Autobots face Li Bin at NIO Day: NIO is a user company

“From the bottom of our heart, NIO is a user company. It respects and trusts each other with its users, and treats each other with kindness and gratitude. This is the lowest level of human nature, and it is also my own life creed. ”——Li Bin.

Article/"Car Man" Michael

NIO Day is a large-scale car owner gathering event held by NIO every year, and 2019 is no exception. It will be held at the Shenzhen Sports Center on December 28 Spring Cocoon Stadium, NIO Day 2019 will be held as scheduled. The atmosphere that night was warm and touching. The tear-jerking micro-movie written and directed by the owner of NIO and the extremely shameful chorus program "Self-cultivation of Electric Car Owners" made people wonder whether the tears on their faces were caused by crying or laughing. of. If the previous NIO Day was still focused on NIO product launches, then the 2019 NIO Day is more like a big party for NIO car owners - from the program arrangement to the stage design at the venue, all NIO car owners are deeply involved custom made.

NIO car owners are a phenomenal group in the entire Chinese automobile consumption circle. Their feedback to the company, mutual support and encouragement, including extremely high dedication and enthusiasm and organizational skills are all unique. of. In 2019, it was difficult to say that Li Bin and NIO had a smooth life. It could even be summed up as "miserable". However, NIO car owners still supported their "Brother Bin" unreservedly. This kind of user culture makes many friends and businessmen envious. Even jealous.

What is the magic power of Weilai that can make users tolerate and support it so wholeheartedly? On the morning of the second day of the NIO Day 2019 ceremony, "Autobot" had an exclusive interview with Li Bin. Let us hear what the man nicknamed "the most miserable person in 2019" had to say.

Being a user company is NIO’s creed

“Other companies talk a lot about ‘users first’, but NIO wants to be a real user company… A company is really born for its users, and I think this feeling is different." After the excitement and hustle and bustle of the previous night, the sunlight at 8 o'clock in the morning reflected on Li Bin's face, illuminating a rare tranquility. He continued: "To be specific, for example, we established a user trust council to allow users to decide how to handle asset income... I personally took out 50 million shares of Weilai stock to establish this user trust. At that time, it was only 10 US dollars per share. ."

The establishment of the "NIO User Trust" was a decision made by Li Bin in the letter to shareholders in the NIO IPO prospectus in August 2018. At that time, Li Bin used the slogan "Growing with users" as his slogan, and determined to truly build NIO into a user company. It was not until one year and three months later that the NIO User Trust Board was established with 8 user directors. When he took up the post, Li Bin's 50 million NIO shares were truly "gifted" to NIO users.

“We will have a meeting with the directors today at noon. The directors of this trust board are all elected through the Weilai APP community.” Li Bin said: “Now if the company wants to do something that harms the interests of users, it must Let me evaluate my 50 million shares first and see if users agree... Although this is just a small thing, it is indeed quite iconic."

The boss uses his own money to reward users. , users will naturally trust and support the boss and the company more. On NIO Day 2019, NIO users spontaneously organized a large number of activities. In addition to being deeply involved in customizing NIO Day itself, they also did many touching and exciting things off-site. NIO users mobilized a large number of car owner volunteers for this NIO Day. From airport pick-up and station pick-up to on-site and hotel pick-up and drop-off services, many of them were completed by NIO car owners using their own private cars.

“From the bottom of our heart, NIO is a user company. It respects and trusts each other with its users, and is kind and grateful to each other. This is the lowest level of human nature, and it is also my own creed. "Li Bin fundamentally elaborated on the principles and beliefs that NIO and himself adhere to in building user enterprises.

“Weilai started from an ordinary enterprise, giving users a sense of participation and ownership, and allowing everyone to gradually feel the concept and feeling of the user enterprise. This is also a change brought about by the mobile Internet.” Li Bin, an entrepreneurial expert who came from an Internet company, said: "The mobile Internet has shortened the distance between companies and users. For example, when I went back last night, the first thing I did was not to post in Moments, but to directly interact with users on the Weilai APP and greet them. . "The Internet has created NIO's user culture, and it has also shaped NIO itself.

Innovative thinking is Weilai’s advantage

The biggest advantage of new forces in building cars is Internet thinking, especially in the field of electric vehicles, where the industrial technology threshold is relatively low. Some industrial characteristics are closer to the Internet field where services are the mainstay. The speed of product iteration and transformation is fast, and the distance between enterprises and users is closer. This is also the confidence that Li Bin insists on operating, building and developing NIO in "adversity".

“If traditional car companies are an elephant, we are a leopard.” Li Bin described new car-making forces like Weilai, “Although they are big, they can’t move as fast as us... Li Bin Users are far away, and their desire to survive is not as strong as ours.”

Trying to get closer to users is the goal that Weilai has been pursuing since its inception. Starting from the user's perspective, NIO creates products, refines services, and enhances its image. Weilai not only continues to make progress in hardware, but also actively adjusts its services, striving to accurately meet user needs and continue to innovate in thinking.

Charging/battery swap service is one of Weilai’s core competitiveness. Li Bin attaches great importance to this service and is full of confidence: “We are committed to establishing a nationwide (charging/battery swap) service. Network. Just like building a reservoir, we cannot wait for the water to flood before building a dam. We must first build a good system and network. More and more cars will be sold, and the number of users is growing every day. Service must be at the forefront to form A virtuous cycle. ”

With the increase in NIO users, the service pressure on NIO charging/swapping stations and guaranteed vehicles has begun to appear at this stage. These services are no longer just gimmicks in people’s eyes, but value-added services that NIO users are enjoying and are willing to spend money to purchase.

