Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Nio has announced that it could slash further jobs to reduce costs, just weeks after the unprofitable company said it would cut 10% of its workforce. 

Nio, founded in 2014 and widely regarded as China’s Tesla, has been posting consecutive losses and failing on its sales targets.

Nio asked some departments to prepare reserve lay-off lists following its previous 10% cut announcement, which could bring the total workforce slashing to somewhere between 20% to 30%, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. 

The cuts will mainly be focused on departments requiring heavy investment that are not bringing any quick returns to the company.

William Li, founder and CEO of Nio, said the cuts were “a tough but necessary decision against fierce competition” in a letter to staff explaining the initial job cuts.

The news comes as active EV job postings in China remain significantly lower than the in US.

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In the last three months, active EV job postings in China peaked in October with a total of 58, according to GlobalData's jobs analytics database.

This number fell in November with active EV job postings totalling just 33.

In the US, EV jobs also peaked in November over the past three months but totalled a significantly higher 1,187.

The US had the highest amount of active job postings in the EV industry globally throughout September, October and November.

In GlobalData's Thematic Research: Electric Vehicles (2022) report, the research company states that battery electric vehicles accounted for 6% of all new light vehicle production in 2021, up from 3% recorded in 2020 and a noticeable leap from just 0.5% in 2016.

In 2025, the research company predicts that EV production will have risen four-fold to over 15.5m units, accounting for 15.1% of total market volume.

By 2028, global battery electric vehicle production should hit 24.1 million units, accounting for 22.5% of the total light vehicle market, according to the report.

Our signals coverage is powered by GlobalData’s Thematic Engine, which tags millions of data items across six alternative datasets — patents, jobs, deals, company filings, social media mentions and news — to themes, sectors and companies. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed.