Li Bin has secured the final ticket

"Nio is still alive, and as long as it is alive, there is hope."

On January 6th, after being repeatedly questioned about "how much longer it can survive," Nio officially welcomed the delivery of its one millionth mass-produced vehicle, officially joining the million club of car manufacturers.

Nio Chairman Li Bin expressed this sentiment on site.

In the camp of new car-making forces, this moment may carry more weight than any previous million celebrations by other car companies.

Unlike the "curved rescue" of the range-extended model, and different from the price-for-volume competition, Nio has successfully run a business closed loop with the "high-end pure electric + battery swap model," a hard model. Li Bin admitted, "Since starting Nio, it feels like entering an endless game, a marathon on a muddy road, which is indeed very hard." Fortunately, Nio has kept pace with the major players in the industry through rounds of reshuffling.

As Nio co-founder Qin Lihong said, reaching one million vehicles in the automotive industry is an important milestone for a company's growth and a key observation indicator for long-term survival, signifying that Nio has truly entered the final circle. For Nio, which has experienced "life and death," this is also a reward for "long-termism."

In the past few years, Nio has been repeatedly asked by public opinion about "how much longer it can survive," and looking back from the one million vehicle milestone, the reason Nio has survived and welcomed growth lies in doing two extremely difficult things right: daring to invest "hardcore" in underlying technology and persisting in "hard work" in infrastructure services.

Li Bin revealed that Nio has invested over 65 billion RMB in research and development, with this investment penetrating down to the most fundamental hard bones. Even before Nio was officially established and the company was not yet registered, Li Bin personally spent 100,000 USD to verify one thing: whether full aluminum manufacturing could work in China.

This almost obsessive research and development gene continues to this day, from chips, operating systems to intelligent chassis, Nio insists on forward research and development, and even though they had to overcome numerous difficulties and high costs initially, they have never regretted it. It is this underlying research and development gene that has allowed Nio to gradually distance itself from those companies that "copy homework" in the long run.

In addition to hardcore technical investment, what the industry found most incomprehensible was Nio's persistence in battery swapping. Even when the company's cash flow was tight and its survival was at stake, Nio never wavered in its battery swap technology route. Li Bin referred to this strategy as "putting in hard work" to cultivate user habits.

This strategy has finally shown a qualitative change at the million scale; battery swap stations are no longer just energy replenishment facilities but have formed a unique energy barrier for Nio. Li Bin summarized this strategic determination with the saying "build strong fortifications and fight a steady battle."

After crossing the million mark, Nio did not choose an aggressive expansion slogan. Facing 2026, Qin Lihong admitted that the company does not have any earth-shattering plans but aims to execute better in the established direction.

Li Bin stated that Nio now has no reason to think too much and only hopes to become the most down-to-earth company, aiming for a 40-50% growth each year. Although there is no longer the aggressive doubling, he has calculated that as long as they maintain this speed, they can achieve 5 million vehicles by 2035, which is quite considerable "The trick in the automotive industry is that you cannot go down; once you go down, that year is wasted, and it will be quite difficult to climb back up again," said Li Bin. According to his vision, Nio aims to accelerate the completion of its second million milestone within 17 to 18 months.

Next, on the product side, Nio will fully switch to the third-generation technology platform by 2026. In the high-end market, Nio will launch a brand new technology flagship SUV—ES9, which has already entered the manufacturing stage and is expected to be released in the second quarter.

At the same time, the brands LeDao and Firefly will take on the responsibility of scaling up. As a high-end small car, Firefly has not only exceeded expectations in the Chinese market with continuous growth for several months but will also serve as Nio's leading brand for globalization, planning to enter 40 countries. Li Bin vividly compared Firefly to "LabuBu," continuously generating buzz in the market through various special editions.

To explore broader market space, Nio will implement multi-brand synergy for channel penetration in 2026. Li Bin pointed out that in first-tier cities like Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, Firefly's sales account for over 75%, but in places like Shandong, Henan, and Sichuan, Nio still lags behind BBA.

To this end, Nio will launch "SKY Integrated Stores," integrating the three brands—Nio, LeDao, and Firefly—into the same storefront. This model is particularly suitable for lower-tier cities and other penetrated markets, significantly reducing operational costs and improving efficiency through shared sales networks and after-sales resources.

