Earlier on Monday, automotive blogger Arthur Shen and the real estate-focused Weibo account ‘合肥川哥’ reported that Nio was preparing to start construction of a new headquarters tower in Hefei.
The EV maker answered later in the day to the reports denying plans to construct a new building in Hefei.
“We are focused on making and selling cars, there’s no such thing,” the company said in a statement.
Nio Group — which includes the Nio, Onvo and Firefly brands — aims to double annual deliveries in 2025 to about 440,000 units.
As of July 31, year to date deliveries were up by 25.2% at 135,167 vehicles. To fulfill its target, the company needs to deliver about 304,800 vehicles between August and December.
Earlier in the day, Arthur Shen had written on X that “the construction of Nio Group’s China headquarters building is about to begin in Hefei, China,” adding that he expects the opening to take place within two years.
The post had been deleted a few hours later.
In April 2020, Nio announced that it had signed a final investment agreement for Nio China with Hefei Construction Investment Holding Co., SDIC Fund Management, and Anhui High-tech Industry Investment as strategic investors, while also reaching a deal with the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone to establish Nio China’s headquarters there.
Six months later, in October, Nio China officially inaugurated its headquarters in the Hefei section of the Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone’s Economic Development Zone.
The company operates two factories in the city and will soon expand capacity further.
William Li, Nio’s founder and chief executive, said that its third factory in Hefei — known as the F3 plant — will officially begin production in September.
Some production lines at the new site will operate on a two-shift schedule when needed, Li revealed in the previous earnings conference call.
Last week, Li said the company is moving from years of heavy investment into what he described as a “harvest period,” while reaffirming the target of achieving profitability in Q4.
