管理層發言
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for NIO Incorporated First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Mr. Ray Chen, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Finance of the company. Please go ahead, Ray.
Good morning and good evening, everyone. Welcome to NIO's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. The company's financial and operating results were published in the press release earlier today and are posted on the company's IR website. On today's call, we have Mr. William Li, Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer; and Ms. Stanley Qu, Chief Financial Officer. Before we continue, please be kindly reminded that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding risks and uncertainties is included in certain filings of the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. Please also note that NIO's earnings press release and this conference call include discussions of unaudited GAAP financial information as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the news press release, which contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Mr. William Li. William, please go ahead.
Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining NIO Inc.'s 2026 Q1 earnings call. In Q1 2026, the company delivered a total of 83,465 smart EVs, representing a year-over-year increase of 98.3%. Breaking it down by brand, NIO brand delivered 58,543 vehicles, maintaining its leadership in China's BEV segment priced above RMB 300,000. The ONVO brand delivered 13,339 vehicles, continuing to unlock its growth potential. The FIREFLY brand delivered 11,583 vehicles, ranking #1 in China's high-end small car segment. In April, the company delivered 29,356 vehicles, up 22.8% year-over-year. Starting Q2, the three brands have entered an intensive product launch and delivery cycle, which is expected to support continued rapid delivery growth. We expect the total deliveries in Q2 to range between 110,000 and 115,000 units, representing year-over-year growth of 52.7% to 59.6%. On the financial side, the company's gross margin was 19% in Q1, driven by a higher contribution from higher-margin products. Vehicle margin came in at 18.8%, improving quarter-over-quarter for the fourth consecutive quarter. Margin for other sales, mainly services and community-related businesses, reached 20.6%, the highest level in the past four years, with both business scale and profitability achieving improvement. In Q1, the company maintained positive non-GAAP operating profit and positive operating cash flow and cash reserves increased to RMB 48.2 billion. NIO has remained committed to the BEV roadmap while continuously strengthening its systemic innovation capabilities. Over the years, the company has built distinctive competitiveness across technology, products, services and user community operations. Supported by these capabilities, the product and overall experience of NIO, ONVO and FIREFLY have gained broad acclaim among their respective target users. For the NIO brand, since delivery began in late September 2025, the all-new ES8 reached a 100,000 delivery milestone in just 215 days, setting a new delivery record among passenger vehicles priced above RMB 400,000 in China. As of April this year, the ONVO ES8 had remained #1 in both the large SUV segment and the passenger vehicle segment priced above RMB 400,000 for five consecutive months, regardless of powertrain types. In early April, the 2026 ES6, EC6, ET5 and ET5T were launched and delivered, further addressing evolving user needs through enhanced product offerings. On April 9, we officially put the new ES9 on the road, our flagship executive SUV. The ES9 integrates multiple industry-first technologies and class-leading features, redefining the standards of executive flagship SUVs and leading the segment into the BEV era. The ES9 will officially launch and begin deliveries on May 27, and we are confident that the ES9 will set a new benchmark in the flagship executive SUV market priced above RMB 500,000. For the ONVO brand, the L90 continued its strong market momentum in Q1 2026, ranking #1 in the large SUV segment priced between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000. This year, ONVO achieved comprehensive upgrades in both products as well as core technologies. The 2026 L90 has already been officially launched and delivered. The upgraded L90 now features a new in-house developed ES931 smart driving chip, a new award-winning model and the SOS vehicle operating system. On May 15, the ONVO L80, a flagship large SUV with an innovative front and trunk layout, was officially launched and delivered. The L80 is a breakthrough product in the large 5-seat SUV market and currently offers the largest cargo capacity among 5-seat SUVs in China. Through innovative space and scenario-based lifestyle solutions, the L80 supports a wide range of scenarios for large 5-seat SUV users. In addition, the NIO L60 will make its debut in late May. The updated model will feature upgrades in exterior design and smart features, further enhancing its competitiveness. For the FIREFLY brand, the refreshed model has already started deliveries in Q2, bringing comprehensive upgrades in powertrain performance and smart experiences. Going forward, FIREFLY will continue to introduce a limited number of additional models to further strengthen its distinctive brand identity. On smart driving, earlier this year, we officially rolled out a major new version of our world model, NWM, powered by an advanced architecture featuring the world model and bootstrapped reinforcement learning. The new version significantly enhanced the full-scenario Navigate On Pilot experience. Within one quarter of the rollout, Urban NOP mileage increased by 92% quarter-over-quarter, while the proportion of smart