With an average brand price higher than that of BMW and Audi, has NIO "surmounted all obstacles"?
The average transaction price is 390,000 yuan, 50,000 yuan more than BMW and 1.5 times that of Audi. This is the "report card" NIO presented in the first quarter of 2026.
According to NIO's latest financial report, in the first quarter of this year, the company achieved a revenue of 25.53 billion yuan, a year-on-year surge of 112.2%. The adjusted net profit under non-GAAP was 43.5 million yuan, achieving profitability for two consecutive quarters.
Meanwhile, NIO's comprehensive gross profit margin, automotive gross profit margin, and other sales gross profit margins in this quarter all reached new highs in the past four years.
However, there are undercurrents beneath the seemingly glorious figures. The cost - rising pressure commonly faced by the automotive industry has become a test for NIO.
Li Bin, the founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, also admitted in the earnings conference call: "The rising prices of raw materials this year, especially the significant price increase of memory chips, have brought huge pressure to the entire industry. On average, we bear a cost pressure of more than 10,000 yuan per vehicle."
It is worth mentioning that in the first - quarter report, NIO gave a delivery guidance of 110,000 to 115,000 vehicles for the second quarter. Considering the company's delivery volume of 29,356 vehicles in April, for NIO to achieve the aforementioned target, the average monthly delivery volume in May and June needs to reach 40,000 to 43,000 vehicles.
In addition, in 2026, NIO plans to build 1,000 new battery - swapping stations. When facing the question of when the battery - swapping business will achieve independent profitability, Li Bin said that the profitability and operating conditions of the battery - swapping stations are continuously improving, but short - term profitability is not the main goal, and NIO will still maintain an advanced investment.
First - quarter revenue doubled, brand average price exceeded BMW and Audi
According to Tianyancha, NIO was founded in 2014. On May 21st, NIO released its first - quarter performance announcement for 2026.
The financial report shows that in the first quarter of this year, the company achieved a revenue of 25.53 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 112.2%. The total gross profit reached 4.86 billion yuan, a significant year - on - year increase of 428.4%.
In the first quarter of this year, NIO's net loss was 330 million yuan, while the net loss in the first quarter of 2025 was 6.75 billion yuan, and the net profit in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 280 million yuan.
After deducting the equity incentive expenses, NIO's adjusted net profit (non - GAAP) in the first quarter of 2026 was 43.5 million yuan, while the adjusted net loss (non - GAAP) in the first quarter of 2025 was 6.28 billion yuan, and the adjusted net profit (non - GAAP) in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 730 million yuan.
In the first quarter, NIO's comprehensive gross profit margin reached 19%, a significant year - on - year increase of 11.4 percentage points. The automotive gross profit margin was 18.8%, achieving a quarter - on - quarter increase for four consecutive quarters. Both reached new highs in the past four years. The other sales gross profit margin rose to 20.6%, also the highest level in the past four years.
Qu Yu, NIO's Chief Financial Officer, said that the other sales gross profit margin reaching a four - year high is mainly due to the steady improvement in the scale and profitability of the service and community business based on the vehicle ownership.
Qu Yu also said that NIO aims to achieve a vehicle gross profit margin of 17% to 18% in the second quarter and the whole year, and maintain the goal of operating profit under non - GAAP for the whole year.
In the first quarter of this year, NIO delivered 83,465 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 98.3%. Among them, the NIO brand contributed 58,543 vehicles, the LeDao brand contributed 13,339 vehicles, and the Firefly brand contributed 11,583 vehicles.
Leida Finance noticed that NIO's delivery volume in this quarter exceeded the upper limit of the 83,000 - vehicle guidance previously given by the company, and the revenue of 25.53 billion yuan was also higher than the upper limit of the 25.18 - billion - yuan guidance previously given.
In the first quarter of this year, NIO's vehicle sales revenue reached 22.78 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 129.2%, significantly higher than the 98.3% increase in delivery volume, indicating that the average selling price of the company's vehicles has increased simultaneously.
In response, Li Bin said in the first - quarter earnings conference call that the average transaction price of the NIO brand in the first quarter was 390,000 yuan, 50,000 yuan more than BMW and 1.5 times that of Audi. In Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta, and first - tier cities, the NIO brand has exceeded the market share of traditional luxury brands.
