Chinese EV maker NIO has exited from the joint venture it created two years ago with Changan Automobile, the latter's semi-annual report released on August 31 showed.
Changan's report said that it acquired Changan Weilai New Energy Vehicle Technology Co Ltd (Changan NIO) during the reporting period, bringing it under the scope of its consolidated accounts, where its direct stake in the company reached 95.38 percent.
Changan NIO was established in October 2018 and was chaired by William Li Bin, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of NIO, with Li Wei, Executive Vice President of Changan Automobile, as Vice Chairman and Yang Fang, CEO from Changan, as CEO.
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When Changan NIO was first established, Changan Automobile and NIO each held a 45 percent stake in the company, with the management team holding 10 percent.
Since then, however, Changan NIO's shareholding information shows that Changan and NIO each have a 50 percent stake in the company.
In June, Changan NIO underwent a change in business information, with William Li Bin stepping down as chairman and Li Wei stepping down as vice chairman, and Tan Ben Hong, executive vice president of Changan Automobile, becoming its new chairman.
At the same time, Changan NIO's registered capital grew from 98 million yuan to 188 million yuan, an increase of 92 percent.
The change in personnel, which saw the Changan NIO executive team composed entirely of people from Changan Automobile, along with the huge increase in registered capital, sparked speculation at the time that NIO's stake in Changan NIO would be diluted, and that NIO will only act as an investor.
But there was no clear answer to just how much of NIO's stake has been diluted, or whether NIO was pulling out of Changan NIO - as Changan's and NIO's shareholding figures still showed that Changan and NIO each owned 50 percent of the company at that time.
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There is another company similar to Changan NIO in China's automotive industry, GAC NIO New Energy Vehicle Technology Ltd.
GAC NIO was founded in April 2018 and is chaired by William Li Bin. GAC and NIO each held 45% os stake and 10% were held by in the senior management team.
This was once seen as NIO finding two new foundries.
But from GAC, NIO and Changan's public statements, both the GAC NIO and Changan NIO are attempting to explore a new model of cooperation between traditional auto companies and new carmakers, rather than OEMs.
GAC NIO and Changan NIO, which started out similarly, have taken different paths since then.
Up to now, GAC NIO has already launched a new car, HYCAN 007, based on GAC's new energy Aion LX, and started mass production delivery.
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In August this year, GAC NIO also announced a new development model of "hardware + AI OS + membership service ecosystem".
But Changan NIO has seen few signs of progress.
When Changan NIO was founded, William Li Bin said that the company is different from a traditional joint venture and should be called a co-founded company.
Changan said at the time that the partnership set a new benchmark in China's new energy vehicle innovation, giving rise to a whole new species of crossover hybrid style outside the traditional car companies and new car-making forces.
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