Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio has reported an 11.5% month-on-month delivery decrease in January, the Shanghai-based startup announced on Monday in a press release.
Nio delivered 1,598 units in the past month, including 1,493 ES6s—the company’s 5-seater premium electric SUV model—and 105 ES8s, which includes a 7-seater model and 6-seater variant. Cumulative deliveries of the two models reached 33,511, the company said.
The EV startup attributed the drop in its January deliveries to an early Chinese New Year holiday in 2020, which started 11 days in advance compared to last year, resulting in a reduction of business days in January. The extended holiday due to the coronavirus outbreak also dented sales, the company said in the statement.
Li Bin, founder and CEO of Nio, said the company has “achieved satisfactory results in January” in spite of the decreasing figures. The company is ramping up efforts to keep necessary services running during the extended holidays and boost sales via online sales channels and live streaming platforms, Li said.
With the Chinese government delaying the resumption of business operations across the country due to the coronavirus, Nio is also expecting vehicle production and deliveries to drop in February, said CFO Steven Feng.
Nio’s main rival, US-based EV firm Tesla, also felt the impact as its Shanghai production plant was temporarily closed down due to the outbreak. Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory 3 has resumed operations from Monday as the Shanghai government announced it would assist companies to cope with the spreading epidemic, according to Reuters.
Tesla has warned during its Jan. 30 earnings call that production of the China-made Model 3 will be delayed by 1 to 1.5 weeks as the epidemic has severely disrupted supply chains and communications. Tao Lin, Tesla’s vice president, also said earlier this month that planned deliveries in February will be temporarily delayed.
