Chinese EV maker NIO’s US subsidiary has recently signed a ten-year lease on an office building in San Jose, California, effectively doubling the footprint of its current headquarters to more than 200,000 square feet (18,580 square meters).
The transaction has sparked rumors that the company is moving closer to officially launching sales of its vehicles in North America, although there’s no official information regarding that.
According to a report from Mercury News picked up by Electrek, NIO has signed a ten-year lease for a 201,500 sq ft (18,720 sq m) property located at 3151 Zanker Road in San Jose, California. The lease was brokered by real estate company Colliers, which noted that the new US headquarters will support NIO’s research and digital development, testing, assembly, warehousing, and operations.
NIO USA currently operates from an 85,000 sq ft (7,896 sq m) building (pictured above) located on the same block as its new location, at 3200 North First Street. It’s not clear when staff will move into the new office building, but NIO USA will exit at some point the existing headquarters building.
Gallery: NIO ET5
The Zanker Road rental deal represents a significant local expansion for NIO USA’s operations, with the new headquarters expected to be the place from where the Chinese company will coordinate its expansion into the US market.
Besides China, NIO currently sells its EVs in Norway, but plans to expand to 25 countries and regions by 2025, as disclosed during the annual NIO Day celebration in December 2021. At the said event, the company showed a map on screen with several markets highlighted including western Europe, China, Japan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
The US market is definitely on NIO’s radar, and recent job postings on LinkedIn in San Jose, including for Head of User Infrastructure Construction & Readiness, suggest the company is working on a US launch.
The requirements for the said position suggest NIO is working hard on launching sales in the United States.
The Business & Corporate Development Team at NIO USA is responsible for the strategy, planning and execution of NIO’s Go-To-Market for the Americas. This is a strategic corporate initiative, sponsored by the CEO & CFO, and comes with high visibility and tall expectations!
As the Head, User Infrastructure Construction & Readiness, you will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery of key NIO infrastructure in the Americas, to support NIO’s business model and user experiences. NIO’s infrastructure must be strategically located, built in compliance with local standards, and adhere to NIO’s global expectations. You will lead the collaboration with world-class internal experts and external partners to have that infrastructure built out from scratch to scale in the Americas.
