Latest news with #Nio
Auto Blog
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Blog
From Assembly Line to Attraction: China's EV Factories Are Redefining Tourism
A different kind of showcase In China's capital city, Beijing, a long list of historical sites and other attractions attracts visitors from home and abroad every year, including the Forbidden City, the Olympic Stadium known as the Bird's Nest, and even a section of the Great Wall of China. With a history that stretches back to 1045 BC, Beijing is a city that blends both the rich history of China's past with the wonders of a new age. Today, alongside other major Chinese cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai, it thrives as a dynamic economic hub, and sites that showcase the country's latest technological and industrial dominance have become the focus of some curious visitors. Previous Pause Next Unmute 0:00 / 0:10 Tesla sales in Europe drop yet again Watch More Chinese EV factories are the new science museum According to a new report published by Wired magazine, the latest must-see attraction in Beijing is not something old, but something relatively new: its electric vehicle (EV) factories. According to the tech authority, tens of thousands of people have flooded online ticket lotteries each month for a chance to walk through the factory floors of the country's most advanced EV makers like Xiaomi and Nio. It's not just car lovers lining up, either. Families, tech-obsessed geeks, and even students treat these factory visits as if they're a stroll through a museum or gallery. Consumer electronics giant turned EV powerhouse Xiaomi was one of the first to open its doors to the public, kicking off the craze by offering tours of its Beijing factory to those who wanted to see inside. Very quickly, the demand to see inside the factory where the Xiaomi SU7 is made reached Wonka-levels. When the company started offering tours, Xiaomi's online lottery system gave the 'golden tickets' to just 60 people per month. However, demand has since exploded, and Xiaomi expanded the program. It aims to accommodate more than 1,100 visitors in July, with one tour each weekday and six on most weekends. According to data from the Xiaomi app, more than 27,000 people applied for July slots on the first night after registration opened. The future of automaking, now These tours offer a rare glimpse into what the future of ultra-automated manufacturing will look like. Xiaomi's plant boasts a 91% automation rate, with some lines being entirely run by robots. Visitors are shuttled around the factory, where they observe robotic arms moving with machine-like precision, lifting and assembling components without a human in sight. Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. 'The factory is huge, with only a handful of workers. As I stood there watching, it was all robotic arms doing the work. The robots were all running preset programs—picking up parts from one place and delivering them to another, all in a very orderly manner,' Yuanyuan, a Beijing resident who took her 13-year-old daughter on the Xiaomi tour in May, told Wired. Xiaomi's Electric Vehicle Factory In Beijing — Source: Getty Images However, Xiaomi's factory isn't just about watching robots; the experience combines the exhibits of a science museum, a factory tour, and ends with amusement park-esque thrills. Before touring one of three active production lines out of six total to gawk at the workers and robots, guests stroll through a tech-filled exhibit hall. At the end, thrill-seekers hop into a Xiaomi SU7 electric sedan and experience a test ride with a professional driver who is glad to showcase the car's seat-pinning acceleration. Xiaomi isn't the only company capitalizing on this trend. Chinese electric vehicle giant Nio recently opened its partially automated factory in Hefei and welcomed over 130,000 visitors in 2024. To take a tour, prospective visitors must register through the Nio app and pay 1,000 'Nio points,' which is equivalent to $14. Users can either purchase these points or earn them for free by regularly engaging with the Nio app. Final thoughts Guided tours are nothing new for car manufacturing. Stateside, some facilities, including BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, Honda facilities in Ohio, and GM's Bowling Green, Kentucky plant, allow visitors to book tours. But in the same way that the factory tours mentioned in the West help connect with enthusiasts, Chinese EV factory tours help market the brand. Freya Zhang, a research analyst at Tech Buzz China, told Wired that by opening doors, EV makers allow the public to 'experience the human side' of these brands. I agree. It's one thing to advertise, but I think a complimentary latte with foam shaped like BYD car models' logos, or an affordable lunch and souvenirs at the Xiaomi factory, will etch a kind of feeling that will stick with potential buyers. BYD, Nio, and Xiaomi have even organized tours for elementary school students, which is a covert way to develop brand loyalty from the start. They'll definitely remember that field trip. However, these tours of EV manufacturing facilities, where industrial robots can outnumber people, can be a sobering reminder of reality for some visitors. After the tour, Yuanyuan, the mom who tried really hard to secure the coveted Xiaomi tour tickets, told Wired that her daughter said, 'I need to study harder or robots will take all the jobs,' after they went. About the Author James Ochoa View Profile
