Wei 20,000, how is it okay again?

tech | 2024-06-20

In June 2024, NIO delivered 21,209 new vehicles, setting a new historical record. It is worth noting the following:

1. This marks the second consecutive month that NIO has surpassed the 20,000-unit delivery mark in a single month.

2. NIO's first achievement of monthly deliveries reaching 20,000 units dates back to July 2023.

3. When breaking down the data by week: in the last week of June, NIO sold 6,843 units, while in the first week of July, sales amounted to 5,300 units.

Based on this foundation, it should not be a problem for NIO to maintain sales above 20,000 units in July—meaning that since May of this year, "NIO 20,000" has become a stable reality.

Advertisement

Regarding NIO, two recent events have left a strong impression on me. One was at the end of May, when an ES6 owner in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, accidentally drove into the water while reversing. The vehicle did not sink but instead floated, creating a "water-floating" effect. The owner climbed onto the hood, and the car drifted to the shore, allowing the owner to escape safely.In my view, there's nothing mystical about this matter, nor does it belong to the exclusive "floating water escape" feature of looking up to U8. It's simply the meticulous attention to manufacturing details that results in a well-sealed vehicle—do you all remember the "fishbowl show" that Cadillac CT6 did many years ago, which was to demonstrate the advanced manufacturing capabilities of SAIC General Motors' most advanced JinQiao luxury car factory, where the overall welding and sealing details of the vehicle were executed very well.

Therefore, even after a "rain test" that simulates rainfall many times greater than the maximum on Earth, not a single drop of water will enter the cabin.

It is clear that the birthplace of the NIO ES6, the Hefei Xinqiao NIO factory, with its advanced manufacturing level, can also meet such standards. This has led to the vivid social news of the ES6 "floating water saving the driver."

Another incident was a car owner saying that the accelerator pedal of their NIO was broken, which immediately made it to the hot search—everyone was so concerned about this because it was such a stark contrast to the "high quality of NIO" that they had in mind.

It was quite a coincidence when I saw this news; I was at the NIO Xinqiao factory and was attending a "quality journey" event. On the spot, NIO openly discussed the matter:

1. The car involved was a second-hand vehicle, and the owner had purchased it from a non-NIO platform;

2. Most crucially, the car was a "total loss" claimant, due to the fact that after a collision, the cost of repair exceeded the residual value of the car.

Later, I specifically looked into it and found out that such a "total loss car" is just very expensive to repair, but it does not reach the "scrapping standard," and it can indeed be sold after repair. However, its price will definitely be very, very cheap. Additionally, such cars will not have subsequent insurance and warranty coverage.Some car owners who purchase such vehicles are unlikely to be "deceived," because on one hand, the price will be unreasonably cheap, and on the other hand, the car cannot be insured. The possibility of used car dealers deceiving people is almost non-existent (unless the owner is completely ignorant and is completely fooled, which could involve sales fraud).

I believe the focus of this matter is not on the "broken accelerator pedal after a total loss collision," but rather, I think that in the era of new energy vehicles, such total loss vehicles should not be sold again at all. Because repairing and reselling total loss vehicles, while it may only have hidden dangers and troubles in the subsequent use in the era of fuel vehicles, at least it does not pose a significant threat to life. However, with new energy vehicles, due to the presence of battery packs, if there are some "internal injuries" that have not yet shown symptoms, relying solely on mechanical repairs and restoration, it is not apparent on the surface.

Such vehicles with "internal injuries" on the road cannot guarantee safety. Not to mention the use of complex working conditions of cars, even electric vehicles used only for commuting in the city, the spontaneous combustion and explosions that have occurred in recent years are inseparable from the keywords "second-hand old cars," "long service life," "collisions," and "improper battery use." The parts that cause spontaneous combustion and explosions are also mostly batteries.

As an automotive media, advocating not to buy new energy vehicles that have been in accidents and are total losses, and advocating for relevant departments to regulate and prohibit the sale of vehicles with safety hazards, is what we should pay more attention to.

In the quality system of NIO, all total loss vehicle Vin codes will be published, so users can easily understand whether it is an accident car and total loss car when purchasing a used NIO car - this "transparency" of total loss cars is actually a part of NIO's very complex and rigorous quality control system.

On the day of NIO's quality journey, NIO announced the full life cycle quality management system ATQ, aiming to fully control and manage the product at every stage from definition, design, research and development, manufacturing, and use, and to continuously improve efficiently, ultimately maximizing user satisfaction and creating a global quality benchmark.During the event, NIO founder William Li explained why NIO established ATQ (Automotive Technology Quality):

He stated that in the era of smart electric vehicles, the automotive product itself has undergone significant technological changes. Intelligence, including smart hardware, intelligent software, and the application of end-to-cloud integrated data loops, has made the whole vehicle more complex than in the era of fuel vehicles. "However, no matter how intelligent and electric vehicles evolve, safety should never be compromised."

According to Li's interpretation, NIO's ATQ quality system considers a period of 15 years or even longer. It is a quality system concerning intelligence, electrification, and automobiles, and also a full lifecycle quality system that starts from the user's interests. In the era of smart electric vehicles, users' needs and usage scenarios for cars have expanded, and the scope of quality management has also extended from the traditional single vehicle quality to six major quality areas: software system quality, charging and battery swapping system quality, vehicle quality, intelligent hardware quality, electric drive system quality, and battery system quality.

A more illustrative example of NIO's quality came to mind from an earlier disassembly feature. I recall that at the end of 2022, media tested and disassembled a previous-generation ES6 that had traveled 450,000 kilometers, with over 1,300 battery swaps during its journey.

The actual test data showed that the vehicle, whether in terms of body stiffness tests or battery swap mechanism tests, and even the clamping force performance of the floating nuts in the battery swap mechanism and the strength of the battery swap bracket, showed no significant degradation compared to a new car and was still fully functional.

450,000 kilometers and over 1,300 battery swaps—this is indeed a very special and extreme usage scenario. However, it is roughly equivalent to the driving distance of an average user over 15 years. Even with high-intensity, continuous, and non-stop use, there would be no issues with the vehicle's body strength and key components, and this was still a first-generation platform model from NIO.

Since NIO targets the high-end pure electric market and aims to attract luxury car users, it must meet corresponding high standards in quality, craftsmanship, and safety; otherwise, everything would be just castles in the air and theoretical discussions.This is actually not something that can be determined by a brand positioning alone—it's about the founder's decision at the very first step, whether he chooses to undertake a long-term but difficult endeavor or to ride the wave and soar to success.

It can be said that the NIO ATQ quality system, which is based on the rare long-term 15-year usage cycle, has already provided an answer along the timeline.

It is also by relying on the word-of-mouth recommendations from discerning high-end pure electric vehicle users that NIO has carved out a path for itself in the fiercely competitive era of 2024.

Built on the foundation of quality, excellence, and values, the "NIO 20,000" is not a case of being a latecomer to the game; it is simply a matter of things falling into place naturally.