Nio lays off around 3,000 employees

“This is a tough but necessary decision against the fierce competition,” Nio wrote to its employees in an email, which Reuters obtained. Nio is also cutting back on long-term investments. Projects not contributing to earnings within three years will be postponed or cancelled. “We still have a gap between our overall performance and expectations,” the email continues. Since Nio said at the end of 2022 that it had 27,000 employees and has continued to grow, the carmaker is likely cutting around 3,000 jobs.

However, there are no details on the planned job cuts. It is thus still unclear which positions are affected – also in terms of geography. Most of Nio’s employees are based in China, but there is also a design and development centre in Europe. It is unclear whether some areas will be affected more than others. A few weeks ago, there were reports from China that Nio was struggling financially.

Nio is not only struggling under the general price war in the EV industry and especially on the Chinese market – Tesla triggered enormous price pressure when it slashed prices at the beginning of the year. Nio is also investing heavily in the expansion of its battery exchange stations so that as many customers as possible can take advantage of Nio’s unique selling point.

The manufacturer increased its global deliveries by 33.4 per cent to 109,993 units after the first three quarters, but only thanks to a strong Q3. In the first half of the year, Nio recorded a slight decline. In export markets such as Germany, however, business is sluggish and only 885 Nios were registered there this year.

Despite the job cuts, the company wants to continue to grow. According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Nio is aiming to sell its EVs in the USA from 2025. That is what Ganesh Iyer, CEO of Nio in the US, is reported to have said at a conference in New York. However, Nio wants to import vehicles built in China to the US – the company wants to avoid investing in its own plant despite the possibility of US subsidies, although these are more difficult for a Chinese company to obtain. The CN EV Post thus suspects a problem with Nio’s pricing in the USA if competitor products built in North America receive the tax credit of 7,500 US dollars and Nio does not.

reuters.com, pandaily.com (both layoffs), cnevpost.com (US launch)