NIO’s EV Factories in Anhui Resume Production

Due to COVID-19 pandemic prevention requirements, two NIO automobile factories in Hefei, China’s Anhui Province, have recently stopped production, causing delays to delivery. According to a report by Cailian Press on November 3, production has now resumed.

NIO‘s F1 Factory produces many models such as its ES8, ES6, EC6, ET7 and ES7. According to the plan, the annual production capacity of the upgraded production line will reach up to 300,000 vehicles. Another factory called F2 officially entered operations in the third quarter of this year, mainly to produce the company’s ET5 model, with a planned production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.

This is not the first time that NIO has stopped production this year. Since March, affected by pandemic-induced lockdowns in Shanghai, the automobile supply chain of the Yangtze River Delta has encountered repeated disruption. In April, NIO announced a suspension of production. Therefore, only 5,074 new cars were delivered that month, down 28.5% annually and hitting a new low during the year.

It was not until September that NIO began to emerge from the shadow of that suspension. It delivered a total of 10,878 new cars in September and set a new third-quarter high. In October, it delivered 10,059 new cars, up 174.3% year-on-year, including 5,979 SUVs and 4,080 sedans.

Previously, NIO set a target of delivering 150,000 vehicles for the whole year, but up to now, it has delivered 92,493 vehicles, achieving just 61.7% of its target. The firm now faces various challenges and uncertainties.

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The price of lithium ore is rising, and developing a strategy to withstand cost pressure has become NIO‘s primary problem at present. In March, the price increase of NEVs in China was triggered by a shortage of raw materials.

On the demand side, with the entrance of more and more new competitors, major firms like NIO, XPeng and Li Auto, which once occupied half of China’s EV market, are weak in sales growth. In the October sales ranking, they were surpassed by NETA Auto.