Nio Group‘s co-founder and President Lihong Qin and Onvo brand chief Shen Fei held on Wednesday a media session at the Shanghai Auto Show, shortly after the brand officially unveiled its second model — a three-row SUV named L90.
A month after group chief William Li acknowledged that sales of the family-focused Onvo brand had fallen short of expectations in the early months of the year, co-founder Lihong Qin reiterated the message on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at the Shanghai Auto Show, Qin said the brand “did not reach the goals we had previously set for ourselves, and we also did not meet the expectations that the outside world had for us.”
According to the latest weekly registration data published earlier this week, Onvo sold 700, 735, and 770 units in the three weeks between March 31 and April 20, bringing total registrations for April to approximately 2,205 units (as of the 20th day of the month.)
“Perhaps those expectations were set a bit too high. This is a fact, and it’s also an area where I think our team needs to put in more effort going forward,” Nio’s President added before noting that the average monthly volume for the debut model “it’s not that bad.”
“But objectively speaking, on the other hand, the L60, as a pure electric SUV with a starting price of 200,000 yuan — from this specific segment of the market — over the past six months or a bit more, during this period, we delivered about 37,000 units, with an average of 6,000 units per month,” Lihong Qin stated. “This volume, it’s not that bad.”
In the first days of April, Onvo’s chief Alan Ai stepped down and the brand’s number two Xia Qinghua transitioned to a new role within the Nio Group — as exclusively reported by EV. Ai was replaced by Shen Fei, a long-time Nio executive who was leading the Nio Power unit for nearly a decade.
Onvo deliveries reached nearly 6,000 in January, 4,049 in February and 4,820 in March — well below the target of 16,000 units in January and 20,000 in March communicated late last year.
“If you place this volume in the market, it’s not number one or two, but it’s still relatively good,” Nio’s co-founder said while adding that “the product strength has also been recognized.”
“So this matter is dialectical for us. On one hand, we must not be satisfied with the current situation, and we must pursue better business results. And also, we have to very carefully manage the flags and goals we set for ourselves,” the executive warned.
Lihong Qin targeted continuous improvement as the new goal for the brand refraining from “those kinds of goals that everyone hears and feels hyped up about.”
“For example, our team — we just say, let’s not set those kinds of goals that everyone hears and feels hyped up about. My goal is very simple, actually similar to what Shen Fei said — just be a bit better each week than the last, continuous improvement is enough,” he stated. “We need to manage our own expectations well, and also manage the expectations of the outside world.”
“On the other hand, I think our team needs to be very, very confident, because there’s no problem with the product. And in terms of objective sales in the market, we’re actually not doing badly — really not badly. But it can definitely be better,” Lihong Qin concluded.
Earlier on Wednesday, Shen Fei, the newly appointed Onvo chief, announced that owners of its vehicles would be offered unlimited free charging and battery swapping on highways during China’s May Day holiday.
The offer runs from midnight on May 1 through to the end of May 5. It applies to users accessing highway charging or swapping stations via the Onvo Auto app and covers both electricity and service fees.
The first images of Onvo’s new model appeared last week in China’s regulatory catalogue, followed shortly after by exterior photos shared by Nio’s sub-brand on Chinese social media.
Earlier this month, the company introduced a fresh round of incentives to boost sales of its debut model following slower-than-expected demand in the first quarter of the year as recently admitted by Nio Group founder and CEO William Li.
