Nio presented its financial results for 2022. The Chinese EV maker was able to increase its deliveries and sales. However, the annual loss also grew significantly, probably due to the development cost for new models and the company’s expansion.
Nio delivered 122,486 EVs last year, 34 per cent more than in 2021. Its 2022 revenue was around 49.3 billion yuan ($7,1 billion), up 36 per cent year-on-year. But the loss for the financial year amounted to 14.4 billion yuan ($2.1 billion). That is almost 260 per cent more than in 2021.
The fourth quarter stood out in a positive way. With 40,052 vehicles delivered, Nio posted its best quarterly result by far, and compared to Q4 2021, sales and revenue rose by more than 60 per cent.
According to Nio, there are several reasons why financial losses increased. The carmaker i.e. decided recently to discontinue the NT1.0 platform and take relatively recent models off the market or replace them with more advanced versions based on the company’s NT2.0 platform. Therefore, “inventory provisions, accelerated depreciation on production facilities [which is no longer needed] and losses on purchase commitments for the existing generation of ES8, ES6 and EC6” made the company lose money.
As reported a few weeks ago, Nio also wants to expand its network of battery exchange stations in China, possibly switch to using round battery cells, and build two EV plants for its announced budget brands. All of this costs money, which is not covered by revenue from sales of the current generation of vehicles.
CEO and founder William Bin Li said Nio has made “positive strides in the research and development of core technologies and competitive products, infrastructure deployment and global market expansion, laying a solid foundation for the company’s long-term growth.”
Li sounds like Nio is not looking to be more frugal in the coming month. On the contrary. He added that “in 2023, [Nio plans] to deliver five new products based on Nio Technology Platform 2.0” and that the carmaker will deploy 1,000 additional power swap stations “to further improve holistic user experience, and continuously strengthen [its] competitive advantages in key areas of smart electric vehicles.”
Keyword: Nio: annual loss increases significantly YOY