Staff reporter and Reuters

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio (9866) said its first-quarter net loss widened 18 percent to 4.9 billion yuan (HK$5.28 billion) from one year ago, as its delivery volume declined.

Shares dipped 0.96 percent to HK$41.2 apiece yesterday in Hong Kong before the announcement.

In the first quarter, Nio delivered 30,053 EVs, down by 3.2 percent than one year ago and 39.9 percent than one quarter ago. Vehicle sales lost 9 percent year-on-year and 45.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to 8.4 billion yuan.

Gross margin stood at 4.9 percent as of March, 260 basis points lower than the fourth quarter of last year, but up by 1.5 percent over the same quarter a year ago.

The company, ranked eighth in EV sales in China, saw deliveries of its Nio-branded EVs priced at US$4,000 (HK$31,200) rebound to more than 20,000 units in May after it lowered fees for a battery rental scheme that encouraged sales.

Like many of its peers, Nio is broadening its customer base and boosting sales with cheaper models amid bruising competition in China.

The company has also trimmed its workforce and deferred long-term projects that would not contribute to its financial performance within three years.

Nio also said yesterday it expected deliveries in the second quarter to more than double from a year earlier to between 54,000 and 56,000.

Revenue would also nearly double to as much as 17 billion yuan in the three-month period starting April, the company said.

Its first-quarter revenue was 9.9 billion yuan.

The electric carmaker’s 500,000th vehicle rolled off the production line at its plant in Hefei on May 9. Xinhua

Nio sinks deeper into the red