Amid increased industry competition, prolonged chip shortage and surging raw material costs in 2021, NIO achieved stable growth
NIO (NIO: NYSE) recorded a revenue of CNY 9.9 billion (USD 1,553.6 million) and a net loss of CNY 2,143 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to its financial report released on March 24 for Q4 and the full year of 2021
The company reported a revenue of CNY 36.14 billion in 2021, up 122.3% year on year, and vehicle sales of CNY 15.18 billion last year, registering a year-on-year increase of 118.5%. The net loss narrowed to CNY 4.02 billion, down 24.3% year on year.
NIO grew NEV (New Energy Vehicle) sales at a solid pace in 2021, delivering 91,429 units, up 109.1% year on year. Meanwhile, the vehicle margin increase to 20.1% in 2021 from the 12.7% last year.
Specially, the company booked a revenue of CNY 33.17 billion from vehicle sales, while the growth of the energy packages, service sales, accessories sales and other businesses contributed a revenue of CNY 2,996.7 million, representing an increase of 175.9% from the previous year.
In recent years, NIO continued to increase its R&D investment, spending CNY 4,591.85 million on R&D in 2021, up 84.58% year on year. With growing R&D expenses, NIO has patents over 4,500 globally, which could maintain its competitive advantage, says its financial statement.
The NEV industry in China is competitive; the main players are Xpeng (Chinese: 小鹏，XPEV: NYSE) Li Auto (Chinese:理想, LI: Nasdaq), and Nezha (Chinese: 哪吒).Their vehicle sales in 2021 were around 98,200, 90,500 and 69,700 units, respectively.
Also, NIO is facing the threat from new entrants including Xiaomi (Chinses: 小米), Huawei (Chinses: 华为) and Baidu (:Chinese: 百度), which have also announced their car-making plans.