Nio's independent car-making qualification has been officially approved, and the company has started producing and delivering EVs under its own name, local media said.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio's (NYSE: NIO) independent car-making qualification has been officially approved, and the company has started producing electric vehicles (EVs) under its own name, local media outlet Sina Tech said in a report today.

Recently, some Nio users shared pictures on social media related to the delivery of vehicles, showing that the text on the tail label of Nio's new cars has been changed from Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC) to Nio, the report said.

This means that Nio's vehicle qualification has been approved and the production line has been switched over, and it has begun delivering products under the Nio name, instead of using the JAC production qualification, the report said.

Previously Nio had its own factories by acquiring JAC assets and now has its own manufacturing qualification, the report noted.

(Image credit: Sina Tech)

Nio had been manufacturing its EVs under the JAC name for the past many years, with both Nio and JAC logos on the rear of the vehicles.

The EV maker displays vehicles without JAC logos in its showrooms, but delivers them to customers with JAC badges, although owners can easily remove them.

Nio's vehicles are produced at the F1 and F2 plants in Hefei, Anhui province. The companies announced on December 5, 2023 that Nio would purchase the two factories in a deal valued at RMB 3.16 billion ($436 million).

Production costs are expected to drop by about 10 percent after Nio acquires JAC's factory assets and takes full control of the manufacturing process, William Li, Nio's founder, chairman, and CEO, said in a December 5 third-quarter earnings call.

China requires local carmakers to have qualifications issued by economic planner the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to produce vehicles under their own brand names.

Nio, which previously had no such qualification, used the JAC's qualification and paid for contract production.

The day before the plant asset acquisition deal was announced, Nio entered China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's vehicle production enterprise credit information management system, meaning it will be able to produce vehicles under its own name.

A regulatory catalog dated December 8 last year showed that Nio had re-filed for all eight of its models -- the ES8, ES7, ES6, EC7, EC6, ET7, ET5 and ET5 Touring.

The core specifications of these models remain unchanged, with the biggest changes being that the manufacturer's name has been changed from the previous JAC to Nio, and the JAC logo on the rear of the vehicles has been removed.

Nio gets independent car production qualification, govt doc shows

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