BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle

(EV) startup Nio has set the starting price of the new

version of its ET7 sedan at 428,000 yuan ($59,063), its chief

executive said on Thursday.

Deliveries of the ET7 are near 30,000 units since deliveries

started at the end of March 2022, Nio CEO William Li said,

calling the car China's best-selling electric sedan priced above

400,000 yuan.

The new version of the sedan enables seamless screen

mirroring and synchronisation on both iOS and Android devices,

Li said during an event on the first media day of the Beijing

auto show.

Nio delivered 30,053 vehicles in January-March, down 3.2%

from a year earlier, faring much worse than other EV startups

such as Huawei-backed Aito, Li Auto ( LI ) and LeapMotor

which posted double-digit or even triple-digit jumps

in first-quarter deliveries.

The money-losing automaker, which sells cars in China and

Europe through self-owned stores, revealed plans in November to

cut its workforce by 10% as it improves efficiency and reduces

costs in the face of growing competition.

Earlier this month, Nio founder Li called for openness in a

rare speech in the United States amid increasing tension between

China and the West over Chinese EV exports.

To supplement overseas income, Chinese EV companies are

increasingly licensing out their technology. In February, Nio

announced a technology licensing deal with EV startup Forseven,

a unit of Abu Dhabi-based investment vehicle CYVN.

($1 = 7.2464 Chinese yuan renminbi)