Nio shows signs of life
With its economy ailing, China has been leaning heavily on both automotive exports to support employment and a cash-for-clunkers-style trade-in program in an effort to goose domestic spending.
Whether or not these program can pump new life into the broader economy, they’ve been a boon for China’s EV industry. Numbers released early on New Year’s Day showed strong sales for Chinese automakers like BYD, Li Auto, and XPeng Inc.
The numbers were even decent for Nio — a relatively tiny Chinese automaker that became something of an American retail trading favorite during the heady days of pandemic trading in 2021. The company’s auto deliveries rose to more than 220,000 in 2024, up nearly 40%. (BYD sales also jumped about 40%, but to 4.2 million.)
Nio’s stock got a boost from the news, but the longer-term trajectory of the stock has been incredibly painful for shareholders that bought in at the 2021 peak.