Nio expects fourth quarter vehicle sales to exceed 30 billion yuan ($4.27 billion), the EV maker’s founder and CEO William Li said during an offline event with customers in China.
The company’s Hong Kong-listed shares jumped 4.89% on Monday to HK$40.32, buoyed by Li’s comments and also a report from local media 36kr indicating Nio will increase its reliance on batteries from CATL, the world’s largest battery maker and a Nio investor.
“For the fourth quarter, in terms of our sales, our officially announced single-month procurement figures, as a preliminary guidance, should exceed 30 billion yuan,” Li said when asked about the company’s sales revenue outlook.
The figure would represent a sequential increase of more than 56% from the third quarter, when Nio reported vehicle sales of 19.202 billion yuan on deliveries of 87,071 vehicles.
Revenue Breakdown
Nio reports revenue in two categories: vehicle sales and other sales.
In the third quarter, other sales totaled 2.592 billion yuan ($364 million), representing an increase of 31.2% year-over-year and a decrease of 9.8% from the prior quarter.
The company attributed the year-over-year increase to higher revenues from used car sales and technical research and development services, as well as growth in parts, accessories, and after-sales vehicle services driven by a larger user base.
Official Guidance
Nio‘s official fourth-quarter guidance, released with its third-quarter earnings, calls for total revenue between 32.758 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) and 34.039 billion yuan ($4.781 billion), representing an increase of 66.3% to 72.8% from the same quarter of 2024.
The company expects to deliver between 120,000 and 125,000 vehicles in the quarter, up 65.1% to 72% year-over-year — down from the previous target of 150,000 units.
“Deliveries of vehicles to be between 120,000 and 125,000 vehicles, representing an increase of approximately 65.1% to 72.0% from the same quarter of 2024,” Nio said in its Q3 2025 earnings report.
ES8 Ramp-Up
Li’s comments came as Nio delivered its 40,000th ES8, the third-generation SUV that has become the company’s best-selling model since launching in September.
In late November, Marketing Vice President Kang Kai suggested ES8 production could reach 20,000 units in December.
Co-founder and President Lihong Qin had previously said there was a 50% chance the company could produce over 15,000 ES8 units in December — a target set during Nio‘s annual event in September.
Strong Demand
Nio sold out its 2025 production run of 40,000 ES8 vehicles within minutes of Li opening orders and announcing final pricing on stage.
Although the company has not released exact figures, demand is estimated to have exceeded 100,000 orders based on projected delivery timelines, which reached a waiting period of 24 to 26 weeks.
According to Nio‘s website, the ES8 delivery waiting time has since decreased from 22 to 23 weeks in November to 20 to 21 weeks as of Monday.
Orders placed on Monday are expected to be delivered by mid May 2026.
The company delivered its first 40,000th ES8 just 100 days after launch.
As of the time of writing, Nio’s US-listed shares were trading 1.4% higher at $5.17 during Monday’s pre-market session.