driving usage time increased by 116%. So far, the smart driving system powered by NWM has been introduced across ONVO's new products. In June, both NIO and ONVO users will receive the next major NWM upgrade, bringing noticeable improvements across driving, parking and active safety scenarios. In terms of sales and service networks, the company now operates 168 new houses, 389 new spaces, 430 ONVO stores as well as 408 service centers and 90 delivery centers. We continue to optimize our sales and service network layout through the highly coordinated Sky Store model, expanding market coverage while strengthening local presence and increasing network density. As of now, the company has 3,916 power swap stations worldwide, along with more than 28,000 power chargers and destination chargers. On May 10, the new ES9 successfully completed the 10,000-kilometer challenge in just 94 hours, 19 minutes and 11 seconds, setting a new record among BEVs in China. This further demonstrated the reliability, efficiency and convenience of battery swap. On May 20, the company released its 2025 Environmental, Social and Governance report and announced its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, aiming to reduce the carbon footprint per vehicle by 43% by 2035 from the 2023 baseline. By delivering high-performance smart EVs and exceptional user experiences, we aim to build a sustainable and brighter future together with our users and partners. After 11 years of long-term investment and persistence, the company has built full-stack technology capabilities around the core technologies of smart EVs. At the same time, we have gradually established a systemic innovation capability, spanning R&D, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, power services and user services. These capabilities not only enable us to continuously launch innovative products and lead industry development, but also serve as the core foundation for our continued brand development and long-term competitiveness. Today, NIO, ONVO and FIREFLY have each established a clear market position with their core products steadily increasing market share in the respective segments. We are confident in achieving our business targets for the year and delivering sustainable growth beyond 2026. Thank you for your support. With that, I will now turn the call over to Stanley for Q1 financial details. Over to you, Stanley.
Thank you, William. Let's now review our key financial results for the first quarter of 2026. Our total revenues reached RMB 25.5 billion, up 112.2% year-over-year and down 26.3% quarter-over-quarter. Vehicle sales were RMB 22.8 billion, up 129.2% year-over-year and down 27.9% quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year growth was mainly due to increased deliveries and a higher average selling price, driven by positive product mix effects. The quarter-over-quarter decrease was mainly due to fewer deliveries. Other sales were RMB 2.7 billion, up 31.2% year-over-year and down 9.7% quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year growth was driven by increased sales of parts, accessories and after-sales vehicle services and provision of power solutions, along with a rise in sales of auto financing services. The quarter-over-quarter decrease was due to a decrease in revenues from technical R&D services and used car sales. Looking at margins: vehicle margin was 18.8% compared with 10.2% in Q1 last year and 18.1% last quarter. The year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter improvements were driven by a more favorable product mix. Other sales margin reached a record high of 20.6% in the recent four years, reflecting the continuing profitability improvement in our user-base-driven service and community-related businesses. With the improvements in both vehicle and other sales margin, overall gross margin increased to 19% compared with 7.6% in Q1 last year and 17.5% last quarter. Turning to operating expenses: R&D expenses were RMB 1.9 billion, decreased 40.7% year-over-year and 7% quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year decrease was mainly driven by lower personnel costs in R&D functions due to organizational optimization, reduced design and development costs from different development stages and improved operational efficiency. The quarter-over-quarter decrease was also mainly due to lower design and development costs from different development stages and improved operational efficiencies. SG&A expenses were RMB 3.5 billion, decreased 20.5% year-over-year and 1.1% quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year decrease was mainly driven by lower personnel costs and related expenses in marketing and other supporting functions due to organizational optimization as well as reduced sales and marketing activities. The quarter-over-quarter SG&A expenses stayed stable. Loss from operations was RMB 0.3 billion compared with loss from operations of RMB 6.4 billion in Q1 last year and profit from operations of RMB 0.8 billion last quarter. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, adjusted profit from operations was RMB 66.8 million. Net loss was RMB 0.3 billion compared with net loss of RMB 6.8 billion in Q1 last year and net profit of RMB 0.3 billion last quarter. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, adjusted net profit was RMB 43.5 million. Furthermore, we generated positive operating cash flow this quarter and ended the quarter with RMB 48.2 billion in total cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments and long-term time deposits. That wraps up our prepared remarks. For more information and the details of our unaudited first quarter financial results, please refer to our earnings press release. Now I will turn the call over to the operator to start our Q&A session. Operator, please.