Infrastructure development remains a key focus for Nio in 2026. As LeDao L90 and the new ES8 become the main sales drivers, the market has raised higher demands for the energy system. Therefore, Nio plans to build 1,000 battery swap stations in 2026, with the fifth-generation battery swap stations expected to begin large-scale deployment around April.

In terms of financial and growth targets, Nio has shown great confidence. Li Bin expects to achieve profitability under non-GAAP standards in the fourth quarter of 2025 and pointed out that as the delivery volume of the new ES8, which has a higher gross margin, increases, the gross margin will stabilize above 20%.

Li Bin emphasized that at today's scale, Nio's pursuit is to continue increasing investment in R&D and infrastructure on the basis of slight profitability, to make larger layouts for the future, rather than sacrificing long-term competitiveness for short-term profits.

Nio's million deliveries actually provide a unique perspective on the "endgame" for the Chinese automotive industry. Li Bin has restructured the underlying logic of the automotive industry through the "battery swap model." He compared the separation of the vehicle and battery to the operational model of the aviation industry: the aircraft's fuselage and engine often have different lifespans, and the engine operates through a leasing model, requiring regular maintenance, which is a big business.

The same logic applies; a car can last 15 years, but the calendar life of a battery may only be 8 years. Once the battery health drops below 70%, safety will significantly decline. Nio addresses the battery safety and residual value issues throughout the entire lifecycle of electric vehicles through battery swapping, providing an ultimate solution to the industry's "battery anxiety" beyond supercharging In the face of an increasingly competitive market, Li Bin proposed the "final circle" theory. He believes that the automotive industry will not end up with only 3-5 companies like the internet; the Chinese market can accommodate at least 10 excellent automotive companies.

He calculated a second account: the scale of the Chinese automotive market is enormous, expected to reach 35 million vehicles in the next decade. If each company can capture a share of 3.5 million vehicles, it would be enough to support the survival of 10 companies. Li Bin believes that in the next ten years, as long as they maintain their pace and do not make mistakes, even if their current market share is only 1%, there is an opportunity to grow into a giant through a long run.

From the first vehicle to the one millionth, Nio has taken the most difficult path. These one million vehicles not only signify that Nio has survived but also that China's high-end pure electric brands have truly established themselves without relying on foreign technology, through business model innovation and relentless technical efforts.

However, Li Bin is very clear-headed. He knows that although Nio has achieved the milestone of one million, it is still a very small company in the entire automotive industry, with a market share of only about 1%. Previously, Li Auto faced challenges after hitting the million mark, which served as a wake-up call for all new forces: one million vehicles is not the finish line, nor is it a safe zone; it is merely the starting line of the real competition.

For Nio, the next challenge of one million vehicles is not about proving the feasibility of the model, but about how to maintain the original intention of being a user-centric company while expanding scale, continuously exploring innovative sparks during the period of technological convergence. Since they have chosen to do "difficult but right things," they must accept that this is always an endless marathon.

The following is a transcript of the conversation with Nio Chairman Li Bin and President Qin Lihong:

Q: What did Nio do right to achieve one million?

Li Bin: First of all, I think Nio is still alive, and being alive gives us opportunities.

Qin Lihong: One million vehicles in the automotive industry is an important milestone for a company's growth and a significant indicator of whether it can survive long-term. However, one million vehicles is also a trivial matter; it can be considered as truly crossing the starting line.

In the past, Nio was often questioned about "how long can it survive," but now that we have successfully reached mass production of one million vehicles, we may focus more on how to further develop and when the next one million vehicles will arrive.

Li Bin: What we did right means something; we have achieved one million pure electric vehicles. As far as I know, globally, there is one company in the U.S. and one in China that insists on pure electric. Tesla has just completed its 9 millionth vehicle, and we have only completed 1/9 of that, but I believe our acceleration will be faster. I believe that relying on China's market foundation, supply chain, and government industrial policy support, China's pure electric route will definitely prove to become the mainstream route.

Everyone knows we have invested over 65 billion RMB in R&D, and our R&D efficiency is very high, focusing on 12 full stacks, many of which are underlying technologies, and positive R&D, which was indeed a bit difficult at the beginning.

