Nio says it won't join the 'price war' and slash prices like Tesla

cnbc.com:

SHANGHAI — Chinese electric car company Nio will keep its prices high rather than cut them, CEO William Li told CNBC in an interview.

«For us, we will certainly not join the price war,» Li said, claiming Nio's products and services are worth the price. That's according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.

Tesla, Elon Musk's car company, this year slashed prices in the U.S. and China. Nio also sells cars in the premium segment of the market, but its SUVs and sedans can be far more expensive than Tesla's models.

Li said his company will focus on improving its customer services — such as adding battery swapping and charging stations. The swapping technology claims to change out batteries in minutes so that drivers don't have to wait for charging.

Nio announced last week that starting June 1, people who put down deposits for some of its car models will only get to use the company's battery swapping service for free four times a month. That's down from as many as six free swaps a month previously.

The company also said last week it would start charging drivers 380 yuan ($56) a month to use its assisted driving system, called Navigate on Pilot (NOP) plus. The software has been free to test.

Offering technology to assist drivers with parking, highway lane changes and other tasks has increasingly become a selling point for electric car companies in China.

Such assisted driving technology right now may only rank 9th or 10th among users' needs, according to Li, who is also Nio's founder and chairman. He said people's assessment of the tech will change once they try it, and that he expects assisted driving to become a standard car feature.

Nio's vehicle sales grew by 37% last year to 45.51 billion yuan ($6.61