Nio‘s workforce shrank by more than 10,000 people in 2025, the company’s annual report filed with US regulators on Friday revealed.
The Shanghai-based EV maker ended the year with 35,032 full-time employees, 10,603 fewer than the 45,635 reported at the end of 2024, the filing showed.
Throughout 2025, EV exclusively reported on job reductions that affected not only Nio’s headquarters team in China but also its European and US operations.
The disclosure marks the first time the company has revealed the scale of the job cuts, which were never quantified in its quarterly earnings releases.
The figure represents the sharpest single-year workforce reduction in Nio’s history.
Nio company had expanded aggressively during 2024, adding nearly 12,800 employees from the 32,820 it had at the end of 2023, as it developed the Onvo and Firefly sub-brands alongside a refreshed Nio-brand lineup.
The trajectory over the company’s full public history, compiled by EV from every annual report since Nio‘s 2018 IPO, shows the scale of the hiring and firing cycles.
Nio had 9,834 employees at end of 2018, before reducing the number to 7,442 by end of 2019 as the company fought for survival after its near-collapse and Hefei bailout.
The headcount has slightly increase to 7,763 in 2020 before a rapid ramp to 15,204 in 2021 as the EV maker debuted in Norway, its first international market.
The workforce nearly doubled in 2022 to 26,763 people and continued increasing to 32,820 in 2023 and a peak of 45,635 in 2024.
By the last day of 2025, Nio Inc. employed 35,032 people.
Geographic Breakdown
Nio disclosed a geographic breakdown of its workforce — separating China, North America, and Europe — in every annual report from its IPO through 2021.
The 2019 filing showed 377 employees in Northern California, 128 in Munich, and 38 in the United Kingdom, alongside 6,899 in China.
By 2021, the overseas workforce had grown to 205 in North America and 232 in Europe.
The company dropped the geographic split starting with the FY2022 filing and has not reinstated it since, even as its overseas operations first expanded and then contracted sharply.
The removal coincided with Nio’s aggressive entry into four new European markets in late 2022.
By contrast, EV reported in April 2025, citing internal sources, that Nio’s San Jose office had fallen to fewer than 100 employees — and the company subsequently suspended its US expansion entirely and laid off its American Chief Business Officer.
Where the Cuts Fell
The filing breaks down the remaining workforce by function as of the last day of 2025, and comparison with the 2024 and 2023 annual reports reveals the scale and distribution of the cuts.
User experience — which includes sales, marketing, and service — fell to 16,885 from 24,410 a year earlier, a reduction of 7,525 positions or 30.8%.
The function had grown from 17,172 at the end of 2023, meaning Nio hired aggressively into sales roles during 2024 only to reverse the expansion entirely and then some.
Product and software development dropped to 6,912 from 11,528, a cut of 4,616 positions or 40.0%.
This is the steepest proportional decline of any function and aligns with the 44.3% year-over-year decline in quarterly R&D expenses reported in Q4 2025.
The team had been roughly stable between 2023 (11,222) and 2024 (11,528), meaning the 2025 cuts represent a genuine structural reduction rather than the reversal of an overhiring cycle.
In October, EV exclusively reported the resignation of Benjamin Steinmetz, Nio’s product chief for the EMEA region, following the earlier departure of Nicola Marsala, head of the Southern Europe region.
Bernstein analyst Eunice Lee has recently flagged the R&D spending decline, warning it could leave Nio exposed as competitors accelerate investment.
Manufacturing rose to 9,653 from 7,441, an increase of 2,212 positions or 29.7%.
It was the only function that added headcount, reflecting the launch of two new brands — Onvo began deliveries in September 2024 and Firefly in April 2025 — and the ramp of the third-generation ES8 at Nio‘s new (and third) factory in Hefei.
At the end of 2023, manufacturing headcount stood at just 2,231, meaning the function more than quadrupled in two years as the company transitioned from a single-brand to a three-brand manufacturer.
General administration fell to 1,582 from 2,256, a reduction of 674 positions or 29.9%.
Revenue Per Employee
The workforce reduction came alongside a 33.1% increase in revenue to 87.49 billion yuan and a 46.9% jump in deliveries to 326,028 vehicles.
Revenue per employee rose to approximately 2.50 million yuan in 2025, up from roughly 1.44 million yuan in 2024 — a 73% improvement in productivity on a per-head basis.
Deliveries per employee followed a similar trajectory: 9.3 vehicles per full-time employee in 2025, up from 4.9 a year earlier.
The gains reflect both the job cuts and the delivery ramp across the three brands, despite missing the original sales target for 2025.
Nio delivered 178,806 vehicles under its premium brand, 107,808 under Onvo, and 39,414 under Firefly in 2025.
Organizational Restructuring
The filing’s risk factors section mentions the cuts directly.
Nio stated that it “conducted organizational restructuring to cut headcount in the past, which we believe has negatively affected our reputation, brand image and our ability to retain the remaining qualified staff and skilled employees.”
