Nio's September Deliveries Top 37,000 as Geely Buys Into the Battery-Swap Business
Published on 10/02/2026 at 16:30 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Nio's three-brand experiment is finally showing up in the sales ledger. The Chinese electric-vehicle maker handed over 37,408 vehicles in September, a 7.7% gain over the same month a year earlier, with the flagship Nio marque accounting for 21,318 of them. It marks the first time the company's expanded line-up — core Nio plus the newer Onvo and Firefly badges — has visibly split the volume rather than leaning on a single nameplate.
The larger SUVs remain the backbone of the main brand. Cumulative deliveries of the ES8 have reached 150,000 units within a year, while the ES9 has notched 30,000 since handovers began in late May. In August, those two model lines alone generated more than 80% of core-brand deliveries. Spreading the range across price tiers is meant to pull in new buyer groups, with Onvo and Firefly targeting more budget-conscious shoppers — a move designed to steady overall volume and reduce reliance on a handful of high-ticket vehicles.
Charging Network Draws a Partner
On the infrastructure side, Nio is bringing in outside capital to share the burden of its build-out. On Sunday the company signed binding agreements with Geely Holding Group covering a broad transaction in the charging and swapping business. A Geely subsidiary is contributing its entire stake in Yiyi Internet Technology plus RMB 640 million in cash. In return, Geely receives newly issued shares in Nio Power, giving it a 30.0% stake. Nio China keeps control with a 63.6% majority. Completion still hinges on regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
The deal lands alongside a technical first: on 23 September, Nio commissioned its first fully solar-powered battery-swap station in Xinjiang. Located at the Xingxingxia service area, the site runs entirely off-grid, according to media reports, pairing its own solar panels directly with energy storage. It is a template for serving drivers far from major population centres, where decentralised generation can keep operations running. The company's proprietary swap network has long been a technical calling card, though it continues to demand heavy investment.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Nio?
A Recall on the Entry Brand
Not everything went smoothly. Nio's Anhui subsidiary recalled 686 Firefly vehicles built between 20 March and 2 April, with the notice issued on 18 September. Regulators said a steering-column sensor risked signal interference that could impair power steering assistance. Workshops are inspecting the affected cars and replacing components at no cost to owners.
Market Still Looks Past the Progress
Investors have yet to be won over. The stock closed at EUR 3.03 in the previous session, leaving it just 2.4% above its 52-week low and down 36% since the start of the year. Skepticism about the capital intensity of the station network continues to outweigh operational headway.
That caution has a rationale. The model offensive is arriving in a testing stretch for the domestic market: during China's traditional peak season, overall industry demand fell short of what many manufacturers had penciled in, even as established rivals and local start-ups turn up the heat. The e-SUV segment in particular is gripped by a price war — Tesla pushed into the market with the Model Y L and stoked demand via a five-year interest-free financing offer, while domestic players such as Leapmotor posted hefty gains and heavyweights like BYD kept shifting large volumes.
Against that backdrop, BOCOM International reiterated a positive view on the automaker, pointing to strong revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026, when sales climbed to RMB 25.53 billion. The analysts flagged persistent risks all the same: the ongoing home-market price battle, possible swings in raw-material costs, and the difficulty of scaling new brands quickly could weigh on future profitability.
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