NIO Inc

President Donald Trump said he would be open to Chinese automakers building cars in the United States as long as they hire American workers. "If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I'd be okay with that," Trump said in an interview with Fox News, adding that "the big thing is they hire our people." He said he did not want Chinese companies building in Mexico and shipping vehicles across the border, and he dismissed as a "total phony rumor" Senator Elissa Slotkin's claim that he was planning to allow Chinese cars to be sold in the U.S. as part of a larger deal, noting that he has imposed a 150% tariff on any car from China and that there are currently no Chinese cars in the United States. The comments come as Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. U.S. automakers have called on Congress to pass legislation permanently banning Chinese vehicles from the U.S. market, with Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella warning lawmakers that Chinese automakers are dumping subsidized vehicles with connected software and hardware worldwide that can collect and transmit sensitive data to the Chinese Communist Party.

NIO reported second-quarter 2026 deliveries of 107,658 smart EVs, up 49.4% year-over-year, with total revenues reaching RMB 32.1 billion, a 69.1% increase, and gross margin at 18.4%. Vehicle sales were RMB 29.1 billion, up 80.1% year-over-year, while vehicle gross margin stood at 18.5%. The company achieved positive operating cash flow and free cash flow, boosting cash reserves to RMB 56.7 billion. For the third quarter, NIO expects deliveries between 108,000 and 111,000 units. Management highlighted strong demand for its ES8 and ES9 models, with the ES9 attracting three-quarters of buyers from outside the NIO community, and outlined plans to maintain vehicle gross margin despite rising material costs, targeting over 40,000 units per month in Q4.

NIO reported a 49% year-over-year surge in second-quarter vehicle deliveries to 107,658 units, and the company targets up to 111,000 deliveries in the third quarter. The August delivery figure of nearly 36,000 EVs, driven by the ONVO and FIREFLY brands, contributed to the strong quarterly performance. The company's Q2 results were mixed, but the delivery growth and Q3 guidance highlight continued momentum.

NIO Inc. delivered 35,836 vehicles in August, up 14.5% year-over-year, with the total comprising 21,174 from the NIO brand, 8,810 from the ONVO brand, and 5,852 from the FIREFLY brand. Year-to-date deliveries through August reached 262,893 vehicles, a 57.9% increase from the same period last year. On August 21, the all-new NIO ES8 achieved 140,000 cumulative deliveries just 335 days after launch, and from January to July it ranked first in cumulative sales in both the large SUV segment and the segment priced above RMB400,000 in China.

Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO is set to report its Q2 earnings on September 1, and a return to net profitability could trigger a sharp stock rally, as it did in Q4 2025. NIO's shares bottomed at $3.14 in early 2025, jumped to $6.87 after posting its first quarterly net profit, but have since fallen to $4.38, down 93% from its all-time high. The company's trailing twelve-month revenue has soared to $14.3 billion, with vehicle deliveries up 68% year-over-year to 227,057 as of July 31. However, NIO has struggled with profitability, posting a net loss of -$3.4 billion in Q3 2025, a small net profit of $17.1 million in Q4, and a net loss again in Q1 2026. Investors should expect an immediate stock pop if management announces a net profit for Q2.

The board of directors of Faway Automobile Parts and Components Company reviewed and approved four investment proposals, involving NIO aluminum profile control arms, fully active suspension, an electric drive assembly trial production line, and the establishment of a Jilin subsidiary. Among them, to ensure production capacity for the NIO Pisces aluminum profile control arm project, an additional 2026 investment budget of 6.3016 million yuan was approved; to develop the motor mechanical fully active suspension business, an additional investment budget of 4.36 million yuan was approved for research and development equipment procurement; to build an electric drive assembly research and development trial production line, an additional investment of 8.48 million yuan was approved to ensure sample delivery for the Jetta six-in-one electric drive assembly project; and the wholly owned subsidiary Fastener Germany Company plans to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in Jilin City with registered capital of 1 million yuan, to seize opportunities in the localization project for Mercedes-Benz China non-standard fasteners. The company stated that all the above investment funds come from its own capital, fall within the board's approval authority, do not need to be submitted to the shareholders' meeting for review, and do not constitute a related-party transaction or major asset restructuring. It also cautioned that project implementation may face risks such as changes in market demand and technological iteration.

Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO announced a more than 70% year-over-year increase in vehicle deliveries for July 2026, reaching 35,934 units. The total included 20,008 units from its NIO brand and 10,155 units from the ONVO brand. For the first seven months of the year, NIO's cumulative deliveries rose about 68% to 227,057 vehicles. Among peers, XPeng recorded 38,027 deliveries, a 4% year-over-year gain, while Li Auto posted 30,468 deliveries, roughly flat compared to a year ago. BYD reported 419,211 vehicles sold in July, a 22% year-over-year increase driven by overseas demand, marking its third consecutive month of year-over-year gains.

NIO has launched its first fifth generation battery swap station in China, marking the 4,000th battery swap station in the country. The new site begins a broader rollout of the latest infrastructure, with fifth generation stations designed for faster swaps, larger energy storage, and use across all NIO brands. Management has outlined an ambition to exceed 10,000 stations by 2030, with a move to more than 5,000 fifth generation swap stations described as supporting additional capacity, customer experience, and multi-brand coverage.

Zacks Investment Research identifies NIO, Mobileye Global, Hesai Group, and Ouster as four stocks poised to benefit from accelerating electric vehicle and autonomous driving adoption. The global EV market saw sales climb 20% year over year to more than 20 million units in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency, with projections of 23 million units in 2026. The autonomous vehicle market is forecast to grow from $3.36 trillion in 2025 to $41.75 trillion by 2034, per Fortune Business Insights. NIO is gaining traction with its expanded lineup including the ES8 and ES9 models and its Onvo and Firefly sub-brands, while Mobileye advances its EyeQ platform and autonomous mobility partnerships with Volkswagen and Stellantis. Hesai expects lidar shipments to nearly double to 3 to 3.5 million units in 2026, and Ouster launched its REV8 native color lidar platform, scaling production through Benchmark Electronics.

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio has surged ahead of U.S. rivals Lucid and Rivian in gross profitability, driven by nearly doubled vehicle deliveries and sharply improved margins. Nio's first-quarter gross profit topped $700 million, a 428.4% increase from the prior year, with gross margin reaching 19% compared to 7.6% a year earlier and vehicle margin climbing to 18.8% from 10.2%. While Rivian has made consistent progress in reducing costs and boosting gross profit through improved unit economics and a software joint venture with Volkswagen, it still lacks the scale and sales volume that Nio enjoys. Lucid, meanwhile, has seen its gross profitability languish. Nio's performance has been bolstered by its sub-brands Onvo and Firefly, which are gaining traction in a challenging domestic market marked by a brutal price war.

Zacks Investment Research identifies BYD, NIO, and Yamaha Motor as foreign auto stocks worth buying despite a challenging global demand environment. The Zacks Automotive – Foreign industry faces weakening domestic demand in China, profit pressure in Europe, and soft underlying demand in Japan, with the industry's earnings estimates for 2026 having moved down 38.7% over the past year. Yamaha is positioned for profit recovery, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its fiscal 2026 EPS implying year-over-year growth of 595%. BYD continues to strengthen its competitive edge through vertical integration and overseas expansion, with consensus estimates for its 2026 and 2027 EPS implying year-over-year growth of 28% and 22%, respectively. NIO is entering a stronger growth phase, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2026 and 2027 bottom line implies a year-over-year improvement of 86% and 137%, respectively.

Nio's gross margin nearly tripled to 19% year over year in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, while R&D costs fell 41%, as CEO William Li targets full-year 2026 non-GAAP operating profitability. Vehicle margin reached 18.8%, improving quarter-over-quarter for the fourth consecutive quarter, and SG&A expenses dropped 20.5%. The company's battery swap network, with 3,972 stations, saw other-sales margin hit a four-year high of 20.6%, converting a long-criticized capital expenditure drain into a recurring revenue moat. Q1 deliveries surged 98.3% year over year to 83,465 units across the NIO, ONVO, and FIREFLY brands, and Q2 guidance calls for 110,000 to 115,000 vehicles. Despite shares trading at $4.93, down 89% over five years, analysts hold a $7.35 consensus target that sits 49% above the current price.