Compared with charging, battery swapping actually has incomparable inherent advantages. Regarding this, Li Bin also explained: "The most important significance of the battery swapping service is to separate the car and the battery, and make ecological progress We know that the life of electric vehicles and the life of batteries are not synchronized, and the frequency of battery use by different users is also asynchronous. "Battery quality and battery performance management are what every electric vehicle company is trying to do. project, if electric vehicle batteries can be put into a pool for unified management and maintenance, this will achieve significant improvements in terms of cost and efficiency.

"Battry as a Service, this is an important concept I proposed yesterday. We must make batteries a service, not a commodity in a narrow sense." Li Bin continued to elaborate: " There is a misunderstanding that NIO’s services are expensive and costly, which is one-sided.”

NIO’s innovative services are value for money or even excellent value for money. The professional knowledge of NIO car owners is also one of the secrets of NIO's ability to have such a loyal user base. NIO car owners are willing to pay for the services they enjoy. In addition, NIO's sales model also has short-term and fast response characteristics. There are no sales regions. Forty regional sales departments report directly to President Qin Lihong. This is also one of NIO's advantages in moving forward.

In terms of products, Li Bin not only launched the crossover electric SUV EC6 and the new ES8 at the NIO Day 2019 ceremony, but also the 100 kilowatt battery pack and the 20 kilowatt household battery pack with more industrial significance. The debut of DC charging piles. The new battery pack can not only be purchased for life at one time, but can also be rented flexibly according to user needs. This is another innovative battery ecological creation.

Global expansion is Weilai’s future

“Don’t be surprised if Weilai is sold to dozens of countries next year.” Talking about Weilai’s new plans in 2020 Plan, Li Bin made another bold statement.

"One of our important tasks in 2020 is to develop comprehensively globally and sell cars abroad."

Using the existing sales model, Weilai has sold its products to 296 domestic cities, and its business touches The area can be vast and deep. Taking the successful domestic business model as a reference, NIO's goal in 2020 is to target overseas markets, hoping to sell good domestic technologies and products abroad and create a high-quality electric vehicle brand from China.

“Localized data services for the global supply chain are a new way of playing and also a very important logic for the future automobile industry.” Li Bin said: “Weilai is a company that has pursued globalization from the beginning. The company’s management model has matured in recent years, and now it’s time to pay back.”

Nio, which has an Internet business background and culture, also has natural industry competitiveness. Chinese Internet companies have never been afraid of challenges from multinational companies and European and American giants, and have even defeated many overseas opponents on a regular basis. This is also one of the sources of confidence for NIO to enter the global market. At the same time, the state’s support for the automobile industry’s “going out” strategy, including the relaxation of policy restrictions and softening of attitudes, will promote NIO’s future globalization process.

“The establishment of Weilai’s global operation platform is already in operation.” Li Bin said confidently. The technical homogeneity of electric vehicle products itself has begun to emerge. From the hardware itself, no one has advantages that can be extended to the level of generation differences. Chinese electric vehicle products represented by NIO are not lagging behind in technology in the international market, and are even more competitive in some aspects. NIO's confidence lies in this - plus the price difference with luxury car competitors. The comparative advantage in service and service gives Li Bin another chance of winning.

On the third day after NIO Day 2019, that is, December 30, NIO announced its third quarter financial report for 2019. In this financial report, Weilai's revenue increased by 25% year-on-year, which was higher than market expectations; although losses continued, it has narrowed by 10.3% compared with last year. Affected by the third quarter financial report, NIO's stock price rose sharply by 20.66 at the opening on Monday. As of the close, NIO's stock price closed at US$3.72, an increase of 53.72, setting a new high in three months.

Although affected by the continued slump in China’s auto market and the battery recalls in May, June, and July, NIO’s rhythm has been somewhat disrupted. For a time, there were endless voices that badmouthed NIO and Li Bin, but from the end of the year Judging from the trend, Weilai has regained the lost rhythm. Not only has investor confidence returned in the capital market, NIO has also found a foothold in the new car sales market. After experiencing "unexpected disasters" in the second quarter of the ramp-up phase, ES6 sales reached 4,196 units in the third quarter, and it is expected to reach the delivery level of 8,000 units in the fourth quarter.

From the complacency in the founding stage of NIO to the bumpy journey in 2019, Li Bin, an entrepreneurial genius, has devoted all his energy and enthusiasm to NIO, building NIO into a company "born for users" The original intention of becoming a user enterprise has never changed.

“We are more concerned about the relationship between people, across cultures and beliefs, this kind of relationship at the bottom of human nature.” Li Bin concluded: “People are very complicated, but we believe that human nature itself is good. , everyone’s lowest level of human nature will always show their good side.” Weilai’s user culture is built on this. This kind of entrepreneurial spirit and belief foundation with traditional Chinese cultural heritage has allowed NIO to grow into a highly cohesive Chinese electric vehicle company, and has also given Chinese automobile practitioners and the vast consumer groups a sense of inspiration and pride beyond imagination.

China’s electric vehicles are entering the global consumer market, and NIO is about to hit the road. What’s driving NIO forward are NIO users who are as close to the company as one family. After all, the development of NIO has become the business of NIO users themselves. (Text/"Autobot" Michael) Copyright Statement This article is an exclusive original manuscript of "Autobot", and the copyright belongs to "Autobot".

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.