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Chinese EV maker NIO suspends production amid new COVID-19 outbreak
Updated 22:49, 10-Apr-2022
CGTN
A NIO's battery-swap station in Shanghai, China, December 31, 2021. /CFP

A NIO's battery-swap station in Shanghai, China, December 31, 2021. /CFP

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker NIO has suspended production due to a recent outbreak of COVID-19 across the country that disrupted its supply chain, according to a statement on Saturday.

The carmaker's supply chain partners in Jilin Province, Jiangsu Province, Shanghai and other places have successively ceased production since March and have not yet resumed, said NIO on its mobile app. 

"Because of this, NIO has had to suspend car production," said the Shanghai-headquartered company, adding that many deliveries of the EVs will be delayed.

The carmaker also announced a price rise on Sunday. The prices for three models – ES8, ES6 and EC6 – will be increased by 10,000 yuan ($1,571) from May 10 this year, and the prices of the ET7 and ET5 models will stay the same, the company said in a separate statement on Sunday.

China is currently fighting its biggest wave of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since it contained the initial outbreak in Wuhan in 2020. The recent quick spread of the Omicron variant in the country's financial center, Shanghai, has put the city under practical lockdown.

Since Jilin and Shanghai are major manufacturing bases for auto part makers and automakers, the epidemic outbreak has hit China's auto supply chain hard.

According to Reuters, U.S. automaker Tesla has suspended production at its Shanghai factory since March 28, despite initial plans to resume production on April 4.

Similarly, Volkswagen had said its joint venture plant with FAW Group in Changchun, Jilin, would be shut down from mid-March to April 5, but it still hasn't reopened as yet. 

The German carmaker's another Chinese joint venture, SAIC Volkswagen, has closed its Shanghai plant since April 1.

Read more: Chinese EV markers Xpeng, Nio, Li Auto make solid delivery in March

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