At a closed-door meeting on September 3rd afternoon, NIO Inc. founder, chairman, and CEO Li Bin responded to media questions, stating, "I believe definitely more than 1% of people in the company believe that we can turn things around."
NIO Inc. has previously set a target to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter of 2025. On the evening of September 2nd, the company's latest financial results showed that losses narrowed in the second quarter of 2025.
Over the past 10 years of vehicle manufacturing, NIO Inc. has made significant investments in research and development, infrastructure, and multiple brands. However, transitioning from the investment phase to financial returns represents a crucial challenge that has become a focal point of external attention.
"The profitability challenge (for Q4 2025) is enormous, but this battle has a chance to be won and must be won," Li Bin stated. He emphasized that once NIO Inc. successfully combines long-term strategy with short-term execution, the outside world will witness the company's competitiveness.
**NIO Inc. Needs to Prove Itself**
"I think it's quite important to prove we can achieve this at an appropriate time point," Li Bin remarked. As a company listed in multiple markets, NIO Inc.'s core financial data significantly impacts future business operations, including brand development, sales, recruitment, and supply chain management.
Additionally, achieving profitability in Q4 2025 would demonstrate NIO Inc.'s sustainable development capabilities to the outside world. Li Bin noted, "Internally, we clearly understand that we need to accomplish this at this point in time."
NIO Inc. CFO Qu Yu stated during the earnings call on September 2nd evening that in Q4 2025, the company's ONVO L90 and the new ES8 will both achieve complete quarterly deliveries, with a vehicle gross margin target of 16% to 17% to reach break-even.
Li Bin indicated that considering 2025 demand and supply conditions, NIO Inc. targets an average monthly delivery of 50,000 units in the fourth quarter.
To achieve this, NIO Inc. aims to increase its average monthly production capacity to 56,000 units in Q4 2025, with NIO Inc., ONVO, and Firefly targeting monthly production capacities of 25,000, 25,000, and 6,000 units respectively.
**"This Time We Must Rely on Real Capabilities to Emerge from the Valley"**
During the closed-door meeting, Li Bin reflected on NIO Inc.'s 10-year journey in vehicle manufacturing, recalling that the last time the company fell into a cyclical trough was in 2019, when it relied mainly on user support and local state-owned capital assistance to overcome difficulties.
Li Bin acknowledged that NIO Inc.'s recovery from the previous crisis involved some element of luck, but this current cyclical downturn has been longer and deeper, requiring the company to rely on its genuine capabilities to emerge.
In response, Li Bin has implemented a series of reform measures in 2025, including introducing a CBU (Core Business Unit) mechanism within NIO Inc., requiring each R&D project to clearly define investment return expectations at the outset and conduct closed-loop evaluations upon completion.
More importantly, NIO Inc.'s persistence in the pure electric route is entering a favorable development period. Since 2025, pure electric vehicle sales and growth rates in the new energy vehicle sector have exceeded those of extended-range vehicles.
In August, NIO Inc. achieved deliveries of 31,300 units, setting a new monthly delivery record with a year-over-year increase of 55.16% and month-over-month growth of 48.95%.
Li Bin stated that with the launch of ONVO L90 and the new NIO Inc. ES8, the company is leading the transition of large three-row SUVs into the pure electric era. Combined with accelerated charging infrastructure development, the golden age of pure electric large three-row SUVs has arrived.
Both ONVO L90 and the new NIO Inc. ES8 are large three-row SUV models launched by the company. August marked ONVO L90's first complete delivery month and the first time its deliveries exceeded 10,000 units.
From a financial perspective, NIO Inc. showed signs of recovery in Q2 2025, with revenue reaching 19.01 billion yuan, representing a 9.0% year-over-year increase and 57.9% quarter-over-quarter growth.
Li Bin noted, "Starting from Q2 2025, NIO Inc. has entered a new development cycle, with both sales and operations returning to an upward trajectory."
For Q3 2025, NIO Inc. targets deliveries of 87,000 to 91,000 units. The company delivered 21,000 and 31,300 units in July and August respectively, with September delivery targets of 34,700 to 38,700 units—achieving this goal would set another new monthly delivery record.