EV-maker NIO to launch flagship store in former Beijing steel plant

Leading Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO plans to open a flagship store in Shougang Industrial Park, a reclaimed steel plant in Beijing's western Shijingshan district. The space will also become the company's flagship store.

The announcement came after NIO and Chang'an Mills, an urban renewal landmark project inside the park, signed a deal introducing NIO House, the company's brand-new exhibition and experience center. NIO House looks to focus on consumers' needs and will consist of seven main areas such as libraries, café, family entertainment centers, and shared office spaces.

Over the years, Beijing's Shougang Industrial Park has attracted increased attention from numerous AI companies and is evolving into a cluster for new energy industries.

The park, which evokes Beijing's industrial past, is also home to the Big Air slope, one of the venues for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It has now emerged as a trending tourism site among online influencers due to its century-old industrial architecture and sci-tech facilities.

As the 2022 Winter Olympic Games approaches, the park has been equipped with advanced facilities such as self-driving cars and unmanned stores, offering citizens a refreshingly intelligent and digitalized living experience.

Back in February 2019, Beijing launched a demo zone inside the park for the application of intelligent connected vehicles. By 2022, more than 100 self-driving cars will be put into operation in the park and provide services for the Winter Olympic Games.

The park will be built into a self-driving-car-themed smart industrial complex by 2025 for the operation of thousands of self-driving cars to meet daily transportation needs and become a preliminary future transportation hub.

In the future, the Shougang Industrial Park will be built into the city's largest testing center for self-driving cars. It will also work to facilitate the industrialization of intelligent connected vehicles, build facilities for intelligent road networks, develop cloud technologies for transportation in megacities, introduce 5G-based Internet of Vehicles technology, and develop high-precision mapping technologies.