Morgan Stanley raised its Nio, Lucid and XPeng holdings to the largest on record in the third quarter and lifted its Li Auto stake for a fifth straight quarter, according to its portfolio update filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The bank held 31,244,270 Nio American depositary shares (ADS) at the end of September, up 14.0% from June and more than double the 14,721,369 it reported in March.
Its XPeng holding rose 16.7% to 11,188,425 ADS, and its Li Auto holding rose 29.7% to 6,020,450. Its Lucid stake nearly quadrupled to 5,643,893 shares.
The filing lists 45,241 positions worth $1.96 trillion, up from $1.89 trillion in June.
It covers the bank and 24 affiliated managers, among them its broker-dealer units, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Eaton Vance and Parametric.
Nio Stake Doubles Since March
The Nio position is the largest in Morgan Stanley’s quarterly reports since the company listed in New York in September 2018. The previous high was 28,215,881 ADS in March 2024.
Most of the increase came in the second quarter, when the holding rose 86.2% to 27,411,634 ADS. The bank added a further 3,832,636 in the third.
The value of the stake moved the other way. The filing valued the ADS at $107.2 million, or $3.43 each, down from $138.7 million at $5.06 in June. At Friday’s close they would be worth about $90.6 million.
Morgan Stanley also cut its holding of Nio convertible notes to $275,000 in principal from $3.23 million, the smallest note position in its reports.
It held $230,000 of the 3.875% convertible notes due 2029, down from $3.23 million, and $45,000 of the 4.625% notes due 2030, a series it did not report in June.
Nio’s ADS closed at $2.90 on Friday, according to Nasdaq data, their lowest close since April 9, 2020. They are down 43.1% this year and fell 32.2% in the third quarter.
Nio delivered 34,246 vehicles in October, down 15.2% from a year earlier. Deliveries reached 334,547 in the first 10 months, up 38.5%.
The company, which targets a 40-50% growth in annual vehicle deliveries, has not yet announced when it will report third-quarter results.
XPeng Holding Tops 11 Million
The XPeng holding passed the previous high of 10,749,800 ADS, set in March 2025. Like the Nio stake, it has more than doubled since March this year, when the bank reported 5,448,873. It had fallen to 5,092,322 in September 2025.
The filing valued the position at $107.0 million, or $9.56 each, almost level with the Nio stake. It was worth $126.9 million in June, when the bank held fewer ADS at a higher price.
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. They fell 27.8% in the third quarter.
The carmaker delivered a record 50,237 vehicles in October and plans to report third-quarter results on Monday, with a call at 7:00 a.m. ET.
Overseas deliveries reached a monthly high of 13,326 in October, and the company obtained a license on October 26 to run Level 4 robotaxi demonstration services in Guangzhou.
Founder and CEO He Xiaopeng said on the second-quarter earnings call on August 24 that he expected deliveries “to increase significantly in the fourth quarter,” with “monthly deliveries targeting more than 60,000 units.”
Primecap Management reported a larger XPeng position, 12,388,667 ADS, after cutting for a fifth straight quarter. UBS raised its XPeng holding by 52.0% to 8,479,308.
Li Auto
Morgan Stanley also raised its Li Auto holding by 29.7% to 6,020,450 ADS, a fifth straight quarterly increase. The stake has tripled from 2,000,891 a year earlier and is the largest since March 2025, when the bank held 8,176,164.
Renaissance Technologies reported 6,235,939 Li Auto ADS, slightly more than Morgan Stanley, while UBS cut its holding by 24.5% to 2,382,036.
Li Auto’s U.S.-listed shares 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. They slipped 3.2% in the third quarter.
Li Auto delivered 29,025 vehicles in October, including more than 3,000 of the new Li MEGA, and signed deals in five Asia-Pacific markets this month. Its board will meet on November 25 to approve third-quarter results, the company said on November 10.