Li Bin also revealed that from January to April this year, the sales volume of NIO's existing products in the Shanghai area ranked first among all automobile companies, accounting for about 8% of the passenger car market in Shanghai.
Specifically at the product level, the performance of NIO's new ES8 was quite outstanding, ranking first in both the sales volume of large SUVs in China and the price segment above 400,000 yuan for five consecutive months.
Qu Yu revealed in the earnings conference call that the ES8's sales volume in the first quarter accounted for more than 50% of the total sales volume, and the gross profit margin exceeded 20%, maintaining a relatively high level.
In addition, since mass - production at the end of March last year, the cumulative delivery of NIO's self - developed Shenji NX9031 chips has exceeded 250,000 units. Li Bin revealed that this chip will be iterated twice this year, and more than 80% of the models will be equipped with self - developed chips in the second half of the year.
However, Economic Observer Network pointed out that although NIO has achieved profitability for two consecutive quarters under non - GAAP, calculated according to GAAP, the net loss in Q1 was 330 million yuan. Some market views believe that its profitability mainly relies on accounting adjustments (such as adding back equity incentives) and a strong contraction in the expense side, rather than a strong explosion in the revenue side.
The cost pressure cannot be ignored, adhere to stable prices and reasonable growth
Although NIO's adjusted net profit under non - GAAP has achieved profitability for two consecutive quarters, NIO is still facing severe cost - rising pressure at present.
According to Changjiang Business Daily, the price of battery - grade lithium carbonate has approached 200,000 yuan per ton from 75,000 yuan per ton in July 2025, a increase of more than 100%. The cumulative price increase of automotive - grade DDR4 memory has exceeded 150%, and the spot price increase of high - end DDR5 memory has exceeded 300%. The prices of basic raw materials such as aluminum and rubber have all increased across the board.
UBS estimates that the manufacturing cost of a typical medium - sized intelligent electric vehicle has surged by 4,000 to 7,000 yuan in the short term, and it has become the norm in the industry for the cost per vehicle to increase by more than 10,000 yuan.
Qu Yu said in the conference call that since the beginning of this year, the price of memory chips has risen significantly, the prices of lithium carbonate, nickel, cobalt, and manganese, the main raw materials for batteries, have continued to climb, and the prices of bulk commodities such as copper and aluminum, which are used in large quantities in vehicles, have also increased simultaneously. "In total, the average cost pressure per vehicle exceeds 10,000 yuan, or even more."
Li Bin also admitted in the conference call that the rising prices of automotive raw materials this year, especially the rising prices of memory chips, have brought great pressure to the entire industry. For this reason, NIO has also narrowed the discount level, which is a challenge faced by the entire industry.
Data shows that in 2025, the profit margin of the Chinese automotive industry was 4.1%, a year - on - year decline of 0.2 percentage points, reaching the lowest level in history.
From January to February 2026, the profit margin of the Chinese automotive industry further declined to 2.9%. Compared with the average profit margin of 5.8% of downstream industrial enterprises, the profit margin of the automotive industry is still relatively low.
According to the data released by Cui Dongshu, the secretary - general of the Passenger Car Association, from January to April 2026, the average price reduction of new energy vehicles with price cuts was 260,000 yuan, and the average price - cut amount was 34,000 yuan, with a price - cut intensity of 13.3%.
Among them, in April, the average price of new energy vehicles with price cuts was 207,000 yuan, and the average price - cut amount was 23,000 yuan, reaching a relatively high price - cut intensity of 11.1%.
Regarding the cost pressure brought by the rising prices of chip memory, Li Bin emphasized that NIO will maintain price stability, maintain the comprehensive competitiveness of products and services, and will not take volume as the main business strategy, but will maintain a reasonable volume growth.
Li Bin judged that the competition in the Chinese intelligent electric vehicle market has entered the "clarification period" from the "chaotic period" of brands, and NIO has been accepted by users as a high - end brand.
A research report from Everbright Securities pointed out that the year - on - year and quarter - on - quarter improvement of NIO's automotive business gross profit margin in 1Q26 is mainly due to the continuous increase in the proportion of high - gross - profit models and the partial offset of the rising raw material costs by inventory.
