When Nio almost ran out of cash in 2020, a local government immediately injected $US1 billion for a 24 per cent stake, and a state-controlled bank led a group of other lenders to pump in another $US1.6 billion.and manufacturing, underlining its threat to traditional auto-powers in Europe and the United States.The strike by the United Auto Workers union against three Detroit car makers, now in its third week, is at its heart a conflict over electric vehicles.
Companies such as Nio, which is spending heavily on marketing in Germany and other European countries, need exports. The question is whether it can sell enough cars to justify its enormous research and investment effort. Wages also tend to be lower in China. Car workers in big cities such as Shanghai earn about $US30,000 a year in pay and benefits, while workers in less expensive cities in the interior earn considerably less.As Nio’s new electric motor factory shows, Chinese car manufacturing is now among the most automated in the world.