Nio Founder Buoyant as Chinese EV Maker Reaches 1M Sales and Expected Profit

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Nio’s founder reaffirmed his confidence that the Chinese electric vehicle startup is on track to achieve its first-ever quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company celebrated the production of its one millionth electric vehicle yesterday.

“Nio is still here, and as long as we are, opportunities exist,” said Li Bin, who also serves as chairman and CEO of the Shenzhen-based company. He spoke at a media event held yesterday at the company’s Xinqiao manufacturing plant in Hefei, eastern Anhui province, to mark the milestone.

This achievement makes Nio the fourth electric vehicle startup to join the “million-unit club,” after Li Auto, XPeng, and Leapmotor. It’s also the second pure electric vehicle brand worldwide to surpass one million units, following Tesla. Notably, Nio remains the only Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer that exclusively produces all-pure EV models.

Li reaffirmed his optimism about hitting that profit target in the last quarter of 2025. Although the financial results for that period haven’t been published yet, he remains hopeful.

In the fourth quarter, Nio delivered an additional 40,000 units of its latest third-generation ES8 model, compared to the previous quarter. Priced around 400,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $55,600), this model is expected to have a gross margin exceeding 20%, likely boosting the company’s overall gross profit for the quarter ending December 31.

Achieving a quarterly profit has become a critical focus for the market, widely viewed as a key indicator of whether the company can sustain its long-term viability.

However, recent sales figures have raised some concerns. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Nio delivered 124,800 vehicles, falling short of the 150,000-unit sales goal set by Li in September. For the full year, deliveries totaled 326,000 units, well below the 440,000 units projected at the start of the year.

Li added that Nio aims for an annual sales growth rate between 40% and 50%, which would require around 456,400 units in sales this year.

Based on prior estimates from U.S. consulting firm AlixPartners, pure EV manufacturers generally need to sell about 400,000 vehicles annually to break even.