Premium electric vehicle brand Nio reported on Tuesday its first quarter earnings results, posting a year over year jump in gross profit, vehicle margin, and gross margin.
However, operating losses increased both year over year (19.0%) and sequentially (6.4%) to 6.418 billion yuan, equivalent to $884.4 million.
Automotive revenue jumped 18.6% to $1.37 billion from $1.16 billion in the same quarter last year, with the company citing “the increase in delivery volume, partially offset by the lower average selling price as a result of changes in product mix.”
Nio’s total revenue increased 21.5% from $1.37 billion a year earlier.
Net loss increased 30.2% year over year to $930.2 million but stood slightly below (5.1%) the last quarter of 2024.
Gross margin stood at 7.6%, up from the 4.9% reported in the first three months of 2024, but dropped from the 11.7% registered in the final quarter of last year.
Nio reported a gross profit of $126.7 million, nearly doubling (+88%) when comparing to the first three months of last year. However, it fell 60.2% from the last quarter of 2024.
In a statement, the company’s chief financial officer Stanley Yu Qu said that, starting from the second quarter, Nio “aims to achieve structural improvements in overall cost efficiency, with continued progress in operational performance.”
In the first three months of the year, Nio’s vehicle deliveries jumped 40% year over year but dropped 42% when compared to the final quarter, typically the strongest one of the year in the automotive industry.
The company delivered 42,094 electric vehicles in the first quarter including 27,313 from the core, premium Nio brand and 14,781 from its first sub-brand Onvo.
Firefly, the company’s newly launched sub-brand that rivals both BMW’s MINI and Smart, only began deliveries in late April.
Nio said it expects second quarter deliveries to range between 72,000 and 75,000 vehicles, representing a growth of between 25.5% and 30.7% when compared to the same period of 2024.
The premium brand Nio saw its deliveries fall over 31% both year over year (35.4%) and month over month (31.1%).
In May, Nio introduced updated versions of four of its most affordable models — the ES6, EC6, ET5, and ET5 Touring — as part of a product refresh. The lineup update will continue in August or September with the launch of the updated ES8.
Nio aims to double its annual vehicle sales in 2025, supported by the rollout of refreshed models, the launch of new SUVs (Onvo L80), the debut of its most affordable EV under the new Firefly sub-brand, and the arrival in new markets.
Immediately after the results were published, Nio shares were trading 1.42% lower at $3.47.
The stock has fallen 19.3% year to date and 35% over the past twelve months. Nio’s U.S.-listed shares reached a five-year low of $3.02 in April over missed sales targets and demand issues both in China and in Europe.
