Amidst a challenging economic climate, Nio’s CEO, William Li, has acknowledged the obstacles the company faces in the coming months. With an industry-wide drop in demand following subsidy cuts, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer anticipates a difficult November and an uncertain December.
Nio’s focus is on boosting production of its popular models, the Onvo L90 and the ES8, as it prepares to announce its delivery figures for November on December 1st. This comes after the company achieved a milestone in October, delivering 40,397 vehicles, marking the first time it exceeded the 40,000 mark in a single month.
Delivery Figures
For the fourth quarter, Nio has set a delivery goal of 120,000 to 125,000 vehicles, which means it aims to deliver between 79,603 and 84,603 units in November and December combined. Li had previously stated that the company was on track to reach a monthly delivery rate of 50,000 units by the year’s end.
Industry Faces Reality Check on Demand
During a press session with Chinese media, Li stated, “Because Nio has some backlog, our situation is relatively better, but November will still be tough, and December remains uncertain.” He further explained that the industry was unprepared for the decline in demand observed in October, which led to a significant drop in new orders.
Li highlighted that many companies are not ready to cope with the downturn, mistakenly expecting an end-of-year surge that is unlikely to happen. He pointed out that the anticipated pull-forward demand, driven by customers seeking to benefit from subsidies before they reduce in January 2026, did not materialize as expected.
Nio Maintains Price Stability Strategy
Despite these challenges, Nio intends to maintain stable pricing. Li emphasized, “Our current strategy is to keep prices stable and avoid disorderly changes.” He noted that demand remains the principal challenge in the final quarter, rather than supply issues.
Li mentioned that the backlog for models like the new ES8 provides some buffer against the market’s overall weakness. “Actually, few models in the market still have sizable backlogs like the new ES8. The real challenge in Q4 is demand,” he added.
Nio is making efforts to maximize ES8 deliveries before the year’s end, with current orders having a delivery wait time of 22-23 weeks, as shown on the Nio App. Each additional unit delivered this year offers a financial incentive of RMB 15,000 ($2,100) due to the impending subsidy reduction.
In the same media session, Li also expressed interest in exploring opportunities within the robotics industry, particularly in integrating battery swapping technology that Nio has been developing. More details can be found here.
Original Story at eletric-vehicles.com