A suspected former employee of NIO broke the news in the early morning: the group is laying off employees on a large scale, and the delivery of 10,000 vehicles was "self-directed and self-acted"

At around 4 a.m. on March 21, a user nicknamed "纸孩孩" on Zhihu claimed to be a veteran employee of NIO and revealed three "inside stories" about NIO:

First, there are problems with NIO’s credit review and car purchase process.

Second, Li Bin’s victory over He Xiaopeng in the bet of “10,000 vehicles” last year was just a self-directed and self-acted result, as most of the purchases were made by NIO’s internal employees.

Third, NIO has recently been laying off employees, and "Paper Child" is one of the laid-off employees.

As soon as the news was discovered, First Electric immediately contacted Sun Fangyuan, the public relations director of NIO, to verify it, but Sun Fangyuan did not respond. Less than half an hour later, the revelations by "Paper Child" were deleted on the grounds of "infringing corporate interests."

The "glorious" 2018, the "discarded" 2019

First, "Paper Child" said that Chen Rui, the head of the financial department of NIO headquarters, was suspected of taking kickbacks from banks. The following is the original text of the answerer (with deletions):

1. NIO provides banks with users who need loans, and the banks earn interest. Then NIO is Party A and the bank is Party B!

2. The normal process of buying a car with a loan is to first review the loan, and then pay a deposit if the review is passed. If the review is not passed, the deposit will be refunded or no money will be paid! How can you pay a deposit if you don’t have money? The deposit is not refundable! This is the most basic financial process!

3. Mr. Chen Rui is the head of Weilai's automotive finance department! Weilai's financial process is that the loan cannot be reviewed after the intention deposit is paid! The loan cannot be reviewed after the large deposit is paid! The loan can only be reviewed after the car starts to be scheduled for production! Because the intention deposit can be refunded, I am afraid of trouble for the bank! There is also a small probability of risk with the large deposit! Therefore, the bank can only review the loan after the vehicle is scheduled for production!

The second thing is that in 2018, Li Bin and He Xiaopeng made a bet that everyone in the industry knew about: NIO would definitely deliver 10,000 vehicles before the end of 2018. In the end, Li Bin won beautifully.

But "Paper Child" implied that Li Bin "cheated": "Is it fun to direct and act by yourself? How many cars did the employees buy? How many cars did they return? Don't you have any idea?"

"Paper Child" said that NIO has an internal policy: employees buy cars, and then the company leases them back over a three-year period.

What does it mean? An employee buys a NIO ES8 for 460,000 yuan. The company will lease the car back at 15,000 yuan per month for the first three years, and return the car to the employee after three years (a total of 540,000 yuan in rent for three years). For the employee, after three years, not only did he get a car, but he also earned 80,000 yuan.

The third thing is the key to bringing out the "paper child": NIO started laying off employees this year.

As early as January 2, 2019, an anonymous respondent broke the news: NIO's Nanjing factory has laid off more than 100 workers, replaced several directors, and all R&D positions for the three electric systems have been frozen. Now business trips must be approved by the VP (Vice President). NIO is now cutting costs across the board.

"Paper Kids" said this about NIO: The glorious 2018 has passed, and a "killing the donkey after it has done its job" slaughter has begun in 2019!

Although this information is somewhat "explosive", we must not just listen to one side of the story. Among the replies to the "paper child" content, the most controversial part is about loan approval. A Zhihu user nicknamed "Cat Uncle is not Ma Uncle" claimed to be a financial institution. He said, "NIO is really not a good customer, so there are really few banks that approve credit for you, and it is normal that the conditions are harsh.

As for the users’ car loans, you basically disguised them as battery installments for the final payment of the car purchase. It was previously done by various sales companies, and this year it was transferred to the financial leasing company. It is understandable that the production re-examination is scheduled.”

First Electric immediately contacted Sun Fangyuan, the public relations director of NIO, trying to get an explanation and answer, but no reply was received from the time the question was raised to the time of publication within two hours.

First Electric WeChat connects with Sun Fangyuan

The answer to "纸孩" has been deleted

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.