Chinese EV start-up Nio predicts its third-quarter deliveries will soar by as much as 80 per cent as it becomes the latest major electric-car builder on the mainland to benefit from a release of pent-up demand. 

The Shanghai-based company said in a statement after publishing its second-quarter earnings that it would hand 55,000 to 57,000 vehicles to Chinese customers between July and September, up by at least 74 per cent from the same period a year ago. The top end of the forecast would translate to an annual increase of 80.3 per cent and a 142 per cent quarterly surge. 

Nio said its net loss in the second quarter widened by 27.8 per cent on the year to 6.1 billion yuan (US$836 million). Revenue slipped 14.8 per cent to 8.77 billion yuan. 

The company’s sales suffered as it kept the prices of its intelligent vehicles almost unchanged while rivals went head-to-head in a bruising price war in the first five months of 2023. 

But Nio has bounced back since June, when the price competition among premium EV makers came to an end, unleashing a wave of demand from customers who had sat out the bargains bonanza in the hopes that steeper discounts were on the way. 

In July alone, the carmaker handed over the keys to 20,462 vehicles, roughly double the number a year ago. 

Nio’s chairman and chief executive, William Li, said the strong July sales showed the company had gained a top position in the 300,000 yuan-plus price segment of China’s EV industry. 

The carmaker predicted its revenue in the third quarter would reach 18.9 billion yuan to 19.5 billion yuan, up by as much as a half from the same period of 2022 and more than double the amount in the second quarter. 

Nio is the last of the three Chinese electric-car makers seen as the biggest threat to Tesla to make a bullish forecast for the coming months. 

On August 8, Beijing -based Li Auto said its deliveries between July and September should reach 100,000 to 103,000 units, up by 15.6 to 19 per cent from the previous quarter. 

Ten days later, Guangzhou-headquartered Xpeng predicted it would deliver 39,000 to 41,000 electric cars to mainland customers in the same span, up by 68 to 76.7 per cent from the previous quarter. 

The Chinese EV trio design and manufacture electric cars that feature high-performance battery systems, preliminary autonomous driving technology and sophisticated digital cockpits. 

“They are set to benefit from a market recovery since millions of Chinese young motorists are now fans of battery-powered cars,” said Zhao Zhen, a sales director with Shanghai-based dealer Wan Zhuo Auto. “Competition among Chinese premium EV makers and Tesla will be interesting to watch now that demand for cars built by the three domestic start-ups is rising fast.” 

On August 14, Tesla slashed the prices of its Shanghai-made Model Y vehicles by 4 per cent, its first reduction in seven months, as the US carmaker sought to keep its Chinese rivals at bay. 

The prices of the Long Range and Performance editions of the Model Y are now at their lowest in China since Tesla began assembling the SUV at the Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai at the start of 2021.