Several stocks made significant moves in midday trading. Braiin surged 62% after launching Aria, an AI agent for the real estate industry, with its CEO citing a scalable software opportunity in a market forecast to reach $32 billion by 2033. AppLovin tumbled 12%, making it the worst-performing S&P 500 member and on pace for its sixth daily loss in seven sessions. Biogen added nearly 2% after Truist upgraded the stock to buy from hold, citing potential upside from upcoming drug trial data. U.S.-listed shares of Nio rose 3% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, setting a $7 price target that implies 46% upside. SpaceX fell nearly 4% to a fresh post-IPO low, approaching its $135 offering price, despite the FAA clearing the way for a flight test. U.S.-listed shares of SK Hynix tumbled 8% after their Nasdaq debut, while Seoul-listed shares sank more than 15% in their worst day ever. Memory and chip stocks were under pressure, with the Roundhill Memory ETF down 9% and the iShares Semiconductor ETF off 4%. MGM Resorts International rose more than 1% after reports of private buyout talks with Barry Diller. Energy stocks gained as oil prices rose over 4% following President Trump's reinstatement of a blockade on Iranian ships, with Valero Energy up 4% and ConocoPhillips up nearly 3%. Shopify and Deckers Outdoor Group both rose about 2% after Jefferies upgraded them to buy.

China's domestic auto sales in June fell 23.4% from a year earlier to 1.62 million units, the ninth consecutive month of decline, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Automakers are increasingly shifting to export markets to cushion the impact of sluggish domestic demand, with June auto exports surging 82.1% to 882,000 units. In the first half of the year, domestic sales dropped 20.4% to 8.8 million units, while exports jumped 70.6% to 4.28 million units. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales of gasoline and electric vehicles priced below 80,000 yuan fell 34% and 43% respectively in the January-to-May period, partly due to reduced government subsidies for low-cost cars. Meanwhile, the premium segment is expanding. Wang Xianbin, vice president of Gasgoo Auto Research Institute, said 70% of new car sales this year are replacements of older gasoline cars with new models featuring advanced functions. This trend benefits emerging Chinese premium brands such as NIO, while traditional German brands are struggling. Among foreign brands facing headwinds, US electric vehicle giant Tesla is an exception, with its China sales largely stable in the first half and the Model Y remaining the top-selling SUV.

NIO reported June deliveries of 40,597 vehicles, a 62.9% year-over-year increase, comprising 21,908 NIO-brand vehicles, 11,743 ONVO vehicles, and 6,946 FIREFLY vehicles. Second-quarter deliveries reached 107,658 vehicles, up 49.4% year-over-year, bringing cumulative deliveries to 1,188,715 as of June 30, 2026. The company also highlighted product milestones, including the rollout of an upgraded WorldModel intelligent driving system to over 700,000 users and the ES9 reaching 10,000 deliveries within 30 days of launch, a record for premium battery electric vehicles priced above RMB500,000 in China.

Li Auto delivered 30,895 vehicles in June 2026, a 14.8% decline from the 36,279 vehicles delivered a year earlier and a 7.4% drop from May 2026. Year-to-date cumulative deliveries reached 1,733,687 vehicles, up about 29.6% from last year. The company noted that cumulative production of its Li i6 battery electric SUV surpassed 150,000 units in June. Li Auto also launched the all-new Li L8, a five-seat flagship SUV, on June 23, with connected zero-gravity seats, scheduled for release in July 2026. In comparison, Nio delivered 40,597 vehicles in June, a 62.9% year-over-year increase.

NIO Inc. has been among the most-searched stocks on Zacks.com recently, with shares down 17.2% over the past month compared to a 2.9% decline for the S&P 500. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter's loss has narrowed to $0.07 per share, a 78.1% year-over-year improvement, and the estimate has risen 12.5% over the last 30 days. For the current fiscal year, the consensus loss estimate of $0.13 per share reflects an 86.7% improvement and has been revised 19.6% higher over the past month. The next fiscal year's consensus estimate has swung to a profit of $0.05 per share, a 137.2% turnaround, with a 66.7% upward revision in the last 30 days. These positive estimate revisions have earned NIO a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), suggesting potential near-term outperformance.

