Enter the four European markets! Li Bin: do not directly sell only rental cars, 1199-1295 euros per month

According to news on Oct. 8, Li Bin, founder and CEO of electric car maker Xilai, said that when it launches its cars in four European markets this year, it will only provide rental services. Li Bin believes that as more and more people turn to electric cars, flexibility will become a key selling point.

Depending on the duration of the subscription, users can rent electric cars with 75 gigawatt-hour battery packs for 1199 euros to 1295 euros (8308 yuan to 8974 yuan) per month. The minimum subscription time is one month.

Previously, Xilai has allowed customers to rent rather than buy batteries. Batteries are by far the most expensive part of electric vehicles. At the same time, instead of charging the car at home, the owner can drive the car to the battery replacement station and replace the battery pack in a few minutes to save time.

Now, as it prepares to launch operations in European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, the company plans to operate there in a corporate leasing and subscription model. Ulay will offer three domestic models, the ET7, ET5 and ES7, which have been renamed EL7 in Europe because of a brand dispute with Audi, a unit of Volkswagen.

We will not sell cars directly and flexibility will become a new premium factor, Li Bin said in an interview at the new exhibition hall of Lulai in central Berlin.

Since it went into production in 2018, it has sold nearly 250000 cars in China and Norway, selling for about 50, 000 to 70, 000 euros (346000 to 478000 yuan), depending on the mileage of the car and whether customers buy or rent batteries.

So far, Weilai has been producing cars on order, customizing products for customers and keeping inventory low. Mr Li said Weilai would stick to its strategy of selling cars directly in existing foreign markets, in part because Norway levies higher taxes on subscription models.

Xilai faces competition from more and more electric car start-ups in China, such as Xiaopeng, Hezhong and Zero run. At the same time, Xilai is also facing pressure from bigger carmakers, such as China's BYD and America's Tesla. In Europe, Weilai will follow in the footsteps of Tesla and Volkswagen to strive for a higher market share of electric vehicles.

Li Bin said that Weilai plans to install at least 120 battery replacement stations in Europe by the end of next year. Last month, the company opened its first battery replacement plant in Hungary and will consider producing batteries in the region once sales in Europe reach about 10 gigawatts.

"the advantage of separating cars from batteries is that we can achieve battery economies of scale faster than cars," Li said. when we reach 10 gigawatts, we will consider local production. "

In China, Weilai has achieved this goal. A team of about 700 people is producing batteries internally, enabling the company to control its battery supply. At the same time, Weilai is looking for more partners than in the Ningde era, and hopes to establish more partnerships next year.

Li Bin added: "in the long run, we believe that any of the top companies in the auto industry will soon produce their own batteries."

Revenue in the second quarter rose 22% from a year earlier, but the net loss rose to $410 million, more than four times that of the same period last year. Weilai delivered fewer than 32000 cars in September, up 29.3% from a year earlier. Li Bin said China's supply chain problems eased faster than expected.