Before Nio was officially established and the company was not yet registered, we spent 100,000 USD to verify one thing: whether full aluminum manufacturing would work in China. Later, we focused on chips, operating systems, and intelligent chassis. Even our earliest air suspension was the first used in China; at that time, there was no air suspension domestically, and we had to airlift it from Germany, but we were determined to localize it In fact, doing this early on indeed required overcoming many difficulties, and the costs were higher, but we do not regret it.

At Nio, we have the gene of positive research and underlying research. As everyone knows, it's easy to copy something, but over time, Nio will still be different from other companies.

Secondly, from the very beginning until now, we have consistently adhered to the "replaceable, upgradable" pure electric technology route without wavering, even when we were on the brink of collapse, we still insisted on deploying battery swap stations and charging piles, and even offered free battery swaps. Why do these things? We want to cultivate user habits. To date, we have completed over 96 million battery swaps, which was hard to imagine before. Now, you can drive from any city directly to the base camp of Mount Everest, which was unimaginable a few years ago. We insist on doing the hard work.

In recent years, we have also started to improve internal management efficiency, ensuring that every penny is well spent, which is also a lesson in management.

Overall, what did we do right with the 1 million units? I believe we did right by sticking to what we think is the right direction, starting from the interests of users and putting in hard work. Recently, I often tell the company internally, "Build strong fortifications and fight a steady battle," and persist for a long time. There are no shortcuts. I believe that as long as we persist in this way, we can still gain recognition from everyone, and the contributions can create value for users, making the company competitive.

What did we do right to emerge from the second low point?

In our second cycle, we drifted a bit and got involved in too many miscellaneous tasks. Recently, we have been reflecting internally. Last year, we sold over 326,000 units, which, in the automotive industry, is only about 1% in terms of production volume, and we are still a very small company. Therefore, we have no reason to think too much. Now, we hope that in the next cycle, Nio will become the most solid company, increasing our market share in China from 1% to 5% or 10%, which is also 10 times or 5 times what it is now. In the coming years, I believe what everyone will see is a more solid, grounded, and down-to-earth Nio. Nio should now be one of the companies that calculates the most detailed accounts, and we need to continue to delve deeper.

Question: How do you evaluate 2025? Is it beyond expectations or slightly regrettable?

Li Bin: Overall, it can be considered that we have achieved our strategic goals. Starting from May and June, we have been continuously rising, and by August and September, we began to create new highs, reaching over 48,000 units by the end of the year, maintaining an upward trajectory. Although the annual growth was 47%, if we look at the growth in the second half of the year alone, the growth rate should be even higher.

Nio actually entered its first stage of development until 2021, starting from 10,000 units in 2018, then over 20,000, over 40,000, and over 90,000, basically achieving 100% growth. The second development cycle was from 2022 to the first half of last year, which did not meet expectations, but still maintained a basic growth of about 30-40%, with 120,000 units, 160,000 units, 220,000 units, and last year reaching over 326,000 units. This also indicates that we are entering the third stage of development, starting from the second half of 2025 The characteristics of entering the third phase are: 1. The three brands work together to cover user needs from 100,000 to 800,000. 2. Technological innovation and R&D investment have begun to bear fruit, greatly enhancing product competitiveness, while the cost of technological innovation has also improved, leading to a continuous increase in the company's gross profit margin. 3. The advantages of the rechargeable, replaceable, and upgradeable technology route have been realized, with the new ES8 delivering 22,256 units, setting a record for the highest monthly sales of over 400,000 units in Chinese history, regardless of energy type. The L90, with 43,439 units, has also set a record for the sales champion of large pure electric SUVs, and the pure electric technology route has been recognized.

Additionally, by 2025, our charging and swapping infrastructure will continue to be laid out, transitioning from quantitative to qualitative changes. We have completed 1,010 high-speed stations and achieved full connectivity of 318 stations. At the beginning of the year, we also completed full connectivity of 214 stations along the Yunnan-Tibet route. Therefore, entering the third cycle in 2025, although there is some gap from the initial target, overall, we have still achieved strategic goals.

Here, I would like to mention the changes. Originally, everyone had expectations for our products, such as refrigerators and color TVs, which added to the user experience of high-perception products, and there was still some perception at that time.

Q: How long will it take for NIO to reach the second million vehicles?

