16 | MOTORING Monday, March 23, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY Nio bullish about its Short Torque BYD transforms lines business performance to support masks Many companies in China have transformed their businesses to despite coronavirus cater to the rising demand for masks amid the coronavirus epi- demic, and leading new energy By LI FUSHENG vehicle manufacturer BYD has [email protected] joined them. On Feb 17, BYD pro- duced its first batch of masks. Chinese electric car startup We are pleased to Each of its production lines can Nio is confident about its see encouraging make 50,000 masks a day, and in prospects this year despite the total five million masks and coronavirus outbreak, expecting results to date, and 300,000 bottles of disinfectant its gross profit margin to become expect around 35 can be made on a daily basis, positive in the second quarter. making the company one of the “Based on the current trend, percent expense biggest mask manufacturers in we would hope the daily new reduction compared the world. The company plans to order rate to return to the level of expand its production lines to a last December in April,” said to the prior quarter daily capacity of up to 10 million William Li, founder and chair- even under the masks. The masks will also be man of Nio, on an earnings call pressure of the provided to other countries hit last week. hard by the virus, after meeting He expected production, outbreak.” GAC showcases its Aion LX model in Shenzhen, Guangdong province last July. domestic demand. which resumed in late February PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY , founder and at its plant in Hefei, Anhui prov- William Li chairman of Nio Toyota partners up with ince, to return to normal in April as well. Momenta for mapping Due to the coronavirus out- Toyota Motor Corp is partnering break, Nio delivered 2,305 vehi- with Chinese autonomous driving cles in January and February, Chinese carmakers 2,305 startup Momenta to develop a high- which was lower than the com- vehicles definition mapping platform in Chi- pany’s target set prior to the out- delivered by Nio in January na for autonomous-driving vehicles. break. and February Toyota’s research arm is develop- Li expected 1,100 to 1,300 vehi- slash sales targets ing its so-called Automated Map- cles to be sold in March, bringing ping Platform to generate data for sales in the first quarter to accurate and updated maps, around 3,500. 81 Auto industry hit hard in extraordinary crisis which it said will also be accessi- “Facing the pressure of the percent ble to industry develop- outbreak, we are still confident year-on-year increase for sales ers.Momenta was established to achieve the preset sales target of Nio last year By CAO YINGYING showrooms and check vehicle three years ago and is backed by for 2020,” Li said. [email protected] 8 information. Germany’s Daimler. It is testing He did not make public the percent Carmakers SAIC Maxus, Welt- autonomous cars in Beijing and sales target though. In 2019, the Chinese carmakers have lowered cut in the sales target for 2020 meister, Nio and JMC have Suzhou and will provide its cam- company delivered 20,565 vehi- battery producer CATL, and their sales targets for 2020 and are by Great Wall Motors early this reduced staff pay to lessen the era-based HD mapping technolo- cles, up 81 percent year-on-year. reducing manufacturing costs as reducing costs, as the already month impact on the companies during gies to help commercialize Nio’s new models are hoped to it ramps up production. depressed market has been further this period. Toyota’s AMP in China, according help drive sales. In April, it will The company has also become affected by the novel coronavirus Cui Dongshu, secretary-general to a statement. start the delivery of the updated stricter about expense control outbreak. of the China Passenger Car Associ- ES8 SUV. and further improved its effi- Great Wall Motors, one of the top ation, said whether pay adjust- Xpeng aiming to build In September, the EC6 SUV, ciency, with its headcount cut to SUV makers in China, cut its sales 82.67 ment or a target reduction, there percent advanced electric cars which is expected to take on Tes- around 7,000 from 100,000 in target by 8 percent early this year-on-year decrease in are ways to cut costs to ensure la’s Model Y, will roll off the early 2019. month. The carmaker now aims to production at GAC last month normal operation during this Chinese electric vehicle startup assembly line. “We are pleased to see encour- sell 1.02 million units in 2020, down due to the novel coronavirus unique period. Xpeng Motors is one of a new