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not long ago,nioreleased second quarter financial report.

good data:

revenue reached 17.45 billion yuan, an increase of 98.9%; deliveries reached 57,373 vehicles, an increase of 143.9%; gross profit margin was 12.2%, a huge increase of 6 percentage points.

in summary, revenue increased significantly, deliveries increased significantly, and gross profit increased significantly.

pretty eye-catching, isn't it?

but, unfortunately, nio is still making losses.

the second quarter saw a net loss of 5.046 billion yuan.

looking through historical financial reports, it seems that a loss of 5 billion yuan every quarter has become nio's basic foundation.

it’s strange. with revenue nearly doubling and gross profit soaring, why is nio still making losses?

a basic loss of 5 billion

simply put, the cost is high.

nio's sales costs are increasing every year. taking 2023 as an example, nio achieved a revenue of 55.6 billion yuan, but its sales costs were also 52.5 billion yuan, which is almost close to the revenue. in the second quarter of this year, its revenue was 17.4 billion yuan, but its sales costs were also 15.8 billion yuan. in comparison, ideal sold 31.7 billion yuan in the second quarter, with sales costs of 22.5 billion yuan.

what can one say about this?

then nio also invested 3.2 billion in the research and development of driving and new models, but at the same time, the r&d investment was lower than the market expectation of 3.4 billion.

then due to the sub-brandledaofactors such as new stores and sales staff also affected nio's sales, general and administrative expenses by 3.8 billion.

with this addition, it would be wrong not to suffer a loss.

founded in 2014, nio is already 10 years old this year.

ideal, which was founded half a year later than nio, has also achieved profitability, but nio's losses are still far ahead among the new forces.

why does nio always lose money?

simply put, the stall is too big.

weilai's battery swap business is a big deal

when it comes to nio, the first feature that consumers think of is service, and the second must be battery swapping.

this is a good thing, after all, there is a clear market awareness and market positioning.

but how much has nio invested in this?

according to the data, as of august 20, nio has deployed 2,480 battery swap stations across the country. according to the third-party calculation that the cost of a single battery swap station is 3 million yuan, nio has invested nearly 7.5 billion yuan in its battery swap business.

note that the 7.5 billion yuan does not include the operation and maintenance costs of the battery swap stations.

according to li bin, "our battery swap stations can break even with 60 orders each, and currently 20% of our battery swap stations have reached this standard."

in other words, 80% of battery swap stations cannot break even, and these losses will ultimately need to be subsidized by nio.

not only that, li bin also said this year that battery swapping will be available in every county in the future.

the industry has always expressed concern about nio's model of battery swapping, which makes it lose money.

judging from this model alone, battery swapping does not have much advantage in the future of the civilian car market. one reason is that 800v fast charging is becoming more and more popular, and the time gap with battery swapping is getting smaller and smaller. second, if there is a breakthrough in battery technology, then nio’s so-called battery swapping will be even more embarrassing.

even in terms of convenience, the extended-range mode has more advantages than battery swapping.

so how can we reduce losses or achieve profits while continuing to invest in battery swap infrastructure?

weilai first established a battery swap alliance, bringing in faw,chang'an、gac、auspicious、chery、jac...and many other manufacturers hope to increase revenue from battery swap orders by improving the number of battery swap models.

but after so long, we still haven't seen any specific models come out.

this also requires nio to dilute the battery replacement costs as soon as possible, adding uncertainty.

whether the sub-brand can succeed remains unknown

nio's large-scale investment in battery swapping requires a large number of vehicles to spread the cost.

the emergence of ledao can be said to be just what it wanted. on the 19th, it released its first new productledao l60the price starts at 206,900 yuan, and the battery rental version starts at 149,999 yuan. li bin said that he wants to beat the competition in this price range.tesla model y。

nio even rebuilt a sales system and more than 100 stores for ledao.

it can be said that ledao carries nio’s good wishes to increase sales, improve gross profit margin, and turn losses into profits.

however, there is still uncertainty as to whether it will eventually achieve its goal.

after all, the 200,000 range not only hasbenztraditional car manufacturers such as bmw have joined the battle, and there are also a number of new forces with strong combat effectiveness such as xiaomi, zeekr, and xpeng.

and what’s interesting is that while the fate of ledao is unknown, nio’s second sub-brand, firefly, is also coming.

firefly is mainly positioned as a boutique small car, similar to mini, with a price range of more than 100,000 yuan, and is expected to start delivery in the first half of 2025.

judging from the price range, nio has already occupied the 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 price ranges, which is an all-round strategic layout.

however, this logic seems to continue nio's strategy of extending its battle line, and it has once again launched a third brand when ledao's foundation has not yet been established.

one has to think further: if the sales of ledao and firefly are both unsatisfactory, is nio mentally prepared?

with such a love for spending money, does nio really not lack money?

in the current market situation, when almost every car manufacturer is trying hard to increase revenue and reduce costs, nio seems to have to continue to spend wildly because of li bin's ideals.

let me first talk about some financial report data.

as of the end of june, nio had cash and cash equivalents of approximately rmb 24.7 billion, rmb 8.3 billion less than at the beginning of the year, which also included nio's short-term investments of rmb 11.6 billion.

in comparison, nio has loans of 9.5 billion yuan. for nio, the cash can barely cover the interest on the loans.

however, nio's trade payables, bills payable, and payables to related parties totaled as high as 24.9 billion.

in other words, in order to maintain the balance of cash flow, either nio’s sales cannot be interrupted or its financing cannot be stopped. otherwise, nio may indeed face a financial crisis.

so, even though nio is a large company with a huge business, it still cannot be said to be so willful.

it is worth mentioning that some time ago, there was a small episode in nio’s financial situation.

some time ago, there were reports that nio was facing bankruptcy. although nio quickly refuted the rumor and directly called the police to arrest the rumor maker, it at least reflected that the market had some emotions and distrust about nio's continued losses.

but what is the reality? weilai’s losses have indeed not yet reached an end.

nio is losing money because of li bin’s ideals.

alas, it’s not easy.

bless you.