Far from the goal! Is NIO really having a good time in 2024？

2024 is almost halfway through, and NIO recently released its 2024 Quarter 1 earnings report and delivery data for May. At present, NIO’s overall market performance cannot be said to be much worse, but it is not particularly good.

First of all, NIO’s revenue declined slightly. The financial report shows that Quarter 1 revenue is 9.91 billion yuan, which is down 7.2% year-on-year compared with 10.676 billion yuan in the same period of 2023, and 42.1% month-on-month. At the same time, NIO’s vehicle gross margin fell from 11.9% in the fourth quarter of last year to 9.2%, and the loss further expanded to 5.185 billion yuan, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year. The situation is not good.

It is said that NIO has been burning money. In terms of R & D expenditure, NIO Quarter 1 invested 2.86 billion yuan, which narrowed a lot compared with 3.97 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of last year. It is already 2024, and some new car-making forces have turned losses into profits. NIO still has not been able to achieve profitability, which is obviously not conducive to development. Even if NIO still has 45.30 billion yuan in cash reserves, it is not a good way to burn money like this.

NIO’s sales performance is indeed tepid now. Quarter 1 delivered a total of 3,053 new cars, a decrease of 3.2% year-on-year and a decrease of 39.9% month-on-month. Compared with the previously expected target of 31,000 to 33,000 vehicles, it is still a little bit short. However, in late March, NIO made a little adjustment to Quarter 1’s delivery forecast, lowering it to about 30,000 vehicles, which is considered a "clever" target.

In fact, NIO’s recent sales performance is still a little improved, May delivery of 20,544 vehicles, in April delivered 15,620 new cars, all achieved year-on-year growth. According to the second quarter delivery guidance given by NIO, it is expected to deliver 54,000 to 56,000 vehicles, as long as the June delivery of 17,000 to 19,000 new cars, basically can achieve the goal.

However, NIO had previously set a goal of delivering 230,000 vehicles in 2024 with great ambition, and the reality did not seem to be so smooth. From January to May this year, a total of 66217 new cars were delivered, only 28.79% of the overall goal was completed. In the remaining half a year, it is not small to catch up with the remaining progress.

Next, I am afraid that NIO can only pin its hopes on Ledao Automobile. The existence value of this second brand of NIO is originally to take volume, and it can also relieve the pressure on NIO’s operation to a certain extent. Li Bin once revealed that the operating goal of the Ledao brand is to maintain a gross profit margin of more than 15%. From the perspective of break-even, Ledao can achieve break-even when it reaches a monthly sales volume of 20,000-30,000 vehicles.

However, NIO wants to achieve a turnaround in a short period of time, it is obviously more difficult, after all, Ledao Automobile wants to achieve 20,000 – 30,000 monthly sales results, not to say that it can do things, with the current market competition intensity, can break through 10,000 cars are already very good.

Car Online ReviewWhat is it?NIO, which focuses on the mid-to-high-end market, has been bound by its own brand positioning from the very beginning. It is undeniable that relying on its high-end image, NIO has indeed made a name for itself, but down-to-earth products are often more marketable. Now that NIO has begun to put down its position to make money, this step will have to be taken sooner or later. As for whether this step can go well, this is the most concerned thing in the entire industry and NIO’s large and small shareholders.