Chinese EV maker Nio and the German giant Bosch signed a “strategic cooperation agreement on Advanced Smart Electric Vehicle Technology” during German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s official visit to China.
The deal — which has not yet been formally announced by either company — was signed on Thursday and marks the second major strategic partnership between the German automotive supplier and the Chinese EV maker.
The first one was signed in Berlin nearly eight years ago, in July 2018.
Nio CEO William Li appeared in an official delegation photo released on Thursday alongside Merz, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and a group of roughly 30 senior German and Chinese business leaders.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius and Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume were also pictured in the image, which was taken at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, according to a picture aired on Chinese state media.
The group included CEOs from Siemens, Bayer, Adidas, and Commerzbank.
Neither Bosch nor Nio had issued an official statement on the agreement as of Thursday evening China time.
Merz arrived in Beijing on Wednesday (February 25) with what is described as the largest German business delegation to China since the Angela Merkel era.
The First Partnership
Bosch and Nio signed a strategic cooperation agreement in July 2018 focused on sensor technology, automated driving, electric motor controls, and intelligent transport systems.
That ceremony also took place during a state visit — with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang both in attendance.
At the time, Nio’s ES8 — its first mass-production vehicle — already contained around 20 key Bosch components, including driver assistance systems, control units, radar sensors, and the iBooster electromechanical brake booster.
Bosch China described the Shanghai-headquartered EV maker as “one of the company’s top customers.”
Component Supply
In the years since, Bosch has served as a core Tier 1 supplier across Nio‘s entire EV lineup.
Key Bosch systems integrated into Nio vehicles include the iBooster (crucial for energy recuperation in EVs), ESP stability control, millimeter-wave radar sensors, body electronics, and powertrain control units.
Bosch’s components began appearing in Nio models back in 2018, starting with the large SUV ES8.
The ES8 was Nio‘s first mass-produced model with its third generation — which was launched in September last year — currently the Group’s best-selling model.
In Europe, only the second generation has been introduced with the exception of Norway — Nio’s first market outside China in which the first-generation ES8 was also sold to customers.
BMW x CATL
BMW Group and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) also signed a memorandum of understanding on cross-border industrial data usage during Merz’s visit.
The deal addresses data governance and compliance for cross-border industrial operations — an increasingly sensitive area as both China and the European Union tighten regulations around data transfers.
CATL, which supplies batteries to BMW‘s global EV lineup, also serves as Nio‘s primary battery supplier — a relationship dating back to the original ES8 in 2018 that was expanded in January through a five-year strategic cooperation agreement.
Autolink
In 2021, Autolink — a smart cockpit software and hardware company backed by Nio Capital (Nio‘s venture capital arm) — signed a strategic partnership and investment agreement with Bosch.
The two had established their relationship in 2019 and jointly developed a smart cockpit domain controller based on the Qualcomm 8155 chip.
Chen Yudong, president of Bosch China, said at the time that Bosch would continue to optimize underlying software for smart cockpits, while Autolink would accelerate the development of upper-layer applications.
Separately, announced on Thursday that its intelligent-driving chip subsidiary has secured 2.257 billion yuan ($330 million) in its first external funding round.