In the fourth quarter of 2020, aging results to date, and expect from a previous target of 1.11 mil- outbreak He said the key to relieve the group of electric vehicle startups its 100 kw/hour battery pack will around 35 percent expense lion. pressure on auto companies is to looking to follow Tesla’s lead by hit the market. reduction compared to the prior Great Wall also lowered its target boost consumption and promote building highly advanced elec- Li said the company will con- quarter even under the pressure for net profit by around 14 percent car sales. tric vehicles. The company, tinue to expand its sales network of the outbreak,” said Li. to 4.05 billion yuan ($570.8 million) 310,000 Manufacturers need to broaden which was founded in 2014, is by building more NIO Spaces, Nio has made steady progress in from 4.7 billion yuan. The carmaker vehicles consumption channels and also developing an advanced with an estimated 200 of them by financing efforts over the past didn’t change its sales and profit sold in China in February, strengthen contact with consum- autonomous driving system for the end of this year. months. It has issued $435 million target for 2021 and 2022. according to the China ers so that orders can be converted its vehicles. Xpeng announced Gross margin improvement is convertible notes this year to sever- Wei Jianjun, chairman of the car- Association of Automobile into sales. last week that it was granted one of Nio’s top objectives in al unaffiliated Asia-based invest- maker, said it is sensitive for a listed Manufacturers According to the China Associa- permission from the National 2020. Last year, its gross margin ment funds, which are to support company to cut its sales target in tion of Automobile Manufactur- Highway Traffic Safety Adminis- was negative 15.3 percent, with the company’s daily operations and this period, but he is also optimistic. ers, vehicle sales in February tration to test its new P7 fully- net loss standing at $1.62 billion. business development. The carmaker still ranks top among break in China. With that being the slumped 79 percent from the same electric sedan on public roads in Li said the gross margin will In late February, it inked a 10-bil- Chinese brands in term of sales. case, it has been hard for them to month in 2019 to 310,000. the United States. The permis- turn positive in the second quar- lion-yuan framework agreement Great Wall sold 1.06 million cars totally reopen in the short term. In the first two months, vehicles sion ensures that the P7 has met ter and reach the two-digit level with the Hefei city government in last year. In the first two months, it The carmaker said they will work sales totaled 2.24 million, down 42 all the requirements for import- by the end of the year as it has Anhui province, and Li said the sold 90,284 units, down 50 percent overtime to promote production to percent year-on-year. ed vehicles. been optimizing the supply definitive deal will be signed in from a year earlier. Production and make up for the drop in capacity. A total of 285,000 vehicles chain, winning a better deal with April. sales slumped 85.44 percent and The group has 2,546 suppliers rolled off assembly lines in Febru- US automakers shutter 85.48 percent respectively last and 2,562 dealers in total, most of ary, plunging almost 80 percent month. which are small and medium-sized year-on-year. production nationwide Another Chinese carmaker, GAC enterprises. Meanwhile, SAIC Volkswagen US automakers announced they Group, narrowed sales growth tar- During the outbreak, those deal- sold around 10,000 units, a will temporarily shut down North get for 2020 from 8 percent to 3 per- ers were placed under severe eco- decline of 91 percent year-on-year. American production as the eco- cent on March 16. nomic pressure, bearing labor costs BYD’s sales fell 79.5 percent nomic hit from the coronavirus GAC Chairman Zeng Qinghong and rent without any income. year-on-year to 5,501 units. And spreads to manufacturing. The “Big said that because of the novel coro- To avoid breaking capital chains Mazda saw a drop of 79 percent to Three” carmakers -- General navirus outbreak, production stag- for dealers, GAC canceled February 2,430 units. Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Ford -- nated last month. target assessments and provided The CPCA has scaled down its will halt operations throughout Its production fell 82.67 percent subsidies for new dealers. estimate for vehicle sales this year, North America through the end of to 17,300 units with the sales down Some other carmakers also predicting a fall of 8 percent from the month, the companies 81.08 percent to 19,300.