NIO Reports Third Straight Quarter of Profitability, Declines to Enter Humanoid Robot Development

NIO, which just released its second-quarter earnings report, is experiencing a mismatch between strong financial performance and a weak stock price.

On one hand, from a performance perspective, NIO achieved a year-over-year revenue growth of 69.1% in the second quarter, with gross profit increasing by 211.3% year over year and vehicle deliveries rising by 49.4% year over year—more importantly, NIO has now posted profits for three consecutive quarters.

On the other hand, NIO's stock price has indeed continued to face pressure.

In fact, on September 1, the day of the Q2 earnings report release, NIO's Hong Kong-listed stock price fell as much as 10% during trading and closed down 6.39%. The next day, following the release of the Q2 earnings report, NIO's Hong Kong-listed stock price dropped another 3.35%, and by September 3, it fell an additional 1.07%.

The capital market’s attitude toward this report card is evident.

However, for NIO’s own business development, the real question of concern is: how can NIO navigate through this cycle in the coming months and years amid such intense external market competition?

Compared to last year, NIO's performance can truly be described as "stunning."

The data shows that NIO's total revenue for the second quarter amounted to RMB 32.1369 billion, representing a 69.1% year-over-year increase. The gross profit for the second quarter was RMB 5.9065 billion, up 211.3% year-over-year. The gross margin and automotive gross margin for the second quarter were 18.4% and 18.5%, respectively, compared to 10% and 10.3% in the same period last year.

Looking at the overall data, NIO's overall business support has shown a clear improvement.

Looking at profitability, NIO’s operating loss in the second quarter was RMB 347.2 million, compared to a loss of RMB 4.9089 billion in the same period last year, showing a significant improvement. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, the adjusted operating profit for the second quarter was RMB 206.9 million.

From a net profit perspective, NIO reported a net loss of RMB 528 million for the second quarter, compared to a net loss of RMB 4.9948 billion in the same period last year. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, NIO’s adjusted net profit for the second quarter was RMB 26.1 million, compared to a net loss of RMB 4.1267 billion in the same period last year.

Overall, despite slim profits, NIO has essentially achieved self-sustaining cash flow in the second quarter, further validating its business闭环 capability.

However, compared to the performance in the first quarter, this earnings report still has some shortcomings.

For example, compared to the first quarter, NIO's revenue and gross profit increased by 25.9% and 21.6%, respectively; however, as the business expanded, NIO's gross margin and automotive gross margin slightly declined compared to the first quarter (19% and 18.8%, respectively).

Additionally, regarding net profit, NIO's adjusted net profit for the first quarter was RMB 0.435 billion, and for the second quarter, it was RMB 0.261 billion, representing a sequential decline—indicating that, despite overall revenue growth, the second quarter's net profit performance declined compared to the first quarter.

So why did NIO's gross profit and net profit performance in the second quarter lag behind the first quarter?

According to the financial report, NIO's R&D expenses in the second quarter increased by 13.8% compared to the first quarter, attributed to higher design and development costs from new products and technologies, as well as increased costs for R&D personnel.

Additionally, NIO’s sales, general, and administrative expenses for the second quarter increased by 26.5% quarter-over-quarter, primarily due to higher sales and marketing expenses related to its new product launches. Based on second-quarter developments, NIO indeed introduced multiple new models, leading to increased sales and marketing costs.

Additionally, according to NIO’s earnings call, cost pressures have been significant this year; starting in March, costs for memory, bulk materials, and batteries all rose, increasing the per-vehicle cost in the second quarter by RMB 14,000 compared to last year. This has also put some pressure on NIO’s gross margin in the second quarter.

To this end, NIO undertook significant efforts in the second quarter to stabilize gross margins, including cost-reduction measures such as supply chain optimization and commercial negotiations, ultimately maintaining price stability across all three brands and achieving an overall vehicle gross margin of 18.5%.

Good news: NIO achieved positive operating cash flow in the second quarter of 2026—moreover, as of June 30, 2026, NIO’s cash reserves increased from RMB 48.2 billion at the end of the first quarter to RMB 56.7 billion. In its financial report, NIO stated that its cash reserves are sufficient to support ongoing operations for the next twelve months.

Therefore, for NIO today, the core issue is not the operational sustainability concerns from last year, but rather how to better improve operational quality.

NIO was able to achieve these results in the second quarter due to the reconstruction and refinement of its product lineup.

In the second quarter, NIO delivered a total of 107,658 vehicles, with deliveries for the NIO, Lucid, and Firefly brands totaling 60,945, 29,124, and 17,589 units, respectively, accounting for 56.6%, 27.1%, and 16.3%.

For comparison, the first-quarter sales volumes for the three brands were 58,543, 13,339, and 11,583 units, accounting for 70.1%, 16.0%, and 13.9% respectively. It is evident that in the second quarter, NIO maintained its sales momentum; Lucid achieved over 100% growth in sales; and Firefly also recorded over 50% growth in sales.

Looking at the sales ratio among the three brands, the second quarter was more reasonable compared to the first quarter, but it still deviated significantly from the company’s initial expectation of 3:6:1.

Breaking it down, NIO's performance in the second quarter was primarily driven by the sales of its two larger models, the ES8 and ES9, which helped NIO secure the top position in China’s passenger vehicle market above RMB 350,000 during the quarter.