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
1 Massive Problem Facing Nio Investors. Is the Stock Still a Buy?
China's EV production capacity utilization is near an alarming 50% level. The price war in China has hit all competitors -- foreign and domestic. Nio's focus will be on accelerating deliveries through Onvo and Firefly. 10 stocks we like better than Nio › It almost seems impossible to think China's automotive market was once the most desirable in the world. At a time when China's automotive market sales were exploding, foreign automakers were quick to enter the market and make a buck while the young and inexperienced Chinese automakers watched and learned. Fast forward to today, and the story has nearly flipped. While auto sales are still lucrative in volume, the country is embattled in a brutal price war that has eroded profits. And for competitors like Nio (NYSE: NIO), a little more bad news is on the way. If you're invested in global automakers, you've likely heard a thing or two about the situation in China. Market leader BYD continued to apply pressure in late May when it announced an aggressive pricing strategy that slashed prices as much as 34% on 22 of its electric and plug-in hybrid models until the end of June. China's price war, which has become so devastating that it's forced government officials to call executives together in an attempt to soften the impacts and avoid a race to the bottom, is likely far from over. The price war might actually be distracting investors from a deeper issue for the automotive industry, and that's overcapacity. According to data from Shanghai-based Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute, China's overall industry capacity utilization was a meager 49.5% -- leaving a massive chunk of the country's 55.5 million annual vehicle production capacity unused. Then came the words that analysts have warned about and investors have feared: The price war may have no end. "As long as you have 50 percent capacity realization, you won't be able to end the price war in a normal market," said Jochen Siebert, managing director at auto consultancy JSC Automotive, according to Automotive News. For Nio and its investors, much of its problem in China is currently out of its control. At some point many automakers in China will be forced out of business or to consolidate, leaving a much healthier industry. Until that time comes, Nio's primary focus will be on cost improvement to offset margin pressure from the price war. The good news is we've seen some tangible progress from Nio on cost cutting. In fact, during the first quarter of 2025, vehicle margin increased to 10.25% from the prior year's 9.2%. Gross profit also made a substantial 88.5% increase to $126.7 million, compared to the prior year. The price war still hurts and Nio's net loss widened during the first quarter, but more optimization is on the way. "Since the first quarter, we have implemented a range of cost control measures, including organizational restructuring, cross-brand integration, and efficiency improvements in R&D, supply chain, sales and services," added Stanley Yu Qu, NIO's chief financial officer, in a press release. "Starting from the second quarter, the Company aims to achieve structural improvements in overall cost efficiency, with continued progress in operational performance." At the end of the day, Nio is doing its best to control what it can and has made considerable improvements on costs. Now the company will have to pivot and also focus on accelerating production of its two newer brands, Onvo and Firefly, which should help drive deliveries as the year progresses. For investors, while Nio is an intriguing investment in the world's largest EV market, it might be wise to watch from the sidelines until China's overcapacity problem isn't so dire and its price war not so brutal. Before you buy stock in Nio, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nio wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $664,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $881,731!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Daniel Miller has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends BYD Company. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Massive Problem Facing Nio Investors. Is the Stock Still a Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Nio (NIO) Could Climb 33% as Goldman Sachs Lifts Rating and Price Target
Goldman Sachs upgraded Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio (NIO, Financials) to Neutral from Sell and raised its 12-month price target to $3.80 from $3.70, citing recent cost-cutting measures and a decline in share price. The updated target implies a potential upside of about 9% from current levels. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Signs with NIO. Goldman Sachs analyst Tina Hou noted that Nio's efforts to reduce operating expenses by 20%25%including project cancellations, staff reductions, and streamlined operationscould support margin improvement of 4%10% over the next three years. Nio has faced challenges, including widening losses, a 21% year-to-date share price drop, and heightened competition from Tesla (TSLA, Financials) and BYD. Despite the upgrade, Goldman Sachs remains cautious. It cited weak demand, a high debt load, and reduced delivery expectations as ongoing risks. Nio's cash and investments declined from $5.7 billion to $3.6 billion in Q1 2025, underscoring balance sheet concerns. Wall Street maintains a Hold consensus on Nio stock, with two Buy, seven Hold, and one Sell ratings over the past three months. The average analyst price target is $4.58, suggesting a 33% upside. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
