A strategic cooperation framework agreement was signed with Jianghuai Automobile. On October 23 of the same year, the construction of the Jianghuai Weilai manufacturing base officially started. In May 2018, the first Weilai ES8 was mass-produced at the base.
In fact, since July 2020, the monthly delivery of Weilai Auto has continued to grow. In December 2020, the monthly sales of Weilai Automobile reached 7,007 vehicles, an increase of 32.4% from the previous month, setting a record single-month delivery volume and achieving a year-on-year doubling for 9 consecutive months. In the whole year of 2020, Weilai Automobile delivered 43,728 vehicles in 2020, an increase of 112.6% year-on-year, and the total number of users exceeded 75,000.
Source: Weilai official
There is a lesson that Tesla once dragged down its performance due to insufficient Model 3 production capacity. In the second half of 2020, Li Bin expressed his emphasis on production capacity twice in the second half of 2020 and continued to increase existing production capacity.
In August 2020, in the second quarter earnings conference call of Weilai, Li Bin revealed that the current production cycle of Weilai’s Hefei plant has increased from 15JPH to 20JPH. At the same time, NIO is also coordinating the supply chain partners to provide production capacity, reaching a total supply chain capacity of 4500-5000 vehicles in a single shift in a single month at the end of August and early September. In October 2020, the production capacity of Weilai Automobile exceeded 5,000 for the first time, reaching 5,055.
In the third quarter earnings conference call in November 2020, Li Bin introduced that Weilai’s production capacity in January 2021 will be increased to 7,500 vehicles, and Weilai has many orders to rely on production capacity in the first quarter of 2021 to meet .
Nio will enter 2021, because of the arrival of new cars, the requirements for production capacity will become more urgent.
On January 9, 2021, Weilai’s first flagship sedan ET7 will be pre-sold, and delivery is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. Weilai officials have confirmed that “ET7 will also be produced in Weilai’s existing factory.” At the same time, Weilai still has a new model plan. Li Bin once revealed that after ET7, a new car with a slightly smaller size than ET7 will be launched.
In addition, Li Bin once said that Weilai will enter the European market in 2021 and plans to sell 7,000 ES8 and E vehicles in Europe within two years.