Nio can only grow thanks to Firefly and Onvo – core brand sales decline
Let’s first take a look at the delivery figures: 72,056 vehicles were delivered during the reporting period. That represents an increase of 25.6 per cent compared to the same period last year, and an increase of 71.2 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2025. However, the comparison with the same quarter last year is more meaningful, as sales figures are traditionally weaker in the first quarter.
Nio breaks down the delivery figures by brand: 47,132 vehicles were accounted for by the premium-oriented main brand Nio, with models such as the ET5 and ET7 electric saloons, the ET5 Touring shooting brake and the EL6, EL7 and EL8 SUVs. A further 17,081 electric cars were accounted for by the still young family brand Onvo. And for the first time, the new small car brand Firefly also appears. Its first vehicles were delivered to customers in China in April. Firefly sold a total of 7,843 vehicles in the second quarter.
New models in July and August
The quarterly report also includes an outlook for July and August, although these figures are not relevant to the current business results. According to the report, the company delivered 21,017 vehicles across all three brands in July and 31,305 in August. By 31st August 2025, deliveries in the current year had reached 166,472 vehicles, bringing Nio’s total deliveries since the company was founded to 838,036. At the same time, Nio emphasises that it is well prepared for the future with the new Onvo L90 family SUV, which was unveiled at the end of July, and the new version of the premium SUV Nio ES8 (called EL8 in Europe), which was unveiled in August.
“The strong market reception of ONVO L90 and NIO All-New ES8 has reinforced our overall sales momentum. Driven by this strong demand, we anticipate total deliveries in the third quarter to range between 87,000 and 91,000, representing a year-on-year growth of 40.7% to 47.1% and setting a new company record,” said founder and CEO William Li, offering a positive outlook.
Looking at the financial figures, revenue from vehicle sales rose by only 2.9 per cent year-on-year to 16.1 billion yuan (approximately 1.95 billion euros). As mentioned above, the number of cars sold rose by 25.6 per cent at the same time, which can only mean that customers are buying significantly cheaper cars on average than a year ago – this is partly due to the initial success of the new, cheaper brands Onvo and Firefly.
Sales of core brand Nio down 17.9 per cent
On the other hand, the quarterly report also shows that sales figures for the main brand Nio are declining: While Nio reported 57,373 deliveries in Q2/2024 (and Onvo and Firefly did not even exist at that time), only 47,132 Nio vehicles were delivered in Q2/2025 – a decline of 17.9 per cent. Across all brands, the average price per vehicle sold is 224,000 yuan (27,000 euros).
Overall, the Nio Group’s revenue in the second quarter amounted to 19 billion yuan (2.3 billion euros), a 9 per cent increase over the same period last year and a similar level to that of competitor Xpeng. Nio positively highlights that gross profit rose by 12.4 per cent to 1.9 billion yuan (approx. 230 million euros) and gross margin to 10 per cent. However, after deducting other costs such as administration, sales and research, there was an operating loss of 4.91 billion yuan (590 million euros). The bottom line was a net loss of 4.99 billion yuan (600 million euros) for Nio.
The picture was even bleaker in the first quarter, when Nio also posted a net loss of 6.75 billion yuan (818 million euros). Since its founding in Shanghai in autumn 2014, Nio has incurred a cumulative loss of over 100 billion yuan, or more than 12 billion euros.
This article was first published by Florian Treiß for electrive’s German edition.
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