NEW YORK, January 3, 2026, 07:21 ET — Market closed
• NIO’s U.S.-listed shares finished higher on Friday after the company posted record December and quarterly deliveries.
• The year-end delivery data is a key read-through on demand for China’s EV makers heading into 2026.
• CEO William Li flagged an imminent production milestone and infrastructure expansion plans for the year ahead.
NIO Inc’s U.S.-listed shares rose 0.78% to $5.14 at Friday’s close, after the Chinese electric-vehicle maker reported record deliveries for December and the fourth quarter.
The update matters because deliveries — vehicles handed over to customers, a closely watched proxy for sales — are often the first hard datapoint investors get on demand momentum as a new year starts. For NIO, the figures also put a spotlight on whether scale across three brands can translate into better margins and cash flow.
The read-through comes as investors debate the direction of global EV demand after Tesla’s 2025 deliveries fell for a second straight year, ceding the annual sales crown to China’s BYD amid tougher competition and the end of U.S. EV tax credits. Tesla is set to report fourth-quarter results on Jan. 28.
NIO said it delivered a record 48,135 vehicles in December, up 54.6% from a year earlier, with 31,897 under the NIO brand, 9,154 under ONVO and 7,084 under Firefly. Fourth-quarter deliveries reached 124,807 and full-year 2025 deliveries totaled 326,028, taking cumulative deliveries to 997,592, the company said. It also said its All-New ES8 crossed 40,000 cumulative deliveries; the ES8 is a battery-electric vehicle (BEV), meaning it runs only on a battery.
Founder and CEO William Li told employees the company was nearing another milestone. “In just a few days, we will celebrate the rollout of our one-millionth mass-produced vehicle,” Li said in an internal letter. Li said NIO plans to add more than 1,000 battery swap stations in 2026 and begin large-scale deployment of fifth-generation stations in the second quarter; battery swapping lets drivers exchange a depleted pack for a charged one at a station. He also said the company would use Firefly as its “pioneering brand” for overseas expansion to 40 countries and regions in 2026. CnEVPost
NIO’s delivery report landed alongside December updates from other China EV makers that investors use for competitive checks. XPeng said it delivered 37,508 vehicles in December, while Li Auto reported 44,246 deliveries.
For NIO, investors have focused on the mix as much as the headline total, with attention on whether ONVO and Firefly volumes can scale without forcing deeper price cuts in the company’s premium lineup. Pricing pressure in China’s EV market has been a recurring theme, and delivery momentum alone has not settled profitability questions for the sector.
NIO last traded around $5.14, with a 52-week range of $3.02 to $8.02, according to Investing.com. Traders often treat the $5 level as a near-term line in the sand after the stock’s late-2025 rebound.
What investors watch next is whether the delivery surge shows up in earnings quality. Key watch items include vehicle gross margin, operating expense discipline and cash burn, plus any update on the pace of new model launches and swap-station rollouts.
Before the next session, the stock is likely to take cues from broader EV sentiment, including read-through from Tesla and BYD headlines and risk appetite in U.S.-listed China ADRs. Volatility in the group often rises around delivery updates and major earnings reports.
NIO has not announced a date for its next quarterly results; Wall Street Horizon lists an unconfirmed March 20, 2026, window. Guidance around 2026 deliveries and the path to profitability is likely to drive trading more than the December spike itself.