Li Bin: It took 17 months to reach 500,000 units. We strive to achieve the transition from 1 million to 2 million units a bit earlier, and see if we can complete it in 17 or 18 months. The next cycle will definitely be shortened. With our three brands, NIO will continue to increase competitiveness in the high-end market and increase its market share.

Q: Have there been any targeted pricing adjustments for the L90, Firefly, and ES8 due to difficulties?

Li Bin: No, our gross profit margin is steadily increasing. We have not simply exchanged price for volume; instead, we have mainly improved product competitiveness through technology, enhancing performance and safety, while achieving cost reduction in technology.

Q: Will there be profitability in the fourth quarter?

Li Bin: I am still confident about profitability in the fourth quarter. From a non-GAAP perspective, we have reduced losses by 1.7 billion in the fourth quarter through cost-saving measures. The new ES8, which has a higher gross profit, delivered over 40,000 units, and the gross profit margin is definitely around 20%.

Q: Is NIO still a startup?

Li Bin: We are definitely still a startup. Since starting NIO, it feels like entering an endless game, a marathon on a muddy road, which is indeed very hard due to the huge responsibility. If we do not manage the company well, who will take care of the cars of our 1 million users? Buying a car is not a one-time consumption; if the company performs better, the car's residual value will be higher, which is very real money. If the company performs poorly, the residual value will be lower, and everyone will lose money. This 1 million units represent 1 million responsibilities.

Q: What are the company's plans for 2026?

Qin Lihong: In 2026, we do not have any earth-shattering plans. We will execute better in our established direction to achieve higher quality growth. By 2026, we will comprehensively switch to products based on the third-generation technology platform. We have more "bullets" in hand, and models like the LeDao L90 and the new ES8 will become our mainstream. In 2026, the NIO brand will further launch new products in the high-end mid-to-large SUV sector, and LeDao will also have product iterations And the launch of the L80 that everyone knows about.

In 2026, the main sales force will be mid-to-high-end large vehicles, which will place higher demands on the energy system. We need to further strengthen our charging and battery swapping system. This year, we plan to build 1,000 stations, and if our charging partners want to invest in 500, I think we can be a bit more aggressive. The fifth-generation stations have entered the final testing and preparation stage, and we will accelerate in the future.

In terms of after-sales service, the three brands currently share a single system. I think we need to seriously examine the comprehensive capabilities of after-sales service, spare parts levels, response times, and layout. The LeDao and Firefly brands are relatively new, and for the past year, we have defaulted to using the Nio after-sales service network. This may change in 2026; some markets may be entered by LeDao first, while others may be entered by Firefly first. Each of the three brands has its own characteristics, but we will further integrate in the middle and back office. The order of entry doesn't matter; this is the model we want to establish.

This sounds simple, including what Li Bin just mentioned about further deepening our sales network layout. We are currently preparing to combine Nio, Le, and Firefly into one store, creating a comprehensive Nio store in markets with sales potential, officially referred to as SKY stores. The first batch of stores will open before the Spring Festival, expanding sales layout, integrating after-sales resources, improving efficiency, and accelerating the development of the charging and battery swapping system. Additionally, starting from the end of the first quarter, at the latest by early April, we will begin to lay out the fifth-generation stations in bulk.

We aim to maintain a steady growth rate of 40-50% in sales, with a key focus on improving quality beyond just volume growth, including profit levels, satisfaction levels, and user experience levels. This is the plan for 2026. Ultimately, we will focus on selling good cars, providing excellent service, and improving infrastructure, without thinking about anything else.

Li Bin: In the letter I wrote to all employees on January 1st, the first point is technology research and development, insisting on high-intensity investment, especially in improving R&D efficiency. This year, we will see significant improvements in many areas, including intelligent driving and cockpit experiences, and I believe our resource investment in this area will be greater.

For the three large vehicles, with higher gross margins and prices, I believe they will be very competitive. The second point is to continue to deploy battery swapping stations, with at least 1,000 stations this year, continuing to promote battery swapping accessibility in every county, and further enhancing our competitive advantage by increasing density on highways and in some urban areas. We also aim to increase the number of charging scenic routes from 80 to 100, and we will focus on this throughout the year.