分析師問答
The first question today comes from Bin Wang with Deutsche Bank.
Congrats for the great result. I've got two questions. The first one is about ES9. The ES9 is launching next week. Do you share core order flow information during the presale period? And do you think ES9 monthly volume in the next several months will be in line with the monthly volume guidance, and can ES9 orders impact the ES8 order book? That's my first question. And the second question is about gross margin. Can you provide a second quarter gross margin guidance given you have better volume and also based on the cost increases, such as memory and other components? Basically, what's your outlook for the gross margin in the next several quarters?
Thank you for the question. Regarding the ES9, we will officially launch and deliver the new ES9 on May 27. Since the prelaunch of the ES9, its technology as well as its exterior and interior design have been well recognized and well received by the market and our users. We started ES9 test drives from May 11, and after the test drives we witnessed growing momentum in order intake for the model. For us, we seldom disclose the specific order momentum or order intake for new models. However, we are confident in its overall performance in the executive flagship SUV segment above RMB 500,000 in China, and we believe it is going to change the landscape of the battery electric vehicle segment above RMB 500,000. We did not observe that the launch of the ES9 diluted or cannibalized demand for the ES8; instead, it has generated a positive impact on attention and order intake for the ES8. Especially after our prelaunch and test drives for the ES9, we welcomed a lot of in-store visits and increased traffic. Many visitors who may not have known about the new model experienced and compared the ES9 and ES8 and some concluded that their use cases fit better with the ES9. For the ES8, we actually witnessed an increase in order intake after the ES9 prelaunch. One week after the ES9 prelaunch, order intake for the ES8 increased by about 30% week-over-week. In the first 20 days of May, ES8 order intake reached a new high since October. Last year, as we were digesting the ES8 order backlog, we maintained stable and strong order intake for the ES8 while also supporting strong order intake for the ES9. The two products are well positioned and differentiated: ES9 is a flagship executive SUV competing with conventional executive SUVs like BMW X7 or Mercedes GLS, while ES8 is a more all-around SUV catering to both business scenarios and family purposes. The two products complement each other well, and price-wise they are differentiated. We are pleased that both are well received in their respective segments.
Thank you for the question. Regarding gross margin: in Q1, we achieved a vehicle margin of 18.8%, a solid improvement year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. The Q1 increase was mainly because of the higher contribution from higher-margin models, especially the ES8, which contributed a significant portion of margin and itself had above 20% vehicle margin in Q1. At the same time, although there is rising cost pressure from material costs, our advanced inventories on semiconductor and other key components partially offset such pressure in Q1. Starting Q2 and beyond, the industry faces rising material cost pressure, including memory chips, battery materials like lithium carbonate and NCM, as well as copper and aluminum. On average, the cost impact per unit is around RMB 10,000 or more. For the full year, the company still aims to achieve a vehicle margin of around 17% to 18%. To achieve this Q2 and full-year vehicle margin target, we will take several actions: first, further increase the product mix toward higher-price, higher-margin models like ES8 and ES9; second, maintain stable pricing and promotional policies for other models and not compromise margin performance for the sake of volume; and third, work closely with supply chain partners on engineering and efficiency improvements and commercial negotiations to mitigate cost pressure. With these measures, we target a Q2 and full-year vehicle margin of around 17% to 18%.