NIO has opened pre-orders for a new five-seat variant of its best-selling ES8 SUV, expanding its presence in the premium all-electric SUV segment. The third-generation ES8 reached 120,000 deliveries within 275 days of launch. The company is also pushing aggressively into Europe via its Firefly and Onvo sub-brands, underscoring how product expansion and overseas growth are central to its efforts to reach consistent profitability. NIO's F2 factory was recently recognized as a Global Lighthouse by the World Economic Forum, highlighting its bet on smart manufacturing to support margin improvement. Analyst projections vary widely, with revenue estimates ranging from CN¥147.3 billion to CN¥175.8 billion and earnings from CN¥809.5 million to CN¥4.4 billion by 2029.

NIO has introduced a right-hand-drive electric vehicle under its Firefly sub-brand at the Hong Kong Auto Show, marking a push into markets such as the UK, Australia and parts of Southeast Asia. Firefly already accounted for 15% of NIO's deliveries in May with 5,663 vehicles. The ES8 model is progressing toward a key delivery milestone while expanding into the premium five-seat SUV segment. NIO's F2 factory was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Global Lighthouse for applying AI and digital manufacturing technologies, with 80% of manufacturing scenarios using AI decision-making and 90% of R&D workflows automated. The company is also rolling out special edition vehicles and investing in global facilities to reach a broader customer base.

Global electric vehicle adoption accelerated sharply outside North America following the Iran war, with China selling 12.9 million units and Europe growing 33% year over year in 2025. BYD surpassed Tesla in global EV sales in 2025, yet BYDDF shares have fallen roughly 40% over the past year, trading at a trailing P/E of about 17. U.S. record oil production helped insulate the country from the worst of the global oil supply shock, while countries without domestic crude supplies increasingly turned to renewable energy and electrification. North America remained a laggard, with 91% of EV sales occurring outside the region and sales contracting 4% last year. NIO shares gained more than 47% over the past year, with first-quarter 2026 deliveries up 98.3% year over year, though the stock has corrected more than 26% from its year-to-date high.

Nio delivered 37,705 vehicles in May, a 62.3% increase from a year earlier, defying a domestic market where nationwide new-energy vehicle sales fell 38% in April. Year-to-date deliveries through May rose nearly 69% to 150,526 units, driven by its Onvo and Firefly sub-brands, which contributed 12,029 and 5,663 vehicles respectively, while the premium Nio brand accounted for 20,013. The company’s first-quarter vehicle margin improved to 18.8% from 10.2% a year ago, and it posted an adjusted operating profit. Investors are watching whether Nio can achieve its goal of a full-year adjusted operating profit in 2026 despite industry headwinds.

NIO Inc. has received a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) following significant upward revisions to its earnings estimates. The consensus earnings estimate for the current fiscal year stands at -$0.13 per share, reflecting a year-over-year improvement of 86.7% and a 40.5% increase over the last 30 days. For the current quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is a loss of $0.07 per share, up 12.5% in the past month. Revenue estimates also show strong growth, with the current quarter projected at $4.87 billion, an 83.4% increase year-over-year. NIO's stock has declined 10.4% over the past month, underperforming the broader market, but the positive estimate revisions suggest potential near-term outperformance.

BMW has lowered its 2026 financial outlook, citing intensified competition and a slowdown in China, its largest market. The German automaker now expects its automotive EBIT margin to fall between 1% and 3%, down from a prior forecast of 4% to 6%, and group profit before tax to decline significantly, defined as a drop greater than 15%. Automotive free cash flow is anticipated to exceed €2.5 billion, while dividend and share buyback plans remain unchanged. The revision follows a downward adjustment of China's market forecast by the China Passenger Car Association and reflects pressure from domestic brands like BYD, Xiaomi, and NIO, which offer comparable technology at lower prices.