- The third-generation ES8 is expected to reach its 150,000th delivery this month, and demand remains very strong.
- Nio is confident that the ES9 will be a strong seller; more than three-quarters of ES9 customers are from outside the Nio community.
Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) released its second-quarter results today and subsequently held an analyst call.
Below are the key takeaways from the call, with the latest updates at the top.
Ren Shaoqing will launch a startup in the field of physical AI, and Nio will support him as a strategic shareholder. Ren will also continue to serve as the head of Nio’s smart driving division, overseeing the technical direction and long-term strategy for autonomous driving.
This arrangement allows Nio to maintain strategic investments in the fields of embodied intelligence and physical AI while focusing on its core business, without impacting its P&L.
In the third and fourth quarters, Nio aims to keep its non-GAAP SG&A as a percentage of revenue between 10% and 11%.
Nio’s fifth-generation battery swap station offers further cost improvements over the fourth-generation version, particularly in materials. Excluding batteries, power supply and other expenses, it costs 1.4 million yuan, 100,000 yuan less than a fourth-generation station.
Discussions and negotiations on external battery-swap partnerships are underway. The technology is also well suited to robotaxis, and partnerships will generally be structured around access fees. Further details will be disclosed later.
Nio offers new car owners a free 5-year subscription to its driver-assistance features, while used-car owners can subscribe for 380 yuan per month; the subscription rate is close to 20%.
Although the user base for driver-assistance features is still relatively small, it generates tens of millions of yuan in revenue. In the long term, subscription revenue will be a significant source of income for Nio.
Starting in March of this year, costs have risen across the board, from memory to batteries. In the second quarter, the average cost per vehicle increased by about 14,000 yuan compared to the end of last year, which has put significant pressure on gross profit.
In the second half of the year, Nio anticipates the risk of continued increases in material costs, which are expected to range from extra 2,000 to 3,000 yuan per vehicle on average.
The company will continue to take appropriate measures, with the overall goal of maintaining vehicle margins in the third and fourth quarters at levels similar to those in the second quarter.
Onvo will launch a strategic new product next year to expand its product lineup. Firefly will continue to offer only one model, but will continue to release special editions from time to time.
The average transaction price for Onvo vehicles exceeded 240,000 yuan ($35,390).
Onvo products have very strong overall competitiveness; the main challenge at present is brand awareness.
Onvo’s current brand awareness is comparable to that of Nio five or six years ago. Moving forward, the company will adopt more and more proactive approaches to increase Onvo’s reach among the public.
The third-generation ES8 is expected to reach its 150,000th delivery this month, and demand remains very strong.
Nio is confident that the ES9 will be a strong seller; more than three-quarters of ES9 customers are from outside the Nio community.
Brand reputation plays a greater role in Chinese consumers’ car-buying decisions, and Nio has already established a strong presence in the minds of consumers in the premium all-electric vehicle market.
William Li said that all-electric vehicles have become the mainstream powertrain option in the Chinese market, and brand reputation has become a key factor for consumers when choosing a product.
Nio recorded adjusted profit from operations of 206.9 million yuan in the second quarter, about 3.1 times the first-quarter figure.
($1 = 6.7809 yuan)