Thirdly, this year, the three brands will collaborate, deepen their efforts, especially Firefly, where over 75% of the volume comes from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Beijing. This indicates that we have gained user recognition in fiercely competitive first-tier cities, and it also shows that we have enormous growth potential in broader areas, such as Hubei, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, Hunan, and Jiangxi. Compared to BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz, we are still lagging behind in these regions. This year, we are determined to deepen our channels. We aim to establish more SKY-like stores in 210 cities at the prefecture level, as it is not very cost-effective for a single brand to go alone, but it becomes cost-effective when three brands work together Fourth, improve internal management efficiency. Continue to promote organizational transformation centered around user value creation, going deeper. I estimate that by the first half of this year, the organizational transformation should have basically achieved some phased results.

We focus on the Chinese market, steadily entering the global market, and using Firefly as the leading brand. This year, we hope to enter 40 countries and add more than a dozen countries and regions.

Achieving profitability for the whole year is our business goal, but we place more emphasis on growth and the quality of growth. Making a little profit in a year doesn't mean much; we need to sustain profitability. At our current scale, we should pursue making greater investments on the basis of slight profitability. This is our overall strategy: to maintain profitability while actively investing in R&D, infrastructure, and various other areas.

Q: How to balance the relationship between profitability goals and user trust?

Li Bin: As long as there is room for technological exploration, we will continue to update and iterate. The retention value will not be poor as long as the price is stable. It depends on two factors: first, the overall brand strength of the company, and second, the relative price stability. As long as these two factors are in place, it should be fine. Additionally, since Nio's batteries are swappable, it essentially provides a safety net for the batteries. Recently, I spoke with a used car dealer who deals with Nio's used car business. He said that the cheapest Nio cars are worth at least the price of the battery; you can't sell them for less than that.

Q: What is the sales target guidance for the full year of 2026?

Li Bin: We will not provide a specific target for a single year in 2026. In the coming years, we will achieve a growth rate of 40-50%, but the growth rate will not be as aggressive as 100%. From now until 2030, we can maintain a growth rate of 40-50% each year, which can significantly increase sales. In five years, it will be 1.45 raised to the power of five.

The trick in the automotive industry is that you cannot decline; if you decline, that year is wasted, and it is quite difficult to climb back up afterward. We are still maintaining a growth rate of 30-40% each year. As you can see, we have 120,000, 160,000, and 220,000, still maintaining a growth rate of 30-40% each year, despite facing many internal and external challenges. However, during this product cycle, we have three brands working together, and with the pure electric route, we can gain more recognition from users. Currently, pure electric vehicles account for 61.8% or 61.9% of new energy vehicles, and new energy vehicles accounted for 60% of new car sales in December, with pure electric vehicles accounting for nearly 37% of new car sales.

Our own estimate is that by 2030, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China will exceed 90%, increasing by 5-10 percentage points. Among these, pure electric vehicles will account for at least 80%, which means pure electric vehicles could double compared to now. If we can grow by 40% each year, we could reach 5 million vehicles by 2035. Steady and rapid growth is our goal.

Q: How to maintain momentum as Nio re-enters an upward phase?

Li Bin: "Build strong fortifications and fight steadily," making gradual progress over time. I approach it like a mantra, with a fourteen-character motto. Basically, there are no big tricks; there aren't that many big tricks. Without new tricks, we just need to work hard. In the future, Nio will still be Nio; it should be like this. It's not just about thinking far ahead; we need to make it happen without any moment of relaxation Q: Can you reveal information about the ES9?

Li Bin: Yesterday I saw the ES9's TT car, and I just approved the start of trial production for mass production vehicles, which means the ES9 has entered the manufacturing mass production process. It will be released in the second quarter. I believe the ES9 will achieve the same success as the ES8, and the announcement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will come out soon.

I am now requesting the development of a model, the basement model. This car is too tall, and it definitely has a strong presence. It is also an all-scenario flagship SUV and a technology flagship SUV. More importantly, it is suitable for business use, and it has more scenarios than the ET9, which is purely an administrative flagship. There are indeed many users who do not need six seats or three rows; this demand is quite significant. The entire market has a higher demand for five-seat vehicles compared to three-row vehicles, and we mainly need to meet these users' needs.

Q: Will there be too many large vehicles?

Li Bin: We also have small vehicles. The biggest problem with our second-generation product platform was that large vehicles were not competitive enough and not numerous enough, so we decided to make larger vehicles. The gross margin for large vehicles is high; if we make the car 10 centimeters larger, the cost only needs to be around eight or nine hundred.

