Nio‘s founder and CEO William Li said on Friday that China’s EV market is facing a rebound in the second half of March.
According to the local media outlet Securities Times, Li attributed the expected recovery to trade-in subsidies being implemented and new car model launches approaching “intensively.”
The penetration rate of new energy vehicles is increasing week by week, becoming the main driving force behind the recovery of China’s passenger vehicle market, he said.
Li’s comments come as China’s car market recovers from a weak February, when the record-long Chinese New Year holiday reduced working days and weighed on production, logistics and sales.
The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) flagged the period as “the year’s absolute trough,” pointing to this year’s nine-day holiday — the longest on record — which left the month with just 16 working days, three fewer than the same period last year.
Adding to the slowdown, automakers have concentrated most of their new model launches in the post-holiday period, a strategic choice the CPCA noted is fueling “short-term volatility in both orders and deliveries.”
Earlier this month, the association said it expects 2.7 million passenger vehicle sales in March, a recovery of 64.5% from the previous month — but a 12.4% drop year over year.
Of these, new energy vehicle (NEV) retail sales are guided around 900,000 units, nearly doubling from February’s 464,000 vehicles.
The market penetration of NEVs is expected to reach above 50% this month, following steep week-over-week increases after the Chinese New Year holiday.
EV Market
According to the outlet, Li predicted that by 2030, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China’s new car market will exceed 90%, with pure electric vehicles accounting for more than 80% of that segment.
He had already shared this view earlier this year, in an internal letter addressed to all Nio staff on New Year’s Day.
“By 2030, new energy vehicles will account for over 90% of China’s new car market, with pure electric vehicles exceeding 80% of new energy sales,” Li wrote at the time.
Li has held this position for years.
In late 2025, during an interview with IT Home, he said the trend was “irreversible” and pointed to Norway — where NEV penetration climbed from roughly 20–25% in 2018 to above 97% — as an example of what China’s trajectory could look like.
Nio‘s Chief Executive Officer believes the pure electric vehicle market still has significant room for growth, particularly in the premium segment.
Over 60% of buyers of the new ES8 came from traditional luxury brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche, according to previous comments from the CEO.
Sales Network
The CEO has reaffirmed that Nio will continue to strengthen its sales and service network, deepening its presence in key markets while expanding into lower-tier cities.
According to the Securities Times report, the company aims to cover more than 210 prefecture-level cities within the year.
The push into lower-tier markets will be supported by multi-brand stores — known internally as Sky Stores — serving all three Nio Group brands under the same roof.
Li described them as “shared sales and service stores” for Nio, Onvo and Firefly, during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call earlier this month.
The shared storefronts are part of a broader effort to reduce fixed costs.
Nio‘s Chief Financial Officer Stanley Qu said during the same call that selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses decreased by 27.5% year over year and 15.5% sequentially in the fourth quarter.
According to the CFO, the drop was “mainly driven by a decrease in personnel and related costs in marketing and other supporting functions as a result of organizational optimization as well as the decrease in sales and marketing activities.”
The cost discipline has also extended to the company’s flagship retail spaces.
Last year marked the first time Nio ended a year with fewer Nio Houses than it had at the start, as exclusively reported by EV.
Nio Deliveries
The Nio Group delivered 20,797 vehicles in February, up 57.6% year over year but down 23.5% sequentially from January’s 27,182 units, as the holiday period dragged down volumes across the industry.
The gain was driven largely by continued demand for the all-new ES8, which carried the Nio brand’s performance.
However, both Onvo and Firefly recorded their worst delivery months since launch.
The company plans to unveil two new models next month — including the ES9, which will succeed the ES8 as its flagship SUV.
The first interior images of the model were leaked ahead of its launch this Friday.
Nio also expects to debut the Onvo L80 in mid-April. It will be a five-seat variant of the L90 SUV — which debuted last Summer and has seen sales decline over the past four months.
Near-Term Outlook
In January and February combined, the group delivered 47,979 vehicles across its three brands.
Nio said it expects first-quarter deliveries to account for between 80,000 and 83,000 vehicles.
The guidance represents a 90% to 97% jump from the 42,094 vehicles delivered in the same period a year ago, nearly doubling year over year.
The figures also imply that the EV maker is expecting to deliver between 32,021 and 35,021 vehicles in March alone.
Earlier this year, Nio guided for 40–50% delivery growth in 2026, implying approximately 456,000 to 489,000 vehicles registered throughout the year.
The company reported its first-ever quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of 2025, posting a non-GAAP adjusted operating profit of 1.251 billion yuan ($178.9 million).
CEO William Li said earlier this month that Nio is expecting to reach full-year non-GAAP profitability in 2026.