Among these, the NIO ES8 stood out even more, achieving a delivery volume of 140,000 units in August, building on its sales contribution in the second quarter. Li Bin emphasized during the earnings call that the ES8 will reach its 150,000th delivery in September. Regarding the ES9, Li Bin revealed that three-quarters of its customer base comes from outside the NIO community, demonstrating a clear cross-boundary effect.

Regarding the Firefly brand, Li Bin stated on the earnings call that the brand currently has only one model, but special editions and subsequent technological iterations will continue—overall, Firefly is somewhat like the iPhone, with new special editions being released consistently.

In comparison, the performance of the Leda brand has become a point of external attention.

Based on performance, the LeDao L90 surpassed 60,000 deliveries after its refresh, and together with the L80, helped LeDao rank first among large SUVs priced under 300,000 RMB; the LeDao L60, after its refresh and upgrade, has also provided strong support for LeDao’s overall sales—but clearly, this support is still insufficient.

In the earnings call, Li Bin stated that competition in the Lucid brand’s market is significantly more intense than that faced by NIO and Firefly, with a greater number of brands and models; the primary challenge for the Lucid brand currently remains brand awareness, which is comparable to NIO’s level of awareness five to six years ago.

So, how should the Ledao brand move forward?

Li Bin stated that, moving forward, they will reach more people with the LeDao brand through more frequent, proactive, and aggressive efforts—including cross-industry collaborations, offline events, and deeper community engagement. At the same time, they will accelerate the deployment of Sky stores shared by NIO, LeDao, and Firefly, continuously strengthening their sales network to better connect LeDao with family customers in third- and fourth-tier cities.

In addition, Li Bin emphasized that the Lepower brand will continuously launch new products to serve a broader range of family users, while maintaining its positioning as a premium family vehicle brand and avoiding entry into the low-end market, balancing volume and gross margin. Li Bin also added that Lepower will introduce another strategic new product next year, further enriching its product lineup.

It is worth noting that NIO’s management also emphasized during the earnings call that there is still a risk of further increases in material costs in the second half of the year, potentially adding RMB 2,000 to RMB 3,000 per vehicle. However, the company will continue implementing corresponding measures, with the overall goal of maintaining the gross margin on vehicle sales in the third and fourth quarters at a level similar to that of the second quarter.

For NIO in 2026, the phase of new vehicle launches has concluded, and sales have become the primary focus. However, beyond products, NIO continues to advance numerous systematic initiatives.

One key focus is battery swapping.

During the earnings call, NIO stated that its goal for this year remains 1,000 battery swap stations. However, unlike in the past, since launching the Power Partnership Program in 2024, the company has made significant progress this year, partnering with over 40 local state-owned enterprises and financial institutions across 25 provinces and municipalities. NIO emphasized that, as of now, the entire annual plan for building its charging and swapping network is funded entirely by its partners.

From this perspective, NIO is moving away from its previous asset-heavy model, particularly in the construction and operation of battery swap stations, and adopting a more asset-light approach.

Regarding the cost and operation of battery swap stations, NIO's CFO Qu Yu emphasized that the construction cost of the fifth-generation swap station is 1.4 million yuan per station, a notable decrease from the previous generation's 1.5 million yuan, while the first-time swap success rate has improved by 50% compared to the same period of the previous generation.

Regarding external collaborations, NIO stated that some projects and communication negotiations are still ongoing and making continuous progress. The development of Robotaxi and battery swapping is highly aligned in terms of infrastructure support—regarding collaboration and pricing models, access fees will generally be adopted.

Qu Yu also emphasized that an increasing number of automakers recognize the advantages of battery swapping and are eager to join.

Overall, regarding the battery swap business, NIO is simultaneously working to expand its swap network while also striving to reduce costs and unlock value—however, from the current perspective, this remains a complex process that will require more time.

In addition to battery swapping services, NIO has also made progress in intelligent technologies. In its financial report, NIO disclosed that shares of its subsidiary, Shenji, have been subscribed by investors, resulting in a post-investment valuation of RMB 12.25 billion, with one of NIO’s subsidiaries holding a 59.95% controlling stake in Shenji.

Notably, during the earnings call, Li Bin also revealed that nearly 20% of NIO and Lucid used-car customers have subscribed to autonomous driving services. Although the current base of paying users is still small, the company has already generated tens of millions of yuan in subscription revenue this year. As the user base grows, subscription revenue is expected to become a significant long-term service income stream for the company.

Currently, although this revenue is still relatively limited, it is indeed good news, indicating that NIO’s investments in intelligence will open up new monetization opportunities.

Notably, during the earnings call, NIO was also asked about Ren Shaoqing’s founding of a robotics AI startup. Li Bin confirmed this and stated that Ren Shaoqing will continue to serve as NIO’s head of autonomous driving, with NIO supporting his venture as a strategic shareholder—Li Bin emphasized that this arrangement allows NIO to maintain strategic investment in robotics AI and physical AI while focusing on its core business, without impacting the company’s income statement.

In other words, although many automakers have officially entered the humanoid robotics field, NIO remains focused on its core business of intelligent electric vehicles and will not directly enter the realm of embodied intelligence—even though this domain has become extremely crowded.

As Li Bin previously emphasized at the communication meeting: NIO will focus on selling cars honestly.

Regardless, as the only automaker in today’s Chinese market that has consistently adhered to a pure electric strategy, NIO has moved beyond its survival crisis and is now focused on delivering greater value and improving operational performance—a challenging journey in itself, one that may also face indifference from capital markets. But NIO has no choice but to press on, making increasingly clear-headed and pragmatic decisions along the way.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Timeline Timelines," authored by Wang Zhi.