NIO is the best quality electric vehicle sold in China, ahead of the Tesla, according to a report released today by market research firm J.D. Power.
In terms of the number of problems per 100 vehicles, NIO ranked first with 109, and Tesla ranked second with 113, according to J.D. Power's 2020 China New Energy Vehicle Experience Study SM (NEVXI).
The NIO ES6 took the top spot in the mid-size electric segment.
The study is based on real feedback from 3,267 owners who purchased their cars between May 2019 and May 2020, covers 40 models from 20 brands, and measures vehicle quality in terms of the number of problems per 100 units (PP100).
According to the measurement rules, the fewer problems per 100 cars, the better the quality. However, the study also shows that the average number of quality problems that new energy vehicle owners complained about this year was 143 PP100.
In contrast, the number of quality problems with new vehicles from traditional Chinese brands (147 PP100) was much higher than those of international brands (112 PP100) and Chinese startup brands (126 PP100).
The study also showed that international brands of new energy vehicles outperformed Chinese brands in terms of body appearance, infotainment systems, seats, powertrain, and body interiors.
However, Chinese new energy vehicle startups outperform traditional Chinese and international brands in areas such as driving experience, air conditioning, and battery/charging.
Tesla's China-made Model Y coming soon, will NIO face the strongest threat?
New Energy Vehicle (NEV) owners are younger and more open to brands. the percentage of NEV owners born in 1990 and later has risen from 24% in 2019 to 37% this year.
The percentage of new energy vehicle consumers who say they are comfortable with any new energy vehicle brand is 78%, 6 percentage points higher than traditional energy vehicle consumers.
Traditional quality issues are the main problem that new energy vehicle owners complain about: the most frequent problem categories for new energy vehicle owners are body exterior (16%), body interior (13%), infotainment system (13%), and driving experience (13%). Among them, interior odor and tire noise ranked among the top 20 problems in the industry.
The study also found that plug-in hybrid models have fewer quality complaints than electric models, and small electric vehicles have a much higher number of quality issues than other electric models.
NIO-led battery swap model is about to get policy boosts in China
