Electric vehicle maker Nio will temporarily halt production at one of its factories in Anhui province because of a semiconductor shortage, becoming the first high-profile Chinese car manufacturer to succumb to the chip snarl that has silenced the factory lines of auto companies globally.
Nio’s plant will cease operations for five working days starting from March 29, the company said in a statement on Friday.
“The overall supply constraint of semiconductors has impacted the company’s production volume in March,” Shanghai-based Nio said. “The company expects to deliver approximately 19,500 vehicles in the first quarter, adjusted from previously released outlook of 20,000 to 20,500 vehicles.”
Auto makers the world over have expanded and extended production cuts that first began in late December to cope with a worsening global shortage of semiconductors. The coronavirus pandemic caused a surge in chip orders that are needed for smartphones, TVs and computers as people try to make extended life at home more bearable, leaving less capacity for a stronger-than-expected rebound in vehicle demand.
Recent weather-related disruptions of petrochemical supplies in the southern US and a fire at a chip making plant in Japan have exacerbated the shutdowns.
The company’s shares climbed more than 1,100 per cent in 2020, pulled higher by excitement around the prospects for growth in China’s EV market, which is the world’s biggest.
The investor enthusiasm for electric cars comes as Nio, along with Chinese rivals Xpeng and Li Auto consider second listings in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter.
As of January, Nio had delivered 82,866 electric cars in China since its first model came to market in June 2018. Its high-end sport-utility vehicles have proven a hit with wealthy consumers, helping to push Nio’s gross margin to 17.2 per cent in the fourth quarter.
But Nio posted a wider-than-expected loss in the quarter, a year after a government cash injection saved the company from bankruptcy.
Chief Executive William Li flagged at the release of the company’s latest results earlier this month that production capacity may be constrained by the global chip shortage.
While monthly capacity has risen to 10,000 units, production will remain at 7,500 “due to supply-chain limits, including the chip shortage,” he said earlier this month.
“Though we believe we are able to meet expected demand for the second-quarter, there’s indeed a higher risk.”
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Asia Cup Qualifier
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
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Schedule: Sep 15-28
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“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
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“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
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- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
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Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
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Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
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Sector: Technology/Social media
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