Shanghai-based Nio brand announced on Sunday that it delivered 15,159 vehicles in February, a 65.8% jump from the 9,143 units recorded a year ago.
In January, the premium brand delivered 20,894 electric vehicles, more than doubling from the figures of the previous year.
These figures indicate that deliveries have dropped by 27.4% sequentially.
Production and sales are usually disrupted by the Chinese New Year Holiday period, making February one of the weakest months of the year.
China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA) recently warned that February would see “the year’s absolute trough,” as the nine-day holiday — the longest on record — left only 16 working days last month, three fewer than the previous year.
Additionally, companies are planning most launches for the post-holiday period, which contributes to “short-term volatility in both orders and deliveries.”
This includes the Nio Group, which is scheduled to unveil two new models in April — the upcoming flagship SUV Nio ES9 and the five-seat Onvo L80.
Last month, the group — which includes the premium Nio brand and the sub-brands Onvo and Firefly — registered 20,797 vehicles across its markets.
Deliveries rose by 57.6% year over year and dropped from January’s 27,182 units.
All-new ES8
In January, the all-new ES8 accounted for 17,646 out of the 20,894 units delivered by the brand, representing a 84.5% share.
Considering the group’s total, the SUV accounted for 64.9% of all registrations.
The delivery breakdown by model is usually posted in the second week of each month by the CPCA. As of Sunday morning, February figures for the ES8 model had not yet been disclosed.
Nio announced the delivery of its 60,000th all-new ES8 on January 31 and the 70,000th earlier this week.
Earlier this week, the company announced that it was facing supply chain disruptions due to a shortage of audio signal processing chips.
According to a post in the Nio app, affected vehicles will ship with a temporary workaround starting on March 2 (Monday).
Nio‘s co-founder and President Lihong Qin announced in late January that the new ES8 SUV has a gross margin of 20%, with an “average selling price on the showroom floor is over 400,000 yuan [$58,300].”
The margin level of Nio‘s best-selling model was a key factor in the Shanghai-based company achieving its first profitable quarter ever, as announced earlier last month.
Upcoming Models
With the upcoming ES9 SUV, Nio aims for an average selling price exceeding 500,000 yuan ($), with profit per unit potentially topping 100,000 yuan ($14,600).
The ES9 will take over as Nio’s flagship SUV from the ES8, which has held that position since becoming the brand’s first mass-produced vehicle in May 2018.
Expected to become the largest SUV in China, the model will be unveiled on April 10, ahead of the Beijing Auto Show later that month.
Last week, management confirmed the timeline and revealed that the model’s official launch event will be held later in May, with deliveries scheduled to start on June 1.
In the same event, Nio‘s President revealed that the upcoming Onvo L80 will be released in late April, with deliveries expected to begin in May.