Q: Recently, raw material prices have started to rise. Will this year's new car pricing leave more gross margin space?

Li Bin: This year, the cost pressure is quite significant. The biggest cost pressure is not raw materials but memory. The entire industry has to face this issue. Our "Shenji" chip, NVIDIA chip, and cockpit chip all require memory. Competing with AI and computing centers for memory is tough; they are investing billions of dollars. For us, having a standard intelligent driving system and a standard intelligent cockpit is a bit challenging. The rise in lithium prices might be manageable, but we mainly have to compete for energy storage, which has also surged in the past two years.

Currently, it is still within our bearable range, but we also need to observe the overall industry situation. Nio still has a certain gross margin space to handle this. As of now, there is nothing, and how things develop later will depend on the overall market situation.

Q: Nio is one of the few startups that insists on a complex product layout. However, success still relies on a few blockbuster models. Will Nio change its previous multi-model positioning product logic?

Li Bin: The positioning of our three brands is very clear. Nio is positioned as high-end, Le Dao is for the mainstream market, and Firefly is a high-end small vehicle. I have all three brands at home; I personally drive the Firefly the most, and I also drive the ET9, while I mainly sit in the other vehicles.

This is related to the high-end market positioning. Mercedes-Benz and BMW have around 40 to 50 models in China, and even Porsche has quite a few models. We have about eight or nine models, which is still okay and will not change our product logic.

The core goal for 2026 is still to continue expanding the brand awareness of Le Dao. The Firefly has performed very well, far exceeding expectations, with continuous growth for five months, breaking 6,000 units in November and 7,000 units in December. This year, we mainly look at how many Fireflies can fly in the global market; the market share in China is already quite high. The concept for 2026 is basically like this Single vehicle strategy, Firefly will not make more cars now, you can imagine Firefly as Labubu, doing various special editions on this, such as Youqi Meilade and Night Walker, which have been very successful. We have many such special editions this year, constantly doing interesting things on this.

Q: What about the pace overseas?

Li Bin: Currently, we are calculating the accounts. If we can't make money, we won't go. If there are no orders, we won't go. If you lose money to increase a country or light up a map, we won't go. The reason Firefly will go is that most places can be calculated, and relatively speaking, its investment in intelligence is less. Now when we enter a country, the biggest cost is the local intelligent adaptation; otherwise, if you go there, you won't understand the local language, can't adapt to local roads, and can't do local intelligent driving. If you drive poorly, you won't have much competitiveness, so we will be cautious.

Q: When will the fifth-generation battery swap stations start construction?

Qin Lihong: At the end of March, early April, a significant large-scale layout will definitely be in April. We still have some inventory of fourth-generation stations in the first half of the year, so we will first build fourth-generation stations.

Li Bin: Battery swapping is a true system solution that addresses the different lifespans of cars and batteries. Cars and batteries have different lifespans. Now the country requires battery warranty to be 8 years, 160,000 kilometers, and still have 70% health. Eight years is the calendar lifespan, 160,000 kilometers is the cycle lifespan, but it only guarantees up to 70% health. Once it drops below 70%, the safety of the battery will plummet, and the probability of thermal runaway will increase geometrically. Cars can be used for 15 years, and now there is no mandatory scrapping. If you decouple the car and battery, for example, if I use it for 10 years and replace it with a new battery, won't it be awkward if the new battery can only be used for 5 years while the car is old?

Which company proposes a 15-year warranty, I respect them. Technically, it can be done for 15 years, but it means costs will rise, and not all battery technology routes can achieve this; only some battery technology routes can achieve 15 years at 85%.

Without a battery swap solution, you can have other solutions. Otherwise, now with 40 million new energy vehicles, whether extended range or pure electric, even if you spend 50,000 to 60,000 yuan on a new battery pack (battery replacement cost), it would be 2-3 trillion.

This is something that is already very common in other industries, such as airplanes. The fuselage and engine of an airplane have different lifespans; engine leasing and airplane fuselage are two businesses. The engine is leased, it needs regular maintenance and care, it's a big business, and the engine accounts for nearly 40% of the total cost of the airplane, which is very similar to batteries.

