Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio has begun a new round of layoffs across its European operations, aiming to reduce operational costs by 25% at a global scale, two separate internal sources told EV on Friday.
The latest cuts primarily affect staff in the company’s design and research and development (R&D) departments, one of the sources said, requesting anonymity. Employees in these teams were informed of the layoffs on Friday during internal meetings, the person added.
U.S. listed shares of the EV maker reached a new five-year low on early Friday and are currently trading 8% lower at $3.43.
The company has not issued an official announcement regarding the layoffs and is executing the cuts without a formal internal communication such as a company-wide email. Instead, affected staff were notified via messaging platforms.
Nio’s global business division, which includes operations under Chris Chen, remains unchanged for now, though the situation could evolve in the coming weeks, another source said.
According to Chen’s LinkedIn, the executive was promoted to Vice-President Head of Global Business in June last year to lead the company’s business outside China.
Rumors of staff reductions had circulated within Nio’s European organization in recent weeks, and individual separation deals have been reached with part of the staff.
On March 12, EV reported that Nio’s job reductions reported by Chinese media were extended across multiple departments in Europe and the United States.
The reduction of positions impacted teams at both the country and regional levels in Europe, with the number of affected employees varying by team and project. While some positions were cut, other employees — who joined one of the Nio offices in Europe last year — saw their contract terminated after the 6-month probation period ended.
Earlier this week, the chief of Nio’s first sub-brand Onvo, Alan Ai, stepped down after the debut model L60 failed to achieve sales targets of 16,000 units in January and 20,000 in March.
Job Cuts in the US
In the U.S., where Nio has operated an innovation center since 2016, the company has also downsized teams over the past few months. Chinese media outlet LatePost reported last December that personnel cuts affected several key positions across Nio’s smart driving delivery team and end-to-end technology team.
A separate source told EV that the number of employees at Nio’s San Jose office has recently fallen to fewer than 100.
Job Cuts in China
According to a recent report from the local media outlet Leiphone, the latest round of reductions in China affected the UR Fellow after-sales customer service division, Nio House (the brand’s showrooms) operations, after-sales stores, and sales teams.
The scale of the reductions varied by department, with affected employees offered compensation packages and reassignment options. Sources familiar with the matter indicated that approximately 10% of staff were affected, though the percentage differed across regions, according to the report.
One of the sources told EV that due to the national day in China this Friday, the impact of the new round of job reductions is still unknown.
Q1 Sales in Europe
Nio expanded to Europe via the Norwegian market in late 2021, with four other markets (Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark) following a year later in October 2022.
Despite recently announced incentives across most of the markets, registrations in Q1 fell sharply as the premium brand struggles to position its EVs in the old continent.
In the first quarter of the year, registrations in Norway fell 40% from a year ago to 104 units. In Germany, Europe’s largest car market, Nio sold 64 vehicles between January and March — down 37% year over year.
In the Netherlands, sales dropped 24% year over year in the first quarter as its market chief Ruben Keuter — who had joined in March 2022 — left earlier this week and joined the carmaker Hyundai.
The EU-EVs data platform shows no sales for Nio in Denmark during the first quarter, compared to two units registered a year ago. Sweden was the only market where sales increased with 17 vehicles sold in the first three months of 2025.
Expansion in Europe
In March, Nio’s management reaffirmed its commitment to entering several new markets in 2025. The company is aiming to be present in 25 countries and regions by the end of the year—a target first announced in January 2021 during the launch of the ET7 sedan, the first model built on its second-generation NT2.0 platform.
Asked about Nio’s current markets across Europe, Li explained that the company will “continue operating under the direct-sales model, since the investments have already been made,” while adding that it will also “control the scale of investment going forward.”
Nio Group co-founder and President Lihong Qin added that the EV maker is currently in the contract-signing stage “with more than a dozen countries,” adding that the local partners “must achieve positive profit and cash flow” within the first year.
No More Top-Down Layoffs
As reported by EV last month, the Group’s founder and CEO William Li said in an interview with China Entrepreneur Magazine the company would no longer implement top-down layoffs while admitting that Nio paid “a lot of tuition” over the past ten years.
“If we could do it all over again, we definitely could have saved a lot of money,” Li stated in March.
“The last time we did that was in November 2023, and we won’t be doing it again,” he said. “For example, with an R&D project—whether to add or reduce headcount is up to you. The company won’t interfere. The company only looks at the operating report and focuses on the final result. As for whether you control the investment (I) or improve the return (R), that’s your decision.”
Later in the interview, Nio’s chief guaranteed, “But we do what needs to be done, and we’ll do it very quickly.”
“I get a lot of feedback and try to understand it. But it’s hard to express the real issue—often it’s about setting priorities,” Li noted. “For example, in 2019, we had two rounds of layoffs just to survive. In October 2023, we also laid off over 10% of staff. When something needs to be done, we act quickly.”
As of Friday, Nio’s LinkedIn page has 15 job positions opened, with four of them being based in Europe and 11 in Shanghai, where the company is headquartered.
Cost Cutting Measures
Last month, Nio confirmed that it is rolling out a new internal management model known as CBU. Under the system, each department is responsible for calculating its own return on investment as part of the cost-cutting efforts.
Nio is entering a critical phase in 2025, with plans to launch nine new models across its three brands — some fully new, others refreshed versions — between April and December.
In the final quarter of the year, the company will launch a brand-new model under its main brand. “From product definition to cost targets, it is extremely competitive, and will incorporate our latest technologies. We are very confident we can return to center stage and gain sufficient market share in our segment,” Li stated in a separate interview.