WIRED
5 days ago
- Automotive
- WIRED
China's Electric Vehicle Factories Have Become Tourist Hotspots
Jun 23, 2025 6:30 AM Thousands of people are signing up to see the highly automated assembly lines of Chinese EV brands like Xiaomi and Nio. Employees work on the production line of electric vehicles at Xiaomi's Electric Vehicle Factory on March 25, 2024, in Beijing, China. Photograph: Getty Images Tours of electric vehicle factories have quickly become the hottest ticket in Beijing, with tens of thousands of people signing up each month for the chance to win a free visit. Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi, which has reinvented itself as an EV maker in recent years, started offering the one-hour tours in January to visitors interested in seeing its factory up close and getting a race car experience in a Xiaomi EV. As Chinese EV brands expand from competing on low prices to promoting premium features and sleek designs, they are increasingly putting their factories in the spotlight. At least two Chinese EV brands, Xiaomi and Nio, offer regular tours for the general public this year, and three more automakers have announced plans to follow suit. 'More and more Chinese EVs are using factory tours as an important channel of communication between the brand and the outside world. It offers a chance to not only see the production line up close, but also experience the human side of the brand," says Freya Zhang, a research analyst at the investment consulting firm Tech Buzz China, who has been organizing tours for foreign investors to visit Chinese electric vehicle startups for two years. People who have visited the Xiaomi factory say they were struck by the amount of automation on display. The company says that the overall automation rate at the factory has reached 91 percent, with some production lines like casting fully automated. 'The factory is huge with only a handful of workers. As I stood there watching, it was all robotic arms doing the work. The robots were all running pre-set programs—picking up parts from one place and delivering them to another, all in a very orderly manner,' says Yuanyuan, a Beijing resident who took her 13-year-old daughter on the Xiaomi tour last month. Yuanyuan says she had been applying to get tickets since January, but since the limited spots are awarded on a lottery basis, she was only finally able to secure them in May. The EV factory tour trend is not entirely new: Chinese companies have long opened their manufacturing plants to potential investors, entrepreneurs, and groups of young students, but they haven't become a universal tourist attraction until now. Like Coca Cola, Ben & Jerry's, and other household names in the West, some Chinese EV brands have become so popular that the idea of getting a behind-the-scenes look has become exciting to a wide range of Chinese consumers. Many of the tourists aren't even potential carbuyers but are just there to marvel at the industrial robots as a weekend activity. Zhao Mingfei, a Beijing resident, says he first learned about Xiaomi's tours by watching livestream broadcasts by the company's founder, Lei Jun, whose charismatic personality and annual motivational speeches have turned him into a celebrity in China. Zhao says he has long admired the CEO and owns a number of Xiaomi consumer gadgets. He tried to sign up for a tour in January immediately after registration opened, but didn't get a spot. In February, however, he was one of 60 lucky people selected from more than 7,000 applicants, according to a screenshot he shared with WIRED of the reservation system. Xiaomi released its first EV model, the SU7, in early 2024. By the end of the year, foreign diplomats, investors, and guests from other Chinese companies had already started arriving at the company's factory in Beijing to participate in one-off tours, but the company didn't create a standardized experience for the public until the start of 2025. At first, Xiaomi offered just three tours with 20 participants each per month. But the excursion proved incredibly popular, and Xiaomi quickly began scheduling significantly more slots. In July, the company said it will offer one tour every weekday and six tours most weekends, accommodating more than 1,100 visitors in total. When July registration opened, however, over 27,000 applications flooded in overnight, according to the Xiaomi app—so the chances of snagging a ticket remain slim. Those lucky enough to secure a spot can expect to first be taken to an exhibit hall to learn about notable innovations in Xiaomi's electric cars. The visitors then hop on a shuttle and go into three working production lines out of six total to observe the workers and robots in action. Afterwards, they can test ride a model Xiaomi SU7 on a racecourse, where a trained racecar driver demonstrates how the car can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just a few seconds. 