BlackRock cut its Nio stake by 73% in the third quarter and raised its Li Auto holding by 78%, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the world’s largest asset manager reshuffled its small positions in U.S.-listed Chinese EV makers.
It held 2,555,823 Nio American depositary shares (ADS) at the end of September, down from 9,461,793 three months earlier.
Nio shares reached their all-time high in January 2021, with the stock hitting $66.99. BlackRock held more than 60 million Nio shares in every report from September 2021 to June 2024, peaking at 66,794,714 in June 2023.
It also cut its XPeng stake by 23.3% to 1,709,180 ADS, while its Li Auto holding rose to 1,633,400 ADS from 915,386.
The firm’s Chinese EV holdings are small next to its U.S. positions. It raised its Tesla, Rivian and Lucid stakes to record levels in the same filing, holding 214,215,472, 65,387,321 and 12,737,699 shares respectively.
The firm filed its third-quarter portfolio update on Friday, listing 50,911 holdings worth $6.79 trillion and covers BlackRock and 30 other included managers.
Nio Holding
BlackRock sold a net 6,905,970 Nio ADS in the quarter. Its holding had peaked this year at 10,728,059 ADS in March, after rising from 5,582,717 at the end of 2025. That March figure was its largest since June 2024.
The 73.0% reduction is the largest percentage cut since the third quarter of 2024 and the second straight quarterly decline, after an 11.8% cut in the second quarter.
The September figure is not the firm’s lowest. It reported 2,206,792 ADS a year earlier, in September 2025.
The filing valued the remaining ADS at $8.77 million, or $3.43 each, down from $47.88 million at $5.06 in June. At Friday’s close, they would be worth about $7.4 million.
The stake equals about 0.1% of the 2,505,667,022 shares Nio reported outstanding on March 31.
While cutting its ADS, BlackRock raised its holding of Nio convertible notes to $26.65 million in principal from $22.85 million. That is the largest Nio note position in its filings since it first reported one, of $4.9 million, in September 2024.
It held $13.5 million of the 3.875% notes due 2029, up from $11.3 million, and $13.15 million of the 4.625% notes due 2030, up from $11.55 million. Both are the largest positions in each series in its reports. Nio sold $500 million of each series in September 2023.
Nio’s Stock
Nio’s ADS closed at $2.90 on Friday, according to Nasdaq data, their lowest close since April 9, 2020.
The U.S.-listed shares are down 43.1% this year from $5.10 at the end of 2025.
Nio delivered 34,246 vehicles in October, down 15.2% from a year earlier, as sales at its Onvo family brand halved. It delivered 109,178 vehicles in the third quarter, within its guidance of 108,000 to 111,000.
Deliveries reached 334,547 in the first 10 months, up 38.5%. Founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li had said in March that Nio was confident of 40% to 50% growth this year, a range that would require more than 60,000 deliveries a month in November and December.
The company has not yet announced when it will report third-quarter results.
Other Holders Split
Large holders have moved in opposite directions. UBS nearly doubled its Nio stake to 36,586,129 ADS, the largest among third-quarter filers so far. Morgan Stanley, which filed on Friday, reported 31,244,270. Canada’s Mackenzie Financial raised its holding by 22.1% to 7,510,347.
JPMorgan Chase cut its stake by 97.7% to 62,998 ADS, and Renaissance Technologies reduced its holding by 60.9% to 6,313,800. Deutsche Bank sold down its Chinese carmaker positions in the quarter.
Moves in XPeng and Li Auto were also mixed. Deutsche Bank cut its XPeng holding by 93.5%, while JPMorgan raised its own about 33-fold to 1,410,977 ADS. Barclays raised its XPeng holding to a record and its Nio stake to the most since 2022, while cutting Li Auto.
Citigroup sold most of its XPeng position and also reduced its Li Auto holding.
Vanguard reported no Nio, XPeng or Li Auto shares in any of its seven third-quarter filings.
Li Auto Holding Climbs
BlackRock’s Li Auto holding of 1,633,400 ADS is its largest since September 2022, and the 78.4% rise is the biggest percentage increase in its 21 quarterly reports since September 2021.
BlackRock held 26 million to 30 million Li Auto ADS from September 2021 to September 2022. From the end of 2022 until June this year, the holding ranged between 826,194 and 1,336,406.
Li Auto delivered 29,025 vehicles in October, down 8.6% from 31,767 a year earlier, and its board will meet on November 25 to approve third-quarter results, the company said on November 10.
U.S.-listed shares of the Chinese carmaker closed at $11.64 on Friday, down 31.2% this year from $16.93. They hit a 2026 closing high of $20.02 on May 13 and a closing low of $10.69 on October 2.
XPeng Stake Shrinks
The XPeng holding was the smallest since March 2025, when BlackRock reported 1,696,039 ADS. It was the second straight cut, after a 23.5% reduction in the second quarter.
It had reached 2,912,197 ADS in March this year, the most since September 2022. BlackRock held about 20 million XPeng ADS in each report from September 2021 to September 2022, before the holding fell 96.2% to 756,403 at the end of 2022.
The filing valued the September stake at $16.34 million.
The carmaker delivered a record 50,237 vehicles in October, up about 20% from a year earlier, and is set to report third-quarter results on Monday.
XPeng’s ADS closed at $9.37 on Friday, down 53.8% this year from $20.28. Their 2026 closing high was $21.71 on January 12, and they closed at $9.04 on October 30, the lowest since September 2024.
BlackRock held 1,550,153 shares of Geely-controlled Polestar, up 2.8% from June. Polestar’s shares closed at $3.24 on Friday, their lowest close this year.
It cut its stake in Guangzhou-based robotaxi developer WeRide by 21.1% to 2,958,496 ADS, a second straight reduction from 4,662,678 in March. Its Pony.ai holding fell 26.4% to 315,421 ADS from 428,856.
