The future of NIO is at stake

NIO is a Chinese manufacturer of electric automobiles, aimeding at providing a pleasant

lifestyle for its Chinese, or even and global customers. Founded in 2014, NIO was
widely recognized as China's Tesla, as it received investment from Chinese tech giants
Baidu and Tencent. Three years later, NIO listed on NASDAQ and raised more than
100 million dollars, the first new-energy -vehicle manufacturer in China to finish
complete an IPO.

The founder of this startup company is called Li Bin, one of the most potent and
successful serial entrepreneurs in China. He made a fortune through BitAuto, an online
platform for buying and selling cars, and his last job is the cofounder of Mobike, another
tech startup that used to be the a competitor of Ofo, the most famous Chinese unicorn
in of the past few years. Born with the halo of "Tesla killer," raised by the "Big man,"
backed by the "Tech giants," NIO's future looks bright.
However, the stock price tells a different story. The price dropped down right the day
after the day it was listed. Somehow it managed to hold steadily for another 6 months.
In, then in March of 2019, the stock price climbed up to almost ten dollars, which was
the same price at whichas on the day NIO got listed. Never the less it has been
declining ever since. Nowadays, NIO's share price barely stays reaches between
beyond one to or two dollars and is not attractive to the investor at all.
Commented [CS1]: “Potent” is generally used to refer to
substances such as medicines. When talking about people, a
better choice would be “powerful”.
Commented [CS2]: Use past tense, “was”.
Commented [CS3]: The comma should not be included
within the double quotation marks.
Commented [CS4]: The comma should not be included
within the double quotation marks.
Commented [CS5]: A better expression here is “would
appear to look”.
Commented [CS6]: Use an appropriate adverb to indicate
the extent of the drop.
Commented [CS7]: This is usually one word. It also tends
to be used in situations where something contrasting occurs
in spite of the persistence of an opposing situation. In this
case, however, the situation is not persisting but changing,
negatively, so we should use a different contrasting word,
such as “however”.
Commented [CS8]: Rather than footnoting a diagram or
chart, you should use a source line directly underneath.

Why is that?
1. Bloomberg.com https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/NIO:US, Accessed in 6th , Nov.
2019
2. Bloomberg News, “After $5 Billion in Losses, China’s NIO Battles for Survival”,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-22/after-5-billion-in-losses-china-
s-tesla-battles-for-survival, Accessed in 6th, Nov., 2019.
NIO has been losing money since the very first beginning. According to Bloomberg's, it
took Tesla Inc. about 15 years to rack up $5 billion in losses. NIO did it in four. 2 While
Tesla has delivered a certain number of products to the consumers, NIO didn't deliver.

What's more, some of the limited number of NIO cars's limited that have been delivered
cars have been found to an issue of self-combustion. An ES8, the only model NIO Commented [CS9]: A more appropriate word here would
delivered, was found burning in Wuhan, China. The news quickly went viral on social be “spontaneously”.
media platforms quickly. Such kinds of failure to fulfill orders, or to delivery of vehicles
with quality problems, is are a root cause that NIO's share price keeps falling.

Some people believe that NIO needs time and, more importantly, more investment. Commented [CS10]: As you have already used “more” in
Especially In particular, the founder, Mr. Li Bin, thought that investors should this sentence, use a different adjective, such as “greater”.
understand that the development of new cars will costs money and cannot achieve
profitability within a few years. To deliver more vehicles with better quality, they need Commented [CS11]: Be specific about who “they” refers
more money from investors. to.
Commented [CS12]: This should be past tense,
From my point of view, NIO is a technology-oriented company that values R&D. Most of “needed”.
the losses are spent on technology research and development. For WChinese Commented [CS13]: Technically, it is not possible to
technology companies, we do need a more tolerant attitude towards Chinese spend losses. Rather the losses were a result of high
technology companiesit; after all, China does not have any previous experience in car expenditure on technology R&D.
manufacturing before, not to mention the new-energy vehicles, which required an even Commented [CS14]: Use past tense, “did”.
more holistic foundation. NIO does need more time and money.

However, what they it can do shortly is to reduce certain costs and develop a cheaper Commented [CS15]: “Shortly” means “soon”, but what
model, so that as to make a profit and win back the confidence of investors. you are talking about here is the short-term.
To be more specific, NIO needs to close some of the showrooms that are rolled out Commented [CS16]: Use past tense, “have been”.
across the country. NIO has opened showrooms to display their concept car not only in Commented [CS17]: Include a one-line space between
the big cities like Beijing and Shanghai but also in the second or even third-tier cities like paragraphs.
Nanjing. Based on the fact that NIO always rents places in the central business districts,
operating such showrooms will generates huge but and unnecessary costs.

Further, NIO should launch a cheap EV model in on the mass market. Currently, NIO
models in NIO will cost around 60,000 dollars, close to the selling price of a Tesla Model
3 in China. Why wouldn't the consumers pay a bit more and to buy a Tesla? On the
other hand, users who can consume and are willing to buy new energy vehicles are
basically concentrated in the market segment of 20,000 US dollar market segments.
NIO needs to gain some early profit and demonstrate their business potential to the
investors. Commented [CS18]: There is a logic gap here; this
sentence does not connect strongly to the rest of the
paragraph.
After all, NIO is a relatively young company, of only 4 years old. It will find work out his
its own revitalization plan soon, hopefully.
1. Bloomberg.com https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/NIO:US, Accessed in 6th , Nov.
2019
2. Bloomberg News, “After $5 Billion in Losses, China’s NIO Battles for Survival”,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-22/after-5-billion-in-losses-china-
s-tesla-battles-for-survival, Accessed in 6th, Nov., 2019.
David
This is a very well written exam piece. You have organized your thoughts well, with a clear opening
giving a brief background, a situational analysis setting out the problems facing the company and a turn-
around plan with specific ideas. Throughout, you have used evidence to support your claims and have
referenced information from other sources fully. Remember that when talking about history (including
past data), use simple past tense.Review correct use of “the”; in this assignment, and in previous
assignments, you have used it in places where it was not necessary and vice-versa. When citing, make
sure you included the date of publication of the borrowed text as well as the date of your access.

OVERALL COURSE ASSESSMENT: You have shown good progress over the length of this course,
particularly in terms of the appropriateness of language and vocabulary used and mechanics-related
issues such as verb tense and word confusion.

1. Bloomberg.com https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/NIO:US, Accessed in 6th , Nov.

2019
2. Bloomberg News, “After $5 Billion in Losses, China’s NIO Battles for Survival”,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-22/after-5-billion-in-losses-china-
s-tesla-battles-for-survival, Accessed in 6th, Nov., 2019.