NIO business model explained in two charts

Lei Xing
2 min readDec 5, 2021

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NIO President Qin Lihong shared his thoughts on NIO’s system competitiveness at the Chinese smart EV startup’s annual media roundtable held at its headquarters in Shanghai on December 5.

Two charts Qin showed in his presentation were widely shared on social media by media that attended the event.

One is a chart on automotive branding evolution that was part of NIO’s presentation deck for investors in its early days back in 2014 and 2015. This apparently was the one chart that convinced JD Founder Liu Qiangdong to invest in NIO.

The other chart is a matrix diagram showing NIO’s system competitiveness focused on the vehicle, service, digital experience and lifestyle.

Do you now have a better understanding of NIO’s business model?

The Chinese smart EV startup “Big 3” are differentiated clearly in terms of their business models: NIO is focused on service and experiential ecosystem outside the car, Xpeng is focused on full in-house autonomous driving development aiming for leadership in smart tech, while Li Auto is focused on family users and taking care of their range and selection anxiety through the product itself: extended range and everything standard

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Lei Xing

Former Chief Editor @ChinaAutoReview | Founder of AutoXing车邢 | Co-host of the China EVs & More Podcast | China auto/EV/AV/mobility expert.