Nio Q1, March Deliveries At Record, As EV Maker Stands Up To Industry-Wide Challenges

Nio Inc. NIO sprang in a surprise for its investors on April Fools' day by reporting deliveries that exceeded the tempered forecast the EV maker issued last week.

What Happened: Nio delivered 7,257 cars for the month of March, the Chinese EV start-up said in a statement released Thursday. This represented a record monthly total and a 373% increase year-over-year.

The break-up of the monthly total is as follows: 1,529 ES8s, 3,152 ES6s, both of which are all-electric SUVs, and 2,576 EC6 premium smart electric coupe SUVs.

The quarterly number was at a record 20,060 vehicles, up 423% from the first quarter of 2020.

See also: How to Buy Nio Stock

For Nio, it became a case of under-promising and over-delivering, as it lowered its first-quarter deliveries forecast last week to 19,500 vehicles. In its fourth-quarter earnings report released in early March, the company guided to quarterly deliveries of 20,00-20,500 units.

The company said last week chip shortage is forcing it to shut down its Hefei plant for five days, beginning March 29.

Cumulative deliveries of all its mass-produced models stood at 95,701 units as of March 31.

The company said it is on track to roll out its 100,000th vehicle by April 7.

Related Link: Nio, XPeng File For Hong Kong Listings: Report

Why It's Important: Nio has outperformed its domestic rival XPeng Inc. XPEV, which reported earlier Thursday monthly deliveries that could not beat its January total.

XPeng qualified its quarterly and monthly performances as commendable, as it came despite the industry-wide seasonal softness.

More importantly, Nio has come largely unscathed from the chip crunch in the first quarter. It remains to be seen how it navigates through the supply constraint in the coming quarter, as chipmakers have warned the issue will persist at least through the second quarter of 2022.

Nio is said planning a secondary listing in Hong Kong and has also filed with the exchange, according to multiple reports. The company has also stitched up partnerships and invested heavily in its battery swapping technology, with its
battery swap station 2.0 already in the works.

The extreme volatility seen in Nio's shares since late February has led to substantial weakness. The shares are trading substantially off the all-time high of $66.99 hit Jan. 11.

Reacting to the update on deliveries, the stock was seen rallying 5.21% to $41.01 in the pre-market session on Thursday.

Related Link: Nio Day 2020: EV Maker Shows Off ET7 Sedan, New Power Swap Station, 150kWh Battery Pack, ADaaS And More