NIO is no longer arrogant.

Despite an annual sales growth of 47% and having just achieved the milestone of producing 1 million mass - produced vehicles, Li Bin, the founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, described NIO's current state as "weak" when attending a media communication meeting on January 6th.

He stated that although NIO, having reached the 1 - million - vehicle mark, can have some self - affirmation, "it actually doesn't amount to much in the entire automotive industry." In the context of the Chinese automotive industry, NIO is still a relatively small company. "We have no reason to be distracted at present."

As early as the end of 2024, Li Bin set the performance expectation of achieving profitability in the fourth quarter of 2025. However, the continuous huge losses have made the outside world worried about NIO's profit target. In the second half of last year, Li Bin also emphasized his confidence in achieving fourth - quarter profitability on multiple occasions - which is regarded by the outside world as the key to whether this new - force automaker can survive.

At this communication meeting, Li Bin once again responded that he is confident about profitability.

NIO, which has just emerged from the trough, performed brilliantly in the fourth quarter, delivering 124,807 new vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 71.7%. The quarterly delivery volumes of the three brands all reached record highs.

However, in terms of the annual target completion rate, NIO delivered 326,028 new vehicles in 2025, with a completion rate of 74%. Compared with automakers like Leapmotor and XPeng, which exceeded their targets, the gap is still obvious.

Li Bin emphasized that since the second half of last year, NIO has entered its third development cycle. In the next cycle, NIO aims to become the most down - to - earth company, with the core being to comprehensively improve operational efficiency and quality.

Looking forward to 2026, NIO has become more pragmatic. Li Bin did not set a specific sales target. "We will maintain a growth rate of 40% - 50% annually and achieve stable growth," he said. He added that NIO now has no time to relax. The competition in the automotive industry has become a "long - term competition with an efficiency gap of 3 - 5 percentage points." Only by having industry - leading operational efficiency can a company survive.

"In the next few years, I believe you will see a more down - to - earth, practical, and steadfast NIO," Li Bin said.

The following is a partial transcript of Li Bin's speech (with deletions):

Review of 2025: NIO Has Entered the Third Cycle

Li Bin: The performance in 2025 was slightly worse than expected, but overall, we achieved our strategic goals.

In the second half of 2025, we emerged from the trough of development and entered the third stage. The delivery volume has been continuously rising since May and June, setting new records after August and September. In December alone, 48,135 vehicles were delivered, with an annual growth of about 47%.

Looking back at NIO's development, from its establishment to 2021, it was the first stage of development. In the first cycle, we basically maintained a 100% growth rate, with annual sales increasing from 10,000 in 2018 to over 90,000 in 2021. From 2022 to the first half of 2025, we entered the second development cycle. Although the annual sales growth did not meet expectations, we still maintained a growth rate of 30% - 40%. In the second half of 2025, NIO's growth rate was very fast, showing an upward trend, indicating that we have entered the third stage.

Source: Zhongtu Photo Library

This stage has several characteristics: First, the three brands are working together to meet the needs of users in the price range of 100,000 - 800,000 yuan. Second, technological innovation and R & D investment have paid off, enhancing product competitiveness and continuously improving the gross profit margin. Third, the "chargeable, swappable, and upgradeable" technology route has been recognized. The new ES8 delivered 22,256 units in December last year, setting a single - month sales record for models priced over 400,000 yuan in China. The L90 sold 43,439 units in 2025, becoming the best - selling large pure - electric SUV. Fourth, the charging and swapping infrastructure has achieved a qualitative change from quantitative growth. In 2025, we completed the construction of a thousand high - speed charging stations and the full connection of the 318 National Highway. At the beginning of 2026, the 214 Yunnan - Tibet Highway was also connected, which gives us confidence for future growth.

NIO is still a startup company at present. I think we should maintain a startup mentality for a long time. Especially when entering the third stage of development, the core is to comprehensively improve operational efficiency and quality. The competition in the automotive industry lies in having a 3 - 5 percentage - point advantage over competitors in every link of the entire chain, including R & D, supply chain, manufacturing, sales, and service. It's like a long - distance race. The more coordinated your movements and the higher your efficiency, the more likely you are to reach the finish line.