Among Chinese robotaxi developers, the bank cut its WeRide holding by 15.3% to 4,367,390 ADS and kept its Pony.ai stake little changed at 2,925,609. Its holding in LiDAR maker Hesai rose 38.1% to 778,629 ADS.
Together, the bank’s Nio, XPeng and Li Auto ADS were valued at $282.5 million at the end of September, down from $320.1 million in June, although it held 16.4% more of them.
Lucid Stake at a Record
The Lucid holding of 5,643,893 shares is the largest in Morgan Stanley’s reports since Lucid’s 2021 listing, after adjusting for the company’s one-for-10 reverse stock split last year. The previous high was 4,487,208 shares at the end of 2025.
The filing valued the stake at $23.0 million, or $4.07 a share. At Friday’s close it would be worth about $16.7 million.
Lucid closed at $2.955 on Friday, a record low close, according to Nasdaq data. The shares are down 72.0% this year and fell 39.2% in the third quarter.
About two-thirds of the Lucid shares were held by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, the bank’s U.S. broker-dealer.
Tesla and Rivian Up, Uber Down
Morgan Stanley raised its Tesla holding by 7.5% to 41,777,151 shares, the most since June 2025. The filing valued the stake at $14.82 billion, down from $16.35 billion in June as the stock fell 15.6% in the quarter.
It is by far the bank’s largest carmaker holding. It remains below the bank’s peak of 45,379,105 shares in March 2025.
Tesla closed at $390.22 on Friday, down 13.2% this year from $449.72. At Friday’s close the stake would be worth about $16.30 billion.
The Rivian holding rose 13.6% to 13,073,024 shares, the largest since March 2025. The bank’s Rivian notes rose to $23.2 million in principal from $19.3 million.
The share holding remains below the 19,464,895 the bank reported at the end of 2024, its largest since Rivian’s 2021 listing. It equals about 0.9% of the 1,455,696,138 Class A shares Rivian reported outstanding on October 20.
Within the notes, the bank raised its 3.625% convertible notes due 2030 by 54.2% to $11.22 million and held $11.98 million of the 4.625% notes due 2029, little changed.
Rivian closed at $12.18 on Friday, down 38.2% this year from $19.71. Its 2026 closing high was $20.14 on July 6, and its closing low was $11.43 on October 26.
Uber went the other way. Morgan Stanley cut the holding by 6.5% to 68,091,321 shares, a third straight reduction and the smallest position since December 2019. It held 170,878,658 at the end of 2022.
The filing valued the Uber stake at $4.66 billion, down from $5.26 billion. Capital Group lifted its Uber holding to a high in the quarter. Morgan Stanley’s Lyft holding slipped 3.3% to 7,202,513 shares.
Among other carmakers, the bank cut Ford by 10.7% to 47,395,437 shares and General Motors by 14.9% to 11,931,735. Its Stellantis holding more than doubled for a second straight quarter, to 82,102,685 shares from 34,426,561.
The Ford cut reversed most of an 18.0% increase in the second quarter, while UBS doubled its Ford holding. The GM holding is the second-smallest the bank has reported in more than four years, after the 11,684,687 shares in March.
Other Holders Split on Nio
Large holders have moved in opposite directions on Nio. UBS nearly doubled its stake to 36,586,129 ADS, the largest among third-quarter filers so far, ahead of Morgan Stanley. Canada’s Mackenzie Financial raised its holding by 22.1% to 7,510,347.
BlackRock cut its Nio stake by 73.0% to 2,555,823 ADS. JPMorgan Chase cut its position by 97.7% to 62,998, and Renaissance Technologies reduced its holding by 60.9% to 6,313,800, from 16,161,048.
Marshall Wace, which also filed on Friday, reported no Nio ADS after holding 4,733,908 in June. Deutsche Bank sold down its Chinese carmaker positions in the quarter.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citadel had not filed their third-quarter reports as of Sunday. The deadline is Monday.
