Shanghai (ZXZC)- NIO, a high-profile Chinese EV startup, has moved faster on its preparations to make mass-market products under an fire new brand, William Bin Lin, NIO's founder, chairman, and CEO, said at the earnings call after the company's Q2 financial results were published on Wednesday.

“We are going to tap the mass market through an all-new brand. Currently, we have built a core team, marking an important step towards the final product launch,” Li added.

Photo credit: NIO

Li also noted the relationship between NIO brand and the yet-to-be-launched brand will be similar to that of Audi-Volkswagen and Lexus-Toyota. The new brand will not compete with the Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, a hotter-selling all-electric mini car of SAIC-GM-Wuling. Through the mass-market brand, NIO expects to provide users with better products and services at prices lowered than Tesla's.

NIO plans to deliver three new models next year, which include its first sedan model, the ET7, while exclude the refreshed versions of the existing model for sale. Notably, one of them will be priced at the lowest-ever level under NIO brand.

With regard to autonomous driving business, Li revealed that the development of the company's new-generation autonomous driving system NAD (NIO Autonomous Driving) is being well underway. Currently, NIO has around 500 staff members working for its autonomous driving business, and the number will be increased to 800 by the end of this year. The take-rate of NIO Pilot, NIO's advanced driver assistance system, has already exceeded 80%. As of July 2021, the vehicles powered by NIO Pilot drove over 200 million kilometers. 

In respect to R&D efforts, NIO assembled a team for the R&D of perception algorithm over the past year and also launched several new R&D projects this year. According to Li, NIO will remarkably increase its R&D expenses from the third quarter of this year. The company expects its 2021’s full-year R&D outlay to reach around 5 billion yuan ($772.046 million) and its R&D team size to double at the end of this year compared to early 2021.

In terms of overseas market, Li said NIO is methodically pushing ahead with the works for entry into Norway. The first batch of ES8s for Norwegian users was shipped from Shanghai on July 20 and is scheduled to arrive at Norway in mid-August. The preorder and delivery will commence in September.

“The sales contributed by Norwegian market won't be too high this year. We have a long-term thinking for global market expansion and we hope investors stay patient with us,” added Li.