'It felt awesome—takes off really fast, with an instant kick,' Zhao tells WIRED. Recently, Xiaomi also started selling affordable meals at the factory and souvenirs to complete the experience. Another visitor notes that the shuttle will temporarily stop if it gets in the way of a robot, which is programmed to do its job on a strictly timed schedule and is thus less flexible than a human worker. Yuanyuan recalls that after the tour ended, her daughter remarked: 'I need to study harder, otherwise I won't be able to find a job in the future. It'll be robots doing all the work.' Xiaomi's factory is a prime example of how Chinese companies are quickly evolving from labor-intensive manufacturing to highly automated manufacturing, thanks to new advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence. In recent years, the Chinese government has been heavily promoting the idea of 'lights-out factories' that require no human labor, meaning the machines can toil away in the darkness without anyone needing to turn the lights on. Companies that have managed to achieve this high level of automation, from Foxconn to home appliance giants, have turned their factories into marketing opportunities, inviting humans to marvel at the technology rather than do work. Nio, another leading EV maker in China, has been publicly showcasing one of its highly automated factories since late 2023. In 2024, over 130,000 people visited the factory, where certain production lines like the body shop have achieved 100 percent automation, according to a statement sent by the company. Zhang says when her latest tour group visited Nio's factory in the city of Hefei last month, the participants were able to view three out of the four production lines. (The car painting process, however, was excluded from public visits.) 'What's immediately noticeable is that there are very few workers on the production lines. On some lines, there are actually more industrial robots than people,' says Zhang. 'But we have yet to see any Chinese factories employ humanoid robots.' At Nio, the guided tours also serve as a customer loyalty perk in addition to a marketing tool. Unlike Xiaomi, which requires people to apply for a ticket but offers the experience free of charge, Nio's tours require prospective visitors to register through an app and pay 1,000 'Nio points,' equivalent to about $14. Users can pay for the points or acquire them for free by using the Nio app regularly, which means that people who regularly interact with the brand potentially get a free tour. Nio and Xiaomi are part of a new class of Chinese automakers who are adopting tactics from tech startups in order to better reach and engage younger customers directly, says Zhang. In addition to opening up their factories, they are finding small ways to establish their brand identity. At BYD's headquarters, for example, visitors are given coffees with latte art depicting the names of BYD's different car models. BYD, Nio and Xiaomi have even organized tours for elementary school students to visit. 'That's surely a way to cultivate potential consumers from a young age,' Zhang says.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
3 No-Brainer EV Stocks to Buy Right Now
China's EV powerhouse, Nio, is in the right place(s) at the right time with the right vehicles at the right price points. Navitas Semiconductor provides power-efficient solutions that the EV industry didn't even know it would eventually need. The EV business's success or failure is ultimately rooted in the lithium batteries all EVs need. QuantumScape stands ready to deliver next-gen battery solutions. 10 stocks we like better than Nio › There's no denying that President Donald Trump isn't as supportive of electric vehicles (EVs) as his recent predecessors were. Then again, U.S. consumers' interest in EVs hasn't exactly remained robust either. Domestic sales of electric vehicles fell 4.4% in April, according to S&P Global Mobility, ending a 14-month growth streak. Separately, AAA (which you know as the travel and road service company "Triple A") reports that the likelihood of an American purchasing an EV has now fallen (for a third consecutive year) to only 16% of the country's car owners. Be careful of jumping to sweeping long-term conclusions based on short-term data, however, or information that only applies within the United States. The EV business is a global one and isn't going away. It's going to continue evolving until electric vehicles become an irresistible choice. With that as the backdrop, here's a rundown of three EV stocks anyone anywhere in the world can get excited about buying. American drivers have never seen an electric vehicle manufactured by Nio (NYSE: NIO) on U.S. roads. That doesn't mean they aren't out there, though. The Chinese company delivered 221,970 cars last year alone. It just delivered most of them within China, with a handful being sold in select parts of Europe. It's looking to establish sales channels in the Middle East soon as well. These are all markets that are not only more supportive of the alternative but also where consumers are increasingly interested. The International Energy Agency expects 80% of China's vehicle sales to be all-electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030, for instance, with Europe not far behind at 57% of its automobile market by then. Globally, that translates into an average annualized growth pace of 11%, led by the Asia-Pacific market through 