The next question comes from Tim Hsiao with Morgan Stanley.
This is Tim Hsiao from Morgan Stanley. Congratulations on another solid quarter. I have two questions. The first question is about the product mix because we noted the 8 and 9 series large SUVs are expected to likely more than triple year-over-year this year while the rest of the lineup is likely to see a roughly 20% year-over-year decline on your 40% to 50% full year volume guidance. So once the growth of the 8 and 9 series is fully unfolded and the group's total volume approaches your 500,000 unit target, how does NIO plan to reboost the growth of the subsequent models, for example the 5, 6, 7 series, which are likely to face greater competition in the market? That's my first question. My second question is about profit and OpEx because NIO has posted two consecutive non-GAAP profitable quarters. Do you anticipate maintaining quarterly non-GAAP profit throughout 2026? In the meantime, can the current OpEx parameters, i.e., SG&A ratio below 10% and quarterly R&D spend in the RMB 2 billion to RMB 2.5 billion range, be adequate to support robust business growth moving forward? When is the next R&D investment upcycle expected to begin? That's my second question.
Thank you for the question. The overall volume growth this year is mainly driven by models with higher prices and higher margins. They play an important role in supporting both our volume growth and vehicle margin improvement. For the ES8, we will maintain stable and strong market performance. Very soon we will start ES9 deliveries, and later we will also introduce a 5-seater version of the ES8. For the ONVO brand, the L90 and L80 continue to lead market share in the segment priced between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000. Starting next year, our entire product portfolio will enter a new phase where we will upgrade ET5, ET5T, ES6 and EC6 to the latest technology platform and digital architecture, and ONVO will also launch new products. In general, we plan to maintain a pace of about five to seven new or refreshed products each year. With these launches, we do not pursue absolute volume increases alone; instead, we aim to achieve leading market share in each respective segment. We believe our existing product portfolio and upcoming products will sustain our competitiveness. In the first four months, total sales of the company actually topped the passenger vehicle market in Shanghai, achieving an 8% market share among Shanghai's passenger vehicle market. As we expand channels and network coverage, deploy power swap stations and facilities, and as users in lower-tier cities become more open to BEVs, we believe our product lines and upcoming models will help us achieve reasonable market share within China's passenger vehicle market.
Thank you for the question. For full-year 2026, our financial target is to achieve positive non-GAAP operating profit. In terms of OpEx guidance, for R&D expenses we target non-GAAP R&D investments or expenses around RMB 2.0 billion to RMB 2.5 billion per quarter. We believe this level of spending is enough to sustain investments into key technologies such as chips and operating systems to ensure strong competitiveness and technical leadership. This investment scale will also support the launch and rollout of new models each year. At the same time, we are improving overall efficiency and utilization of resources. Last year, we rolled out a CBU mechanism which has improved efficiency—today the productivity or yield of RMB 2.0 billion in R&D investment is equivalent to perhaps RMB 3.5 billion in past years. Also, we remain focused on BEV development rather than splitting efforts across multiple powertrain systems, which increases investment efficiency compared with some peers. Regarding SG&A, we generally target SG&A at about 10% of revenue, though this can vary quarter to quarter. For example, Q2 will have an intensive product launch and delivery cycle, with corresponding marketing and launch expenses higher than the previous quarter, so absolute SG&A in Q2 will surge compared with Q1. In Q3 and Q4, as new products are already in the market, absolute amounts in the second half will be relatively lower. So there will be quarter-to-quarter differences.
The next question comes from Paul Gong with UBS.