Confidence in Fourth - Quarter Profitability

Li Bin: I'm still confident about achieving profitability in the fourth quarter. You can do a simple calculation: Under the non - Gaap standard, NIO lost 2.7 billion yuan in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter alone, we delivered over 40,000 new ES8s with high gross margins compared to the third quarter. So, it should be no problem to achieve a gross profit margin of over 20%. Whether we make a profit or not mainly depends on "gross profit - expenses." Now, the gross profit can increase by billions, and we have controlled our expenses well. So, it's very likely that we can achieve profitability. However, the final financial figures still need to be audited. Non - Gaap can better reflect the company's actual operating conditions. Although it is greatly affected by factors such as stock prices and exchange rates, it is more meaningful for measuring operating quality.

In addition, in the fourth quarter, we reduced losses by 1.7 billion yuan through cost - cutting and revenue - increasing measures. Both the new ES8 and the L90 had good sales, and the prices of the 2025 models were stable, resulting in good gross profit growth. There were no additional special management actions in the fourth quarter, just normal operations. Moreover, NIO Day was advanced to the third quarter, so the whole quarter passed relatively smoothly.

However, there are also pressures. LeDao launched a plan to double the number of battery - swapping stations. We used all our 900V 102kWh NIO battery packs to support the delivery of the new ES8, so the turnover batteries at the swapping stations were really under pressure. We also sent some tokens of appreciation and charging subsidies to each user. Since January this year, we have started to add 3,000 102kWh battery packs, which will all be added before the Spring Festival, along with 1,200 400V battery packs. Generally speaking, during the Spring Festival holiday, NIO's battery - swapping experience will be greatly improved.

Achieving 1 Million Units Off the Production Line: Long - Term Persistence in "Hard Work"

Li Bin: First of all, I'm glad that NIO is still alive. As long as we're alive, there are opportunities.

As far as I know, there is one company in the United States and one in China that have been insisting on pure - electric vehicles globally. The American company has just completed its 9 millionth vehicle, and we still have a long way to go, having only completed 1/9 of what they have. However, I believe our acceleration will be faster. I believe that relying on China's market foundation, innovative supply chain, support from innovative partners and users, as well as government industrial policies, the pure - electric route in China will definitely become the mainstream.

Photography: Deng Pan

The core reason why NIO was able to achieve the production of 1 million mass - produced vehicles lies in doing a few things right:

First, we adhere to technological innovation and forward - looking R & D. We have cumulatively invested over 65 billion yuan in R & D, focusing on underlying technologies and full - stack R & D. It was really difficult at the beginning because we did many "firsts." In 2018, when we developed a 240 - kilowatt motor, we couldn't buy the parts and had to produce them ourselves. The first - generation ES8 used an all - aluminum body with 94% aluminum content. At that time, we hadn't even registered the company yet. The first 100,000 US dollars that Li Hong and I spent was to prove whether it was feasible to do all - aluminum manufacturing in China.

At that time, we found a globally well - known company to conduct a verification, and they produced a large number of very thick reports. I said, "Just turn to the last page. Is it feasible?" He said yes, and he became our first body engineering director. We were also the first in China to use air suspension. Initially, we had to airlift it from Germany. Later, we cooperated with local partners like Baolong to achieve localization. We also did in - depth R & D on chips, operating systems, and intelligent chassis by ourselves. It's easy to copy others and follow, but we are willing to bear the resistance at the forefront. This gene and ability for forward - looking R & D can create long - term value for users and make NIO different from other companies.

Second, we have never wavered in our "chargeable, swappable, and upgradeable" pure - electric technology route. Even during the most difficult times of the company, we insisted on building battery - swapping stations and charging piles and offered free battery - swapping services to cultivate users' habits of using pure - electric vehicles. So far, we have completed over 96 million battery - swapping operations and are about to reach 100 million. Now, it's possible to drive a pure - electric vehicle from any city to Mount Everest Base Camp, which was unimaginable a few years ago. These are all the results of long - term persistence in "hard work."