2034, according to an outlook from Precedence Research. Nio's wide selection of practical sedans, SUVs, and wagons at a range of affordable prices positions it to win at least its fair share of this growth. Nio isn't yet profitable, to be clear. It's making consistent progress to that end, though, and will likely ease out of the red and into the black within the next few years. While that's far from being ideal for interested investors, just bear in mind that Tesla shares also made tremendous gains well before the company was consistently profitable. Sometimes, progress is enough. The analyst community thinks so anyway. Most of them rate this stock as a strong buy right now and support a consensus price target of $4.78 -- that's 40% above the stock's current price. Navitas Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NVTS) isn't an EV "pure play," for the record. Just as the name suggests, it makes semiconductors that are used in a number of applications, including mobile phones, solar power systems, medical equipment, and more. Its core technological know-how, however, is arguably the most game-changing for electric vehicles. Whereas most semiconductors are ultimately made of simple silicon, Navitas has perfected and patented the science of silicon carbide and gallium nitride integrated circuits. That won't mean much to most people, but this will: These solutions allow for smaller and higher-capacity electrical devices while also consuming less electricity than similarly sized silicon circuitry. In a world where energy-intensive applications like onboard AI and power-hungry data centers are running up the proverbial (and literal) electric bills, even the smallest of efficiency improvements are a pretty big deal. As for its place within the electric vehicle arena, Navitas Semiconductor's gallium nitride semiconductors are well suited for 400-volt EV battery systems, while its silicon carbide semiconductors are aimed at bigger 800-volt vehicles. Its tech can improve an EV battery's range by 5%, but more than that, it can charge an EV battery three times faster with 70% less energy than most charging systems already in use. Those are specs that could help get EVs over the proverbial hump. And it's doing just that. With a market cap of only $1.3 billion, this fairly small company's top line still ebbs and flows from one quarter to the next. However, it reported $450 million worth of new design wins in 2024 and nearly doubled the size of its customer pipeline to $2.4 billion during this same stretch. The business is out there. Investors will just need to be patient while waiting for Navitas to turn it into profitable revenue. Finally, add QuantumScape (NYSE: QS) to your list of no-brainer EV stocks to buy while it's still on sale at a steep discount. It's not a household name. It's also not yet profitable. Indeed, it's not even producing any commercial revenue yet. Give it time, though. It's coming, probably starting sometime in 2026. QuantumScape solves one of the biggest problems holding the electric vehicle industry back -- the lithium-based batteries used in almost every single EV being manufactured at this time. They're good, but not good enough. They're expensive, they lack the range capacity most car owners want, and perhaps worst of all, they're not all that durable given their steep price. You'd be lucky to get 10 years out of one before its performance starts to noticeably suffer. Most EV batteries are only warranted for 10 years or fewer, if that tells you anything. QuantumScape has a simple solution -- make electric vehicle batteries better by making them out of better materials. And that's what it does. Its solid-state lithium batteries can add on the order of 25% more driving range on a single charge and, better still, can go through more than 1,000 charging cycles with only a 5% degradation in their energy-storage capacity. That should make it good for roughly 300,000 miles worth of driving, which is likely longer than the EV it powers will actually remain on the road. They're not cheap, mind you. But neither were the more conventional lithium batteries when the EV industry was in its infancy. The price dropped as production scaled up. So, too, will the cost of solid-state lithium battery packs. For what it's worth, major automaker Volkswagen's battery company, PowerCo, has already partnered with QuantumScape to develop batteries for its aggressive electric vehicle ambitions. In the meantime, although it's not working with QuantumScape, Toyota is now developing its own solid-state lithium batteries, underscoring the technology's potential. This might help make the point: Straits Research believes the world's solid-state lithium battery market is poised to grow from last year's $2 billion to $33.4 billion by 2033. That's an average annualized growth rate of more than 36%. There's no denying that QuantumScape is the riskiest stock of the three EV names here to step into. If you can stomach the risk, though, the potential upside may well be worth it. Before you buy stock in Nio, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nio wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $664,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $881,731!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 No-Brainer EV Stocks to Buy Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
