Once the health level of the battery drops below 70%, its safety will sharply decrease, greatly affecting the user experience.
"With the efforts of peers, many battery problems have been solved very well, such as endurance, safety, cost, etc. However, the issue of battery life has not been set with higher goals in the past 8 years, and this goal needs to be set by the entire industry. Because cars will be used for more than ten years, not only new car owners, but also second-hand cars, third hand cars, fourth hand cars, and even scrapping will require a long cycle. If we do not prepare technically now, it will be a very big burden in the future." Li Bin said.