This Chinese brand loses 33,000 euros with every car sold

BYD is now the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in the world. The company made a profit of more than 1.4 billion euros in the first half of 2023. But not all Chinese brands are so healthy.

Nio – which occupies the old Peugeot and Carnext building on the A2 – makes beautiful electric cars with interesting technology. But the brand is by no means profitable.

Chinese brands are getting support

In April, May and June of this year, Nio lost no less than 808 million euros, writes the New York Times. This corresponds to a loss of more than 33,000 euros per car sold.

Nio employs around 11,000 people but only sells 8,000 cars per month worldwide. How can the manufacturer continue to exist? With the help of the Chinese government.

In 2020, Nio was on the verge of collapse. The company was only able to stay on its feet thanks to a capital injection from a local government (950 million euros) and a state bank (1.5 billion euros).

European aid research

The European Union is very concerned about the state aid that Chinese car manufacturers are receiving. On Wednesday, the Union announced it would open an investigation that could lead to import duties on Chinese cars.

China’s exports rose sharply

Chinese exports of electric vehicles have increased by 851 percent in the past three years, mostly to EU countries. Investigating Chinese state aid is tricky because if Europe imposes tariffs, China will do the same.

European brands are increasingly hurt by their Chinese competitors, who can build electric vehicles much cheaper, partly due to lower wages in China.