Nio Inc. delivered 34,246 vehicles in October, down 15.2% from a year earlier and its first year-over-year decline since February 2024, as a slump at its Onvo brand outweighed growth at its premium Nio brand and its Firefly small-car brand.
The total was also down 8.5% from September’s 37,408, the company said late Saturday. October 2025 deliveries were a then-record 40,397. It was the group’s lowest monthly total since April, when it delivered 29,356 vehicles.
The Nio brand delivered 18,125 vehicles, its lowest monthly total since February, when it delivered 15,159. That marks an eight-month low for the premium brand, though it was still up 5.7% from 17,143 a year earlier.
Sequentially, the figures fell by 15% from 21,318 in September. The brand’s share of group deliveries fell to 52.9%, its smallest since November 2025.
Onvo delivered 8,383 vehicles, down 51.7% year over year, while Firefly delivered a record 7,738.
Q4 Target
Nio Inc. Founder and CEO William Li told analysts on the company’s second-quarter call in September that “we expect the passenger vehicle market to be able to recover in Q4 this year,” speaking through an interpreter. “With that, our target for Q4 is achieving an average volume of over 40,000 units per month.”
Chinese media reported the target as more than 40,000 deliveries in each month of the quarter. On that reading, October has already fallen short.
October’s 34,246 fell about 5,750 short of that level. To average 40,000 over the quarter, Nio Inc. would need about 85,750 deliveries in November and December combined, or about 42,900 a month.
The company has reached that monthly level only once. It delivered a record 48,135 vehicles in December 2025, and its best month this year was 40,597 in June. It has never delivered more than 40,000 vehicles in two consecutive months.
Matching its record fourth quarter of 2025, when it delivered 124,807 vehicles, would require about 90,600 deliveries in November and December, or roughly 45,300 a month.
If Nio Inc. averages exactly 40,000 a month in the quarter, its full-year total would be 420,301, up 28.9%.
Nio Inc. guided for 108,000 to 111,000 deliveries in the third quarter and delivered 109,178, within the range.
Li also told analysts that “we expect our annual volume growth to be around 40% to 50%, and we will maintain that for the mid and long term,” framing it as a medium- to long-term goal rather than a 2026 forecast.
Applied to 2025 deliveries of 326,028, that rate would mean 456,000 to 489,000 vehicles this year, requiring about 122,000 to 154,500 deliveries in November and December, or 61,000 to 77,000 a month.
Growth Streak Ends
Nio Inc. has delivered 334,547 vehicles so far this year, up 38.5% from the same period of 2025 and already above its 2025 total of 326,028. Growth slowed from about 49% after nine months.
Every month from March 2024 through September 2026 had shown year-over-year growth, a run of 31 months, according to the company’s monthly figures. October broke that streak mainly because of Onvo, whose deliveries fell by about 9,000 units from a year earlier as it lapped the L90 SUV’s strong launch months in 2025.
The Nio brand contributed 52.9% of October’s total, Onvo 24.5% and Firefly 22.6%, the highest share for the small-car brand since it began deliveries in April 2025.
Nio Brand
The Nio brand’s 2026 deliveries have held in a narrow range of about 19,000 to 22,500 a month since March, after a weak start of 20,894 in January and 15,159 in February, when the Lunar New Year holiday fell. October was the first month below 19,000 since February.
The brand has delivered 200,113 vehicles in the first ten months of the year, 59.8% of the group’s total.
The company said the ES8 flagship SUV reached its 160,000th delivery on October 23 and ranked first among large SUVs and vehicles priced around 400,000 yuan ($60,200) in China from January to October. Nio’s new factory began building the latest ES8 last year.
The latest 10,000 units took 33 days after the 150,000th delivery on September 20, the slowest 10,000-vehicle stretch since the model’s first, according to Nio’s milestone dates. The ES8 had topped 10,000 deliveries for a third straight month in September. The company did not give an October figure for the model.
The company also said the ES9 has ranked first among battery-electric models priced around 500,000 yuan ($75,300) for four consecutive months.
Li said on the September call that the Nio brand plans to launch new products from its 5 and 6 series product lines next year, which include the ES6 and EC6 SUVs and the ET5 sedan and ET5 Touring wagon.
Onvo and Firefly
Onvo’s year-earlier figure of 17,342 was its best month yet, as the L90 large SUV ramped up. Onvo’s October figure was its lowest since April and its fifth straight monthly decline, after it had fallen for four straight months through September following a peak of 12,029 in May. The brand sells three SUVs, the L60, L80 and L90.
Firefly, which sells a single small car, set a monthly record for the second straight month, up from 7,327 in September and 30.9% from 5,912 a year earlier. It launched a bigger battery on October 23, lifting the car’s range to 348 miles on China’s CLTC cycle.
Li said on the call that Onvo will launch “a major strategic new product” next year, while Firefly will “keep this single model strategy” with special editions and technology upgrades.
Market Context
China’s passenger-car retail sales fell 26% year over year to 1.145 million units from October 1 to 25, according to the China Passenger Car Association. New energy vehicle retail sales fell 13% to 753,000 units, the association said.
The association will publish brand-level October data later this month.
In its September rankings, the association placed Nio Inc. 13th among carmakers by new energy vehicle wholesale volume, at 37,408 units, matching the company’s own figure. Its domestic retail sales were 37,231 units, the association said.
Among rivals, XPeng delivered a record 50,237 vehicles in October, Leapmotor a record 106,127 and Li Auto 29,025, according to the companies.
Nio Inc.’s US-listed shares closed at $3.21 on Friday, their lowest close since April 2025, and are down about 37% this year. They are about 95% below their all-time high of $66.99, set in January 2021.
The company has not announced the date of its third-quarter earnings report.
Outside China, Nio Inc. registered 238 vehicles across eight European markets in September. October figures will become known later this month.
