Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Xia Qinghua, Onvo‘s Head of User and Service Operations of Nio’s sub-brand Onvo, said on Saturday the EV maker has seen “a clear rebound in orders” as demand concerns continue.
After delivering more than 10,500 vehicles in December, monthly volumes fell to 5,912 units in January and 4,049 in February, according to company data. Over the next nine months, the brand will launch two new SUVs with the first one planned to be unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show later this month.
March Sales
Insurance registration figures show Onvo sold 3,570 vehicles in the period from March 3 to 23 — well below the pace needed to meet its initial target of more than 20,000 deliveries for the month. Full March delivery data is expected early Tuesday.
Nio, the parent company, has since lowered its expectations. The electric vehicle maker said it expects to deliver between 41,000 and 43,000 vehicles across its Nio and Onvo brands in the first quarter of 2025.
After delivering 13,863 vehicles in January and 13,192 in February, that implies March deliveries will range between 13,945 and 15,945 units — significantly below the target for Onvo alone.
“Recently, there has been a clear rebound in orders,” Xia Qinghua wrote on Saturday. “Thank you to our car owner friends for your trust and support, especially during this time when we’re facing so much criticism. We’ll continue to work hard and provide good service!”
Backlog Cleared
Earlier this month, Onvo CEO Alan Ai said the brand had cleared its entire order backlog shortly after the Chinese New Year, leaving new orders as the only source of deliveries.
“After the holiday, most deliveries were from new orders rather than the backlog,” Ai said in a recent interview. “At that time, we still had a huge order backlog. But in mid-December, cancellations accelerated due to the factors I mentioned.”
He added that the company realized the March target was at risk around the time of the Chinese New Year in late January.
Sales Disappointing
Nio founder and CEO William Li also admitted the brand’s underperformance on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, saying Onvo’s “sales performance starting this year didn’t meet our expectations.”
Li cited four reasons for the miss: limited brand awareness, sales network constraints, issues with the sales team, and insufficient deployment of battery swap infrastructure.
The company is preparing to introduce two additional Onvo models later this year. The L90 SUV is expected to be unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show in April and go on sale in the third quarter. A third model will be revealed by year-end, Nio President and co-founder Lihong Qin said last weekend.
