Nio will open its first Nio House overseas in Oslo, Norway, on September 23 and will announce the ES8's price in Norway on the same day, Nio president Qin Lihong said Sunday.
Qin made the comments in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, where the company opened its latest Nio House, its 27th in China.
(Nio House in Wuhan. Photo source: Nio)
The Nio House is the company's flagship experience center that goes far beyond displaying and selling vehicles, and is a space where Nio offers a quality lifestyle to vehicle owners.
The Nio House building generally consists of two areas, a display area for vehicle models and a place with various functions for users.
Nio users can have a cup of coffee and chat with their friends here, or brainstorm with their workmates. It is possible to hold sharing sessions with friends, birthday parties, and open users' own yoga classes.
With Nio House, Nio hopes to make this lifestyle available to users in every city, so that outsiders will think that buying an Nio vehicle is not just getting a car, but joining a high-end lifestyle group.
(Nio House in Wuhan. Photo source: Nio)
(Nio House in Wuhan. Photo source: Nio)
The company previously promised to offer all the same services in overseas markets as it does in China, including the Nio House, its signature battery swap stations.
The upcoming opening of Nio House in Oslo will be the latest move by the company to fulfill that promise.
Nio officially announced its strategy to enter Norway in early May, the company's first stop in an overseas market.
Nio's flagship SUV, the ES8, is the first model to be exported to Norway, and it is expected to begin deliveries in September. The ET7, the company's flagship sedan that has yet to begin deliveries in China, will be exported to Norway in 2022.
The Nio ES6 and EC6, the company's less expensive SUVs, are not on the first available list, though the company said they will also be exported to Norway in the future.
Nio has not previously released pricing information for the ES8 in Norway; for comparison, the model starts at RMB 468,000 ($72,200) in China before subsidies. If consumers choose to give up ownership of the battery and lease it, the purchase price can be reduced by at least RMB 70,000.
At the launch event announcing its entry into the Norwegian market on May 6, Nio founder, chairman and CEO William Li said Nio wants to serve local customers in Norway with the same level of service as it offers in China, but definitely not quite the same in terms of price, which is related to the local labor costs and social development level.
Nio's pricing in Norway will take into account tariffs and shipping costs, but will not seek higher gross margins, according to Li.
"Nio's gross margin in Norway will be basically the same as in China, which is a basic principle," Li said.
For reference, the company's latest financial report released last month showed it had a gross margin of 20.3 percent on car sales in the second quarter, up from 9.7 percent in the second quarter last year but weaker than the 21.2 percent in the first quarter this year.
For the Norwegian market, Qin has said the company has no sales targets for the Norwegian team and that sales are relatively small relative to China in the foreseeable future.
Nio has been allowing Norwegian users to test drive its ES8 since August 30, and Nio Norway User Head An Ho said the test drive ran out of nearly 300 spots within three days of opening applications.
On the first day of the test drive, about 60 Norwegian users got to experience the ES8 first-hand, Ho said.
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