Congrats on this quarter. I have two questions. The first question is regarding competition in the 9 series or large flagship SUV segment. The success of the ES8 since late last year has attracted competitors launching large electric SUVs as we saw at the Beijing Auto Show and quite a few are even aggressively priced. How do you think about competition in this segment? What is NIO's moat? How can NIO stay ahead in this segment as the sales leader in the high-end large SUV segment? That is my first question. My second question is regarding potential indirect price risk under the challenge of raw material cost inflation. Stanley mentioned cost inflation of about RMB 10,000 per car. This cost pressure not only affects you, but it may be a bigger challenge for competitors who price products at a cheaper level. Under this competition and cost inflation challenge, do you think there is an opportunity to cut some of the incentives and improve pricing for the industry and for NIO?
Thank you for the question. The ES8 has indeed created many records: it achieved 100,000 deliveries in 215 days—the fastest among cars priced above RMB 400,000 in China—and has been the top seller in the price segment above RMB 400,000 and in the large SUV segment for five consecutive months, regardless of powertrain type. In this price segment, it achieved about 49.7% market share. The reason for success is that the product is an embodiment of our 11 years of systematic capability and innovation. Our systemic capabilities include in-house full-stack technologies as well as an innovative supply chain. For ES9, we applied many industry-first technologies and worked closely with supply chain partners to mass produce advanced solutions. We also have leading capabilities in manufacturing and lifecycle quality management, smart power systems, charging and swapping networks, and a nationwide premium customer experience. With these six system capabilities built over 11 years, we are establishing ourselves as a premium brand leading the premium segment. We have also observed that the competition landscape in China's new-energy vehicle market is transitioning and becoming clearer, and NIO is widely recognized as a premium brand. Many users view NIO as the next major premium brand alongside Mercedes, BMW and Audi. In Q1, NIO's average selling price was RMB 390,000—about RMB 50,000 higher than BMW and about 50% higher than Audi in comparable contexts. In first-tier cities like Shanghai, our market share has already surpassed some ICE models from traditional luxury brands. In general, NIO, ONVO and FIREFLY are positioned as premium brands. This is increasingly a consensus among users. For ONVO and FIREFLY we also insist on original design and long-term dedication to product quality; our users often seek emotional connection and community in addition to product features. That emotional connection creates a unique competitive edge and reduces the need to compete only on price. Given rising raw material and component costs, low-price strategies do not necessarily translate into margin advantages. Therefore, we will insist on our premium positioning and focus on the user experience and product value rather than aggressive price cuts. On the supply side, since last year we've promoted transparent supply chain practices and a primary and preferred partner approach. We work with partners to identify costs and processes that do not create user value and then optimize or eliminate them. We estimate about 5% to 10% opportunity to reduce costs through such optimizations. This year, we will focus on meticulous supply chain operations with partners to offset raw material cost increases.
The next question comes from Nick Lai with JPMorgan.
This is Nick from JPMorgan. Two simple questions. The first is a quick recap and update on ADAS strategy. You mentioned your in-house chip has started to be put in selected models. How fast will the in-house chip be deployed across the rest of the models, and how will this ADAS strategy make your product more competitive compared with peers? Second, I'm aware your in-house chip subsidiary raised RMB 2 billion through fundraising in Q1. How would that help financing and R&D?
Thank you for the question. Our in-house developed smart driving chip, the ES931, is the world's first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip and leads in inference capability, data bandwidth, ISP performance and inter-chip communications. It was first mass produced on the new ET9 last March. To date, we have shipped more than 250,000 pieces of the chip in our products. The chip solution itself is mature. We have also introduced it to ONVO's new products starting with the L90. Introducing this chip across brands allows us to unify the autonomous driving software baseline, improving R&D efficiency and accelerating the data closed loop. In the second half of this year, we expect more than 80% to 85% of our cars will be equipped with our in-house smart driving chips. Regarding our AD roadmap, starting this year we are moving to an architecture featuring the new world model and closed-loop reinforcement learning, which offers great potential for continuous development and integration with higher efficiency. We are achieving comparable or better smart driving performance while using only about 20% of the computing power versus peers. Users have given very positive feedback on the smart driving experience. There will be two more major upgrades later this year, and we are confident in the AD performance and its growth potential. On the business model, we will continue ADAS subscription services, which will become an important revenue driver among other services and community-related businesses. While we offered free subscriptions to some early users, long-term ADAS services are expected to be subscription-based and contribute to revenue. Regarding fundraising for the chip subsidiary, smooth financing for the chip business gives us more resources and flexibility to develop upcoming chip products, including more affordable chip solutions for broader deployment.
