RE: Latest presentation also on web site12 Jan 2021 22:59
Not just Tesla now.
NIO, the Chinese Electric-Vehicle Startup, Unveils New ET7 Sedan
Source: Dow Jones News
By Trefor Moss
SHANGHAI -- Chinese electric-vehicle startup NIO Inc. unveiled its fourth production model Saturday, as it prepares to face the challenge of Tesla Inc.'s locally built Model Y crossover, which launches in China in the coming weeks.
At the company's annual "NIO Day" in the western city of Chengdu, Chief Executive William Li said the luxury ET7 sedan, costing between $69,185 and $81,230 depending on the configuration, would be a "cozy living room" with new autonomous-driving capabilities and features including seats with inbuilt massage functions. The car will be available in early 2022.
"In 2021, we will strive to live up to the expectation and keep moving forward," Mr. Li said at the launch.
Mr. Li also debuted several new technologies, including a more powerful 150 kilowatt-hour battery pack -- an improvement on the 100 kWh battery pack the company launched in November -- which will give NIO's vehicles a claimed range of more than 621 miles.
By comparison, Tesla's Model 3 has a claimed range of 263 miles for the standard version, and 353 miles for the long-range version.
Mr. Li also introduced an upgraded battery-swap system capable of switching the car's battery more quickly than the existing system, and with three times the capacity of the older system, with 15 stored batteries enabling up to 312 swaps a day.
NIO has championed battery swapping as a speedy alternative to recharging. Mr. Li said the company would have 500 battery-swap stations in operation by the end of 2021, up from 177 stations now.
Having flirted with bankruptcy before securing a financial lifeline from the Chinese authorities in April, seven-year-old NIO hit its stride in the second half of 2020. A surge in the value of its New York-listed shares -- which are worth roughly 14 times more than they were a year ago -- has made NIO the world's fifth most-valuable auto maker, ahead of industry stalwarts such as Daimler AG and General Motors Co.
Record sales in December completed a fourth quarter in which NIO sold 17,353 vehicles, almost as many as it managed in all of 2019.
Two rival Chinese EV startups that listed in the U.S. last year are also building momentum. Li Auto Inc. sold 14,464 vehicles in the December quarter, while XPeng Inc. delivered 12,964 vehicles. Li currently has one model on sale and has said a second will become available next year. XPeng has two models in production, and it announced Friday that it, too, is preparing to unveil a new sedan.
Chinese EV sales grew strongly in the second half of 2020 after a prolonged slump in the country's auto market. Most analysts expect sales to build steadily in line with a government target for EVs to account for 20% of all Chinese vehicle sales by 2025 -- equivalent to roughly 5 million passenger vehicles a year.
At the same time competition in the electric-c
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