Nio CEO William Li sets three-year agenda around premium core, flags major 2027 model launches

Nio founder and CEO William Li used an all-hands internal address on September 8 to set the company's course for the next three years: concentrating on the core business, the premium segment, and key markets. He characterized China's auto industry as having entered "the most brutal stage of the final round," warning that industry-wide competitive pressure will inevitably spill over to Nio despite its own growth, according to a report by local outlet Leiphone.

The product roadmap includes major new model launches in 2027, though Li stopped short of naming vehicles, brands, or dates. He noted the company has moved away from stacking rapid-fire product debuts in favor of a steadier cadence, and said a completed review of second-generation product planning has sharpened choices over target segments. The comments align with his September 1 earnings-call statement that sub-brand Onvo will field a strategically significant new product in 2027, while Firefly will remain a one-model brand sticking to refreshing its sole offering and issuing limited editions.

On embodied AI — a field automakers are crowding into — Li said Nio will engage mainly as a strategic investor rather than build it into a core business, consistent with its previously announced backing of Ren Shaoqing's physical AI venture as a strategic shareholder. Ren stays on as head of the smart driving division, and Nio plans to raise spending on incentives for key autonomous-driving talent as well as computing resources.

Li paired the strategy with numbers to argue headroom remains: Nio holds a little over 2% of China's overall auto market and only 4% to 5% of the mid-to-premium space. He also cited the services and community business — RMB 5.8 billion ($856 million) in first-half revenue, profitable for several straight quarters and enough to fund charging and battery-swap investment — as a pillar of a second growth engine. The financial backdrop: second-quarter revenue climbed 69.1% year-on-year to RMB 32.14 billion with an 18.5% vehicle margin, marking a third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted operating profit, though the GAAP net loss still reached RMB 528 million.