EV startup NIO has reportedly gained approval to construct a massive third vehicle manufacturing facility with a staggering annual capacity of 600k cars.
Construction is already underway on the so-called “F3” factory in Huainan, part of China’s Anhui province. While timelines are still murky, the gargantuan plant will primarily focus on churning out NIO’s new mass-market ONVO brand of affordable electric SUVs and sedans.
Don’t think for a second that NIO is forgetting its flagship models, with F3 online, the company’s total production capacity would swell to an eye-popping 1 million vehicles per year – nearly matching Tesla’s output from its Giga Shanghai.
“Our existing factories are not enough to meet market demand,” a NIO rep bluntly stated. “NIO does not have excess production capacity.”
No kidding. The upstart automaker says it delivered over 20,500 cars in May, a mind-blowing 234% spike from the same period last year, NIO has delivered a total of 516,000 vehicles. Turns out, there’s plenty of pent-up demand for NIO’s slick, tech-savvy EVs in the world’s largest auto market.
Matching supply to that demand won’t be easy – or cheap. Analysts reckon NIO is making a multibillion-dollar bet that the new factory will help it maintain a blistering sales pace for years to come. And with ONVO’s first mainstream model L60 SUV hitting pre-orders with a $28K sticker, NIO is clearly gunning for Tesla’s mass-market sweet spot.
Can the emboldened upstart successfully go toe-to-toe with Tesla as it expands at ludicrous scale? Investors and car buyers will undoubtedly be watching NIO’s latest manufacturing megaproject closely.