Everbright Securities expects that the cost - rising pressure may be fully reflected gradually starting from 2Q26E. It is expected that the launch and delivery ramp - up of LeDao L80/NIO ES9 in 2Q26E are expected to drive further optimization of the vehicle model structure and keep the gross profit margin relatively stable.
Expected to deliver more than 110,000 vehicles in the second quarter, the battery - swapping station does not pursue short - term profitability
In the first - quarter report, NIO gave a delivery guidance of 110,000 to 115,000 vehicles for the second quarter, a year - on - year increase of about 52.7% to 59.6%. The total revenue is expected to be between 32.777 billion yuan and 34.436 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of about 72.4% to 81.2%.
According to NIO's latest monthly delivery data, in April this year, NIO delivered 29,356 vehicles in a single month, a year - on - year increase of 22.8%.
Specifically, it includes 19,024 high - end intelligent electric vehicles of the NIO brand, 5,352 family intelligent electric vehicles of the LeDao brand, and 4,980 intelligent electric high - end small cars of the Firefly brand.
This means that for NIO to achieve the second - quarter delivery guidance target, the average monthly delivery volume in May and June this year needs to reach a scale of about 40,000 to 43,000 vehicles, which requires a significant jump compared with the 29,356 vehicles in April.
However, NIO's delivery volume in the first quarter of this year decreased by 33% quarter - on - quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, which has raised concerns in the market about whether the demand has been pre - exhausted and whether the orders for new models can remain strong.
Some analysts believe that the sales ramp - up speed of the two new models, LeDao L80 (launched on May 15th) and ES9 (officially launched and delivered on May 27th), will directly affect NIO's achievement of the second - quarter delivery target.
Li Bin said that after the ES9 started test - driving, the average daily order volume increased significantly compared with before the test - drive, and at the same time, it drove the growth of ES8 orders.
After the ES9 was unveiled, the average orders of the ES8 increased by about 30%. One week after the ES9 test - drive started on May 11th, the ES8 orders increased by 20% quarter - on - quarter. In the first 20 days of May, the ES8 order volume reached a new high since November last year, successfully crossing the order fluctuation period after the new product launch.
Li Bin also revealed that starting from next year, NIO will enter a new product cycle. Models such as ES6, EC6, ET5, and ET5T will be iterated one after another, and the company will maintain a rhythm of launching 3 to 5 new models into the market every year.
Meanwhile, NIO is also accelerating the layout of battery - swapping stations. It plans to build more than 1,000 new battery - swapping stations this year, and the fifth - generation battery - swapping stations will start large - scale deployment in the third quarter.
Facing the question of "when will the battery - swapping business achieve independent profitability", Li Bin emphasized that "the profitability of the battery - swapping stations is continuously improving, but there will still be advanced investment in the short term, and short - term profitability is not the main goal. The service and community revenue including the battery - swapping stations has already achieved profitability, so the company has sufficient resources to support the construction of battery - swapping stations."
After the release of NIO's first - quarter report, many investment banks quickly followed up and generally raised NIO's rating and target price.
Citi maintained its "Buy" rating, raising the target price of Hong Kong stocks from HK$58.6 to HK$62.9 and the target price of US stocks from US$7.6 to US$8.2. It believes that the non - GAAP net profit in the first quarter exceeded expectations and raised the profit forecast for 2026 - 2028.
Morgan Stanley maintained its "Overweight" rating with a target price of HK$58, pointing out that the non - automotive gross profit margin of 20.6% far exceeded expectations, driving the overall gross profit margin to rise to 19% quarter - on - quarter.
CMB International upgraded NIO's rating from "Hold" to "Buy", raising the target price of Hong Kong stocks from HK$47 to HK$55 and the target price of US stocks from US$6 to US$7.
The bank believes that Chinese consumers' brand awareness of new car - making forces has become clearer, and NIO's positioning as a luxury brand has been consolidated, enabling it to obtain better bargaining power and gross profit resilience under the pressure of rising raw material prices. "The signal of a fundamental reversal has appeared."
However, Bank of America Securities maintained its "Neutral" rating, slightly adjusting the target price of Hong Kong stocks from HK$52 to HK$53, pointing out that "the strong vehicle lineup and operating expense control are offset to some extent by the headwinds in the sector, including the reduction of new energy vehicle purchase subsidies in 2026 and cost inflation pressure."
Leida Finance will continue to pay attention to NIO's subsequent development.