Q: What are the new goals for assisted driving in 2026?

Li Bin: Recently, we also released a new version. This year we will increase our investment in this area, mainly in computing power investment. The investment in training computing power, last year we didn't have the computing power in place, but this year the roadmap is very clear, the world model has been consolidated, and we have seen very good results. This year we will have two major training sessions, like a furnace where we throw in data, making the furnace bigger, so everyone can look forward to it. One in the second quarter and one in the fourth quarter, there will be two major training sessions, and everyone can see two significant leaps this year. We will release once in the first quarter, and we expect to see considerable progress, and in the second quarter, we will push harder on this path, and in the fourth quarter, there will be an updated plan Q: What is the capacity situation?

Li Bin: There is no problem with capacity; we are only worried about orders. Capacity can ramp up quickly. We can't say that our deliveries have collapsed; it seems that no one is saying that our deliveries have collapsed. Previously, we produced and delivered simultaneously, accumulating a bit first and then delivering together, which actually makes no significant difference. By 2026, capacity should be fine. Maintaining a reasonable configuration of single and double shifts to avoid ineffective capacity loss after inventory orders are fulfilled is also a skill.

Q: What do you think about this year's market?

Li Bin: We are in the final stage, which I mentioned back in 2019. We are still at the table and on the track, but we are definitely not in a leading position. However, we have found our own rhythm. We believe that as we delve deeper into the final circle, our rhythm will improve.

Since it is the finals, there is no end; this is a competition without an end. In about ten years, the landscape will be basically determined. The competitors on the track are essentially these; the difficulty for new entrants is still relatively high. I don't believe that only 3 to 5 companies will remain in the end; I think there will be at least 10 Chinese companies. This is a viewpoint that differs from many of my peers, so there is no need for everyone to be anxious.

China now has 34 million vehicles, with Chinese brands accounting for 27 million. In ten years, reaching 35 million vehicles means that with 10 companies, each would have 3.5 million vehicles, which has long surpassed the economic scale. An automotive company reaches economic scale at 2 million vehicles; it can survive at 1 million vehicles, and 2 million vehicles can do well. An average of 3.5 million vehicles can support 10 companies in China without any problem.

We are currently at over 300,000 vehicles a year and are already seeing the dawn of profitability. The entire automotive industry should not be anxious; instead of being anxious, it is better to take action and do our own work well. Running a marathon is like this. In the end, the Chinese automotive industry will definitely produce many excellent companies, starting with 10. Doesn't that feel a bit more comfortable?

Competition will be fierce every year, but last year's anti-involution was effective and has increased confidence for this year. Everyone is focusing on improving products and services. Additionally, this year's replacement subsidy policy was introduced very early, which is very beneficial. Buying NIO or LeDao L90 this year makes renting electricity cost-effective. This year, the purchase tax discount is halved, saving up to 8,000 to 9,000 yuan per vehicle, which also shows the country's support for the battery swap technology route.

Q: Is market innovation limited?

Li Bin: It can't be said that way, but there is indeed some truth to it. Automotive technology has entered a convergence period. For example, the evolution and iteration of NT4 will definitely not be as significant as that from NT2 to NT3. NIO has completed a very important leap on the third-generation platform, laying the foundation for the continuous iteration and evolution of smart electric vehicles over the next decade. Therefore, our development efficiency will definitely be higher in the future, and the vehicle's resale value will also be better, just like an Apple phone, which can be used for a longer time.

Q: Will you expand into AI and non-automotive robotics businesses?

Li Bin: We are still a small company in the main automotive track, which is the focus. We need to concentrate and adopt a latecomer strategy in some areas. I believe that any automotive company today, if it has some ambition, will undoubtedly be an AI company Our talent accumulation and capability accumulation in this area have always been there, and we are certainly not worse than others, but that does not mean we will enter this field so early. We need to first try to increase our market share of a little over 1%.

For automotive companies to develop embodied robots, in my view, it is something that will definitely happen because their capability stack is the same; every car is now a robot. Our world model can be applied to embodied robots without any issues, and our manufacturing supply chain system can also be applied to robots without any problems. However, that does not mean we need to start today. We will start when we begin to make a profit, perhaps a year or two in advance. By then, the supply chain will be mature, and we can learn and follow up. It is quite challenging to lead the way.

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