The founder of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio, Li Bin, confirmed during an earnings call on Wednesday that his company is carrying out a downsizing plan that was first rolled out in March, under which 3% of its 9,800 global employees will be sacked in the first half of this year, online news portal Sina.com reported.
To improve the company’s operational efficiency in the long run, Li said Nio also needs to improve employees’ output, in addition to trimming the staff count.
In Silicon Valley, the car company already laid off 70 employees in two of its offices in early April.
Nio sold 3,989 units of its ES8 flagship SUV in the first quarter of this year, down from 7,980 units in the last three months of 2018. It predicts sales to decrease even further in the second quarter.
The company booked USD 390.9 million in net losses, up 71.4% year-on-year.
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