Co-founder of EV startup Nio steps down
It’s been a tough street for Chinese language EV startup Nio, and it seems as if issues are about to get even bumpier. On Thursday, Nio confirmed that co-founder Jack Cheng is leaving, 5 years after he helped begin the corporate.
Cheng was an integral a part of Nio’s early success, with the chief offering a wealth of data from his time as head of Ford’s Chinese language operations. It was on Cheng’s watch that Nio launched its first manufacturing mannequin, the ES8 mid-size SUV, and went public on the New York Inventory Change.
However the final 12 months has been a troublesome one for Nio. After sturdy preliminary gross sales in China, demand for the ES8 has plummeted. On account of the ES8’s poor gross sales, Nio has been pressured to layoff workers, shut its Silicon Valley workplace and delay the introduction of a promised electrical sedan.
Nio ET Preview idea
Issues clearly aren’t going swimmingly for the EV maker, however Nio says Cheng’s retirement has nothing to do with the corporate’s current poor efficiency. An organization spokesperson advised The Verge that Cheng, 61, opted to retire “attributable to age.”
Regardless of the case, Cheng will miss the prospect to supervise the corporate’s new ES6 SUV, which went on sale in June. Nio has solely offered 1,086 models of the ES6 throughout its first two months in the marketplace, however that’s a much better clip than the 164 ES8s Nio delivered in July.
William Li and Lihong Qin, the corporate’s different co-founders, are nonetheless on the staff. Li at present serves as CEO whereas Qin holds the title of president.
