Update: Added content from Jiemian's report.
Alps is rumored to no longer be a standalone program, with the team's personnel assigned to various Nio divisions and some positions cut.
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Nio (NYSE: NIO) outlined plans for organizational optimization earlier this month, including a reduction of about 10 percent of positions and consolidation of duplicate departments and roles. The shakeup is rumored to involve a sub-brand program codenamed Alps.
Alps will no longer be a standalone project, the team's staff will be assigned to various Nio departments, and some positions will be cut, automotive blogger @类星频道, which has 1.1 million followers on Weibo, said today, citing information provided by Nio employees.
This is in line with the principle of "consolidating duplicate departments and roles" as mentioned by Nio's founder, chairman and CEO in his internal letter, the blogger said.
After the consolidation of some departments and roles, the minor restructuring will continue until June next year, the blogger said.
Separately, local media outlet Jiemian cited people familiar with the matter as saying that layoffs have also begun in the Alps team, but that there are no major changes to the overall structure as of yet.
Whether the Alps team will be merged into the Nio system is not yet known, but the sub-brand will still launch its own models independently, the people said.
If Alps returns to the Nio system, it is likely to be aimed at sharing resources in order to increase efficiency in the current fierce competition, Jiemian's report noted.
Li outlined the organizational optimization plan in an internal letter dated November 3, citing several principles, including maintaining long-term investment in core technologies, ensuring that nine core products under three brands are released on schedule, improving organizational efficiency, and consolidating duplicate departments and roles.
Following these principles, Nio plans to reduce positions by about 10 percent and the realignment will be completed by November, Li said.
Alps models are expected to be Nio's focus in 2024, as Li previously said there would be no new product launches for Nio's main brand next year, although there will be the usual model-year revisions.
Nio confirmed in August 2021 that the company would enter the mass market through a new brand and had established a core team.
On August 29 of this year, Li said in an analyst call following Nio's second quarter earnings announcement that Alps' model development was going well, with the first pilot test vehicle off the line and a second model already in development.
Alps' model development is based on a different philosophy than the Nio brand and will be more focused on the family scenario, Li said at the time, adding that the brand will not have a large number of models and will be more focused on the sales of each vehicle.
On September 14, local media outlet LatePost reported that Alps will be aimed at a market with a price tag in the RMB 200,000 ($27,460) range, with a team that already numbers more than 800, and that the first vehicle is scheduled to be mass-produced in the second half of 2024.
Alps may partner with dealerships to achieve greater volume with a lighter sales model, the LatePost report said.
On October 13, another local media outlet, AutoPix, reported that Alps' first model will complete the prototyping process and enter the production line for trial production in mid-November.
The model, internally codenamed DOM, will be the first model under the Nio umbrella based on the next-generation platform NT 3.0, the report said.
The Alps model will go on sale in the second half of 2024 and will be built on a production line shared with Nio models, according to AutoPix.
($1 = RMB 7.2836)
Nio sub-brand Alps' debut model to begin pilot production in Nov, report says
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