Chinese EV maker Nio’s Q3 net loss widens despite higher vehicle sales

SINGAPORE - Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio reported a wider net loss of 4.1 billion yuan (S$801.4 million) during its third quarter, despite higher vehicle sales and total revenue.

The net loss for the three months ended Sept 30, 2022, was 44.9 per cent higher year on year and an increase of 50.9 per cent from the net loss it reported in the previous quarter.

Nio has a secondary listing on the

Singapore Exchange mainboard.

The wider losses were posted despite stronger total revenue, which rose to 13 billion yuan, from 9.8 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2021, it said on Thursday.

Vehicle sales grew 38.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2022 to 11.9 billion yuan, which was mainly attributed to a greater number of deliveries as a result of a more diversified product mix offered.

Nio delivered a quarterly record of 31,607 vehicles, chief executive William Li Bin noted. By comparison, the company delivered 25,059 vehicles in the second quarter of 2022.

“We achieved solid top-line growth in the third quarter of 2022 against a challenging market environment,” said Mr Steven Feng Wei, chief financial officer of Nio.

“We aim to consistently enhance the holistic user experience for our global user community by investing in core technology development as well as power network expansion, while continuously improving our operational execution and efficiency.”

While Nio recorded higher revenue, its cost of sales was also more than in previous quarters, driven by greater delivery volume and higher battery cost per vehicle.

The increased cost of batteries also resulted in weaker vehicle margin for the third quarter of FY2022, declining to 16.4 per cent, from 18 per cent in the same period a year ago.

Nio’s gross profit fell 12.9 per cent on year to 1.7 billion yuan for the quarter.

It also incurred higher research and development expenses of 2.9 billion yuan in the third quarter, which was 146.8 per cent more than the year-ago period.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were also up 48.6 per cent year on year to 2.7 billion yuan.

Nio’s loss per share stood at 2.53 yuan, up from the 1.82 yuan per share loss in the year-ago period.

Looking ahead, Nio expects to deliver between 43,000 and 48,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of between 71.8 per cent and 91.7 per cent from the same quarter a year ago.

Total revenue in the next quarter is expected to also rise a similar amount to between 17.4 billion yuan and 19.2 billion yuan, the company said. THE BUSINESS TIMES