Third, we have improved internal management efficiency to ensure that every penny is well - spent. This is also a lesson we have been learning.

In general, the key to achieving 1 million units is to adhere to the direction we believe is right, start from the interests of users, and do hard work. We should stay focused, do things steadfastly, and pay close attention to execution and operational efficiency. Just as we say internally, "Build solid fortifications and fight tenacious battles." There is no shortcut, and success comes from long - term efforts.

Becoming the Most Down - to - Earth Company

Li Bin: We were a bit over - ambitious in the second cycle and did too many miscellaneous things. Recently, we have been reflecting internally. Although NIO has delivered 1 million vehicles, it actually doesn't amount to much in the entire automotive industry. In terms of production, China produces 34 million vehicles annually, and NIO's 300,000 - plus vehicles only account for 1%. Our cars are a bit more expensive, so in terms of sales revenue, we only account for about 2%. Although NIO has some reasons for self - affirmation, objectively speaking, we are still a very small company in the Chinese automotive industry. So, we have no reason to be distracted. I hope that in the next cycle, NIO will become the most down - to - earth company. Before talking about global market share, we should at least gain a significant share in China. We need to increase our market share from 1% to 5% or 10% before we can talk about other things. So, there is still a long way to go.

Source: Zhongtu Photo Library

People are not worried that NIO lacks vision, software, or long - term thinking. What they worry about is whether we have the execution ability and can be down - to - earth. Since January 1, 2024, when I wrote a New Year letter to my colleagues, the one thing we have been doing is aligning our vision with actions, improving execution ability, and operational efficiency. Long - term thinking doesn't mean neglecting short - term execution. Operational efficiency is an integral part of long - term thinking, and the two are not contradictory. Now, NIO has become one of the companies that calculate costs most meticulously, and we will continue to dig deeper. This is also the most core lesson we learned from emerging from the trough.

We have proposed the concepts of million - fold thinking and full - staff business operation internally. Million - fold thinking means that when calculating costs, we should not only consider a few yuan per vehicle but multiply it by a million - scale. One yuan becomes one million, and 100 yuan becomes one billion. Only in this way will people pay attention to every penny of expenditure. Full - staff business operation involves implementing the CBU basic business unit mechanism. There have been significant changes internally. We are spending less and being more efficient, just like a person becoming more fit and having stronger athletic ability.

Since starting NIO, it feels like entering an endless game, a marathon on a muddy road. It's extremely hard, but there is a heavy responsibility behind it. Every vehicle we sell represents a responsibility. One million vehicles mean one million responsibilities. If the company doesn't do well, who will take care of these users' vehicles in the future? How can we ensure the residual value of the vehicles? So, doing a good job in the company, enhancing the brand's potential, and ensuring a higher resale value and better service for users' vehicles are what we should do. There is no complex grand goal; we just need to do our work steadfastly.

On the Robot Business: Focus

Li Bin: NIO will focus more. Why? We shouldn't rush to do everything at the forefront. In some areas, we should adopt a late - comer strategy and let others take the lead first. It doesn't mean that we can't do it, won't do it, or are unwilling to do it. It's not like that.

I believe that any automotive company today, if it has some ambition, will definitely become an AI company. There is no doubt about it. We have been accumulating talent and capabilities in this area, and we are definitely not inferior to others. But it doesn't mean that we should enter this field so early. We need to first increase our market share of about 1% as much as possible.

In my opinion, it's inevitable for automotive companies to get involved in embodied robots because the ability stack is the same. Every car today is a robot. Our world model can be applied to embodied robots, and our manufacturing and supply chain system can also be used for robots. But it doesn't mean that I will do it now. We'll start when we start making money, about one or two years in advance. By then, the supply chain will be mature, and we can learn from the late - comer strategy. It's quite tiring to be at the forefront.

We are still a small company in the main automotive track, and this is the key. We need to focus.

Selling cars is really difficult. We must not underestimate the complexity and difficulty of selling cars. In the process of selling cars, the things we need to manage are the most