Next question comes from Jing Chang with CICC.
Congratulations on the robust profit in the first quarter. My first question is about ONVO. We see L80 was officially launched this month. How do you see market feedback on orders? Also, we see competition—new models sometimes have large initial orders but later shop decrease. How do you expect L80's sustainable monthly sales performance? And for the overall ONVO brand, what's your strategy to enhance ONVO's brand awareness?
Thank you for the question. For the ONVO L80, we believe it's a defining and revolutionary product in the large 5-seater SUV segment. The market size for 5-seat SUVs is roughly three times that of the 3-row SUV segment, so L80 can tap into a broader market than L90. Since the official launch of ONVO L80 on April 29, we have received positive feedback from media and users who test drove the vehicles, and order intake is meeting our expectations. The L80 targets a wide range of user groups, including young couples, families with small children, and pet owners. Its core competitiveness is driven by technology and overall product performance, including reimagined space and lifestyle scenario solutions. We believe the ONVO L80 will drive the large 5-seater SUV segment into the BEV era, similar to how L90 and ES8 drove their segments. For ONVO brand awareness, the major challenge is that ONVO is still a young brand—deliveries have only been around 20 months. Our current brand awareness is comparable to where NIO's awareness was in 2020. We are taking multiple approaches to increase awareness, such as collaborating with celebrities who reach target users and increasing front-line marketing efforts including test drives and door-to-door engagement. It takes effort and time, but conversion from awareness to order has been efficient once users learn about the brand.
Thank you for the question on other sales. 'Other sales' mainly includes after-sales service and maintenance, accessory e-shop sales, power services and new life merchandise. We have seen significant improvement in after-sales performance and financial services last year, and in Q1 this year we achieved over 20% other sales margin. There was no one-off impact. The main drivers of the improvement are: first, strong user stickiness and willingness to pay for premium services due to our lifecycle-oriented user experience; second, improved operational efficiency of services, especially power services where operating costs per station have improved significantly; and third, leveraging our energy and power services through off-peak charging, electricity trading and other interactions to generate additional revenue. We believe other sales—services and community-related businesses—are at an inflection point and entering a new growth phase. For full-year 2026, we target a 20% other sales margin. In the longer term, as we expand our user base and improve service efficiency, the profitability of other sales will continue to improve and become an important driver of sustainable growth alongside new-car sales.
The next question comes from Yuqian Ding with HSBC.
I have one question. Regarding the second half, could you talk a bit more about the new compensation plan? Other than the current new models ramping up into the second half, what's the biggest expectation in the second half? Could you share the ES7's timeline and its position among your current premium SUV lineup?
Thank you for the question. In the second half of this year, the major new product we are going to launch will be the 5-seater version of the all-new ES8. In addition to that, our primary focus in the second half will be dedicated to selling cars and serving our users well.
The next question comes from Joe Yang with Bank of America.
I have one question on your battery swap business. Can you share target number of power-swap stations and the targeted utilization rate by the end of this year? And when will the battery swap business achieve profitability on a stand-alone basis?
Thank you for the question. At peak times, especially during holidays, each power swap station can deliver around 45 swaps per day on average. On typical days, the average is about 30 swaps per day. In the short term, our focus remains on rolling out and expanding the power swap network. This year, our target is to build over 1,000 power swap stations. Starting in Q3, we will scale roll-out of our fifth-generation power swap stations. We are continuously improving operational efficiency at our swap stations, but in the short term we need upfront investment and early deployment of stations, so station-level profitability is not our primary focus right now. However, I should note that other sales—services and community-related businesses—are already profitable, and the power swap business is included within that part of the business, which gives us resources to sustain continued expansion of the swap station network.
There are no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks.
Thank you again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact the NIO IR team through the contact information on the website. This concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.