Nio Says Dip Seen In May Deliveries Wasn't Due To Chip Shortage

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc. NIO said that the slight sequential decline in its deliveries for the month of May was not due to the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage, cnEVpost reported Monday.

What Happened: The main reason for the 5.5% decline in Nio’s May deliveries compared to April were due to a change made by the State Taxation Administration (STA) in China’s auto invoice rules, the report quoted Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong as saying in a media interview. Nio’s May sales surged 95.3% on a year-over-year basis.

See Also: How To Buy Nio Stock

The STA made the change in the auto invoice rules as previous rules for issuing car invoices may have enabled automakers or dealers to exploit loopholes and create false invoices, according to the report.

Qin reportedly said that the change delayed Nio’s average delivery time by four days. Excluding invoicing, the company would have been able to go from order receipt to delivery in a little more than two weeks.

See Also: Nio Rival Xpeng Says It Could Beat Q2 Delivery Target Despite Chip Shortage Concerns

Why It Matters: May marked the third straight month of decline in terms of deliveries so far this year for Nio.

Nio had said that its May delivery numbers were adversely hurt for several days due to the volatile semiconductor supply and “certain logistical adjustments,” but had not specified what those adjustments were.

Price Action: Nio shares closed almost 4.2% higher in Monday’s regular trading session at $43.68, but declined 0.3% in the after-hours session to $43.53.

Click here to check out Benzinga's EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news

Photo by bfishadow on Flickr