Chinese EV maker Nio reported the highest debt ratio among listed automakers in the country in the first quarter of 2025, as high leverage continues to define the industry amid increasing price competition.
Over the last three years, Nio, the Stellantis-backed Leapmotor, XPeng, and the state-owned carmaker GAC reported the highest increases in debt ratio.
According to data from financial platform Wind, Nio’s debt ratio reached 92.55% as of the end of March, the highest among eleven Chinese automakers listed on domestic stock exchanges that had disclosed first-quarter figures.
Nio reported last week that its total liabilities reached 90.85 billion yuan ($12.63 billion) as of March 31, while total assets stood at 98.16 billion yuan ($13.65 billion), according to its first-quarter financial statement.
The debt ratio, defined as total liabilities divided by total assets, measures the extent to which a company finances its operations through debt rather than equity.
A high debt ratio suggests the company relies heavily on borrowed funds, which can increase financial risk by raising repayment pressure and limiting flexibility during economic downturns.
Nio reported an operating loss of $884.4 million for the January–March period, its third-largest since going public in 2018 and a 19% increase from the same period last year.
Huawei’s EV partner Seres Group followed at 76.83%, while BAIC BluePark, JAC, and BYD each reported debt ratios above 70%.
GAC Group remained the least leveraged among the sample, with a debt ratio of 43.49%. Leapmotor was excluded from the comparison as it had not released its first-quarter report as of the time of the study.
Regarding US automakers, General Motors and Ford also reported debt ratios above 70%, while Tesla operated with significantly lower leverage at 39.42%.
Full-year 2024 figures show that leverage was even higher at most firms.
Nio and Seres again led the industry with ratios above 87%, while BYD, Leapmotor, BAIC BluePark, and JAC all remained above the 70% threshold.
From 2022 to 2024, Nio, Leapmotor, XPeng, and GAC each recorded increases in their debt ratios of more than 10 percentage points. Although BYD and BAIC BluePark saw modest declines, both remained highly leveraged.
BAIC BluePark, which reported a debt ratio above 70%, announced in February that it had renamed itself BAIC Arcfox NEV.
BYD’s debt ratio peaked at 77.91% in the third quarter of 2024 before declining to 74.64% by year-end.
In late May, BYD’s head of brand and public relations, Li Yunfei, rejected comparisons to Evergrande, saying the Shenzhen-based automaker did not have the industry’s highest payables, accounts payable-to-revenue ratio, or payment cycle.
Earlier this year, concerns over high payables and extended payment cycles putting pressure on suppliers’ liquidity emerged as a widely discussed issue across the industry.
In 2024, the average accounts payable turnover among 12 sampled automakers was 171.6 days. BAIC BluePark, XPeng, and Nio reported the longest cycles at 247.7, 232.8, and 194.9 days, respectively.
Geely, GAC, and BYD were below the industry average, with turnover periods of 129.67, 107.78, and 127.23 days.
China produced 10.17 million vehicles between January 1 and April 30, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CPCA) showed.
Production rose 13% when compared to the first four months of 2024, while sales increased 11% to 10.06 million units.
Sales of new energy vehicles (NEV), which include both fully electric and hybrid models, jumped 46% to 4.3 million units.
