NIO’s vehicle sales in Q2 2022 grow YoY, but vehicle margin drops

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, NIO Inc. recorded total revenue of 10,292.4 million yuan ($1,536.6 million), representing a 21.8% growth year-on-year and a 3.9% growth quarter-on-quarter, according to the financial results the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) startup released today. 

NIO's vehicle sales in Q2 2022 reached 9,570.8 million yuan ($1,428.9 million), jumping 21% from the same quarter of last year, while also climbing 3.5% from the first quarter (Q1) in 2022. The company said the year-on-year increase in the vehicle sales was mainly attributable to higher deliveries, while the quarter-on-quarter growth mainly stemmed from higher average selling price. 

Photo credit: NIO

Gross profit of NIO amounted to 1,340.3 million yuan ($200.1 million) in Q2 2022, sliding 14.8% from the previous year, while also dipping 7.4% from the previous quarter. 

The company's gross margin stood at 13% in Q2 2022, versus 18.6% in Q2 2021 and 14.6% in Q1 2022. 

Vehicle margin of NIO was 16.7% in Q2 2022, shrinking 3.6 percentage points over the prior-year period and also dropping 1.4 percentage points compared to a quarter earlier. The startup said both the year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter decline in vehicle margin mainly resulted from the increased battery cost per unit. 

NIO still logged an operation loss of 2,845.6 million yuan ($424.8million) in Q2 2022, representing a 272.8% surge year-on-year and a 30% growth quarter-on-quarter. 

In Q2 2022, NIO's R&D expenses amounted to 2,149.5 million yuan ($320.9 million), soaring 143.2% over the same quarter of 2021, while also jumping 22% over a quarter ago. The rise on R&D expenses was mainly ascribed to the increased personnel costs in R&D functions as well as the incremental design and development costs for new products and technologies, said NIO.

As for future outlook, NIO expects its vehicle deliveries to reach between 31,000 and 33,000 units in the third quarter (Q3) 2022, growing roughly 26.8% to 35% compared to the same span of 2021.

The company also anticipated total revenue of 12,845 million yuan ($1,918 million) to 13,598 million yuan ($2,030 million) for Q3 2022, representing a growth of around 31% to 38.7% from the same quarter in 2021.