The company added that it “could undertake an organizational restructuring again in the future, the occurrence of which will pose negative implications on our competitive position, cost us qualified employees and subject us to potential employment lawsuits.”
During the fourth-quarter earnings call in March, CFO Stanley Qu attributed margin improvements in part to “organizational optimization,” a term the company used repeatedly throughout 2025 to describe the restructuring without disclosing headcount figures.
How the Cuts Unfolded
The filing confirms a headcount reduction that EV tracked in real time throughout 2025 through a series of exclusive reports — though the company never disclosed aggregate figures until this Friday’s filing.
In February 2025, CEO William Li denied social media rumours that Nio was laying off 50% of its workforce, telling employees that useful information “definitely pays” — but did not address the scope of the restructuring underway.
On March 10, EV reported that Nio was implementing sweeping cost-cutting measures and restructuring its operations, citing Chinese tech media outlet 36Kr.
The company had introduced a Cell Business Unit (CBU) mechanism aimed at shifting from a budget-driven model to a performance-oriented structure.
Projects including the Nio Phone smartphone division were among the most affected areas, while signature service offerings were placed under review.
Two days later, on March 12, EV exclusively reported that the job reductions had extended to Europe and the United States, with cuts impacting teams at both country and regional levels.
In June, EV exclusively reported that Nio had suspended its US expansion plans entirely and laid off its Chief Business Officer for the US organisation, Saurabh Bhatnagar — one of the longest-serving American executives at the company — along with the go-to-market team.
The decision was accelerated by worsening trade tensions under the Trump administration.
By December 2025, the cumulative effect was visible in Nio’s retail footprint. As EV reported in March 2026, the company ended 2025 with fewer Nio Houses than a year earlier — the first annual decline since the flagship showrooms began opening in 2017.
Going Concern Language
Despite the first-ever quarterly GAAP net profit of 282.7 million yuan in Q4 2025 and the first positive operating cash flow year, the filing retains going concern language.
Nio stated that its ‘ability to continue as a going concern is largely dependent on the successful implementation of management’s business plan.’ The company cited cumulative net losses of 20.72 billion yuan (2023), 22.40 billion yuan (2024), and 14.94 billion yuan (2025), and noted that operating cash flow had been negative in both 2023 and 2024 at 1.38 billion yuan and 7.85 billion yuan respectively.
The company said it had assessed the uncertainties and concluded it is ‘probable’ that its business plan will be effectively implemented and that available cash, short-term investments, operating cash flow, and credit facilities will be sufficient for the next twelve months.
As of December 31, Nio held 45.9 billion yuan ($6.6 billion) in cash, restricted cash, short-term investments, and long-term time deposits.
Other Disclosures
The filing revealed several data points not previously disclosed in quarterly releases, all of which can now be compared against the 2023 and 2024 annual reports.
Warranty reserves stood at 5.64 billion yuan ($781 million) as of December 31, 2025, up from 4.72 billion yuan ($647 million) a year earlier and 3.91 billion yuan ($551 million) at the end of 2023.
The 44% increase over two years reflects the growing cumulative fleet — Nio has recently surpassed one million total deliveries.
The patent portfolio grew to 6,404 issued patents and 3,246 pending applications, up from 5,693 issued and 4,122 pending at end of 2024 and 4,690 issued and 3,788 pending at end of 2023.
The number of issued patents rose 37% over two years, while pending applications declined 14% — suggesting Nio is converting applications into granted patents at a faster rate.
Approximately 40% relate to vehicle engineering and design, 35% to battery swapping, battery, and electric powertrain, and 25% to intelligent driving and digital technologies.
Capital expenditures fell for the second consecutive year to 6.63 billion yuan, down from 9.53 billion yuan in 2024 and 14.76 billion yuan in 2023 — a 55% decline over two years.
The reduction reflects the completion of major infrastructure buildouts including the third factory in Hefei and the peak deployment phase of the battery swap network.
The battery swap network reached 3,737 stations globally with over 96 million cumulative swaps, up from 3,054 stations at end of 2024 and 2,350 at end of 2023. More than 27,000 chargers were in operation.
The company added 683 stations in 2025, a slower pace than the 704 added in 2024.
The retail network stood at 173 Nio Houses (down from 180 at end of 2024 and 145 at end of 2023) and 393 Nio Spaces (down from 433 at end of 2024 and 335 at end of 2023).
The decline in Nio-brand physical stores — seven fewer Houses and 40 fewer Spaces than a year earlier — represents the first net reduction in the company’s retail footprint, even as 419 Onvo locations were added.
Service centers grew to 416 from 383 at end of 2024.
The 2026 Share Incentive Plan granted CEO William Li 248,454,460 restricted share units — representing 10% of total outstanding shares — divided into ten equal tranches tied to market capitalisation and net profit milestones, with a 12-year plan term.
Total cash compensation to all directors and executive officers was approximately $2.2 million for 2025.
