Nio (NYSE:NIO), a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker, said CFO Steven Wei Feng resigned over the weekend for personal reasons. He will be replaced by Stanley Yu Qu.
Qu is a former executive with Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) and Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI). He also worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) for a decade. He has been with Nio since 2016.
NIO stock fell on the news, but only by 2.5%. It opened this morning at $4.54 per share, its market capitalization down to $9.4 billion.
Shuffling Deck Chairs
NIO stock is down 58% over the last year. The company has faced increasing resistance to its export push from European and American regulators. Nio is known for its battery swap technology, which maintains a car’s range in as little as five minutes.
The company is also pushing two new models, called the Onvo and the Firefly, at prices Western automakers can’t match.
The Onvo is meant to rival the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model Y, with a starting price of $30,500. That’s $4,000 less than the Model Y. Deliveries are due to begin Sept. 10.
Firefly, a small car brand, will have cars starting at about $28,000 and meet European safety standards when they emerge next year. The Firefly will have its own battery swap stations because of a smaller wheelbase.
Morgan Stanley believes the CFO change will not impact operations. It said the company’s orders are stable at about 5,000 per week.
Nio was buoyed late last year by a $2.2 billion investment from the Abu Dhabi public investment fund. The emirate now owns 20% of the Chinese EV maker. Nio will also share its technology with a joint U.K.-UAE start-up called Forseven, a luxury EV brand that will be produced in England.
Fellow InvestorPlace contributor Mohammed Saqib recently profiled Nio as one of the best battery stocks for 2024, noting that its margins improved to 9.2% in the first quarter of 2024.
NIO Stock: What Happens Next?
Nio has the cash to bring the Onvo and Firefly to market, much as Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) can make its R2 thanks to Volkswagen (OTCMKTS:VWAGY). Time will tell whether either can make a profit.
On the date of publication, Dana Blankenhorn did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
On the date of publication, the responsible editor did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
