NIO Withdraws From Joint Venture With GAC Group

On August 23, HYCAN Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. made a change to its registration with China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce, showing that NIO has withdrawn from the list of shareholders. The electric vehicle firm had a shareholding ratio of about 4.46% prior to its withdrawal. At the same time, HYCAN added a new shareholder, Yaoyu Investment Holding Co., Ltd.

HYCAN, formerly known as GAC NIO, was jointly established in April 2018 by GAC Group and NIO Inc. At the beginning of 2021, following the withdrawal of Liao Bing, the founder and CEO of the joint venture, William Li, Chairman and CEO of NIO, also quit the JV and no longer served as its legal representative. Li Zhihong succeeded, and GAC NIO officially changed its name to HYCAN.

In terms of joint venture projects, besides GAC NIO, there was another JV called Changan NIO. However, William Li chose to withdraw, probably because these projects seem not to have a bright future. According to sales data released by the China Passenger Car Association, in July, the cumulative sales volume of HYCAN was less than 500 units, of which 444 were the HYCAN Z03 and only seven were HYCAN 007 model.

Changan NIO was established in July 2018, with NIO and Changan Automobile holding 45% of the shares respectively, and the remaining 10% of the shares are held by Changan and NIO executives and employees. However, in May 2021, Changan Automobile announced that its holding subsidiary, Changan NIO New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., had officially changed its name to Avatr Technology Co., Ltd., which turned into an intelligent electric vehicle company backed by Changan Automobile, Huawei and CATL.

SEE ALSO: NIO Is Developing Lithium Ferromanganese Phosphate and 4680 Batteries