HONG KONG, March 12, 2026, 21:33 HKT
NIO shares in Hong Kong added 3.2% to HK$44.90 on Thursday, notching another advance in the wake of its first-ever quarterly profit. The Chinese EV maker also signaled it could reach break-even, or end its losses, by 2026. Shares had surged 14% the previous day.
This is coming to a head now for NIO; after years chasing delivery numbers, the company is under pressure to show those can translate into consistent profits. Fourth-quarter results came in solid, but the stock’s rally faces new hurdles: a slackening China auto market, government subsidies drying up, and renewed caution over chip expenses.
Revenue for the fourth quarter jumped 75.9% to 34.65 billion yuan ($4.95 billion). Net profit landed at 282.7 million yuan, reversing the 7.11 billion yuan loss from the previous year. Deliveries surged as well, up 71.7% to 124,807 vehicles.
Vehicle margin, which captures per-car profit before overhead, climbed to 18.1% from 13.1%. Gross margin also improved, hitting 17.5% after tallying production costs, up from 11.7%. CFO Stanley Yu Qu described the quarter as a “major milestone in our operating performance.” GlobeNewswire
NIO is looking at deliveries between 80,000 and 83,000 vehicles in the first quarter, with revenue projected to land somewhere from 24.48 billion to 25.18 billion yuan. Founder and CEO William Li pointed to the quarter’s profitability as proof of both the company’s technology and its underlying business model—calling it the beginning of a fresh growth stage.
Things looked shakier for NIO on Wall Street. After Tuesday’s earnings-fueled spike, the company’s U.S.-traded shares settled at $5.47 on Wednesday, slipping from $5.70. That’s a pullback suggesting some investors remain skeptical about the durability of the turnaround.
Management dialed up the caution after highlighting supply chain strains. “Memory chip is indeed a problem,” Li acknowledged, adding that, “in worst cases,” production could be brought to a standstill by shortages. Still, NIO doesn’t intend to hike prices—even as pricier EVs are absorbing an extra 6,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per vehicle in costs. Reuters
No boost from the wider market here. In February, China’s wholesale auto sales slipped 15%, with domestic demand off by 34%. For electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, sales tumbled 30% across the first two months of 2026. The pace of competition isn’t letting up: BYD rolled out a new Blade Battery just last week—claiming a 20% to 97% charge in under 12 minutes. Not much optimism from Macquarie’s Eugene Hsiao, either, who flagged the tough environment and said a recovery in market share won’t be easy.
NIO is leaning into overseas growth to counter some of the pressure. President Qin Lihong told reporters the company’s goal is to move thousands of vehicles abroad this year, ramping up international sales over the next two or three years. But management flagged new obstacles — EV incentives are waning, electricity prices in Europe keep rising, and tariffs remain a wildcard. Even so, NIO booked a full-year 2025 net loss of 14.94 billion yuan; one clean quarter won’t be enough to move the stock decisively.
