In November, NIO global electric car deliveries increased by over 12% year-over-year to 15,959, which on the one hand is a positive outcome, but on the other hand, it’s kind of worrying.

That’s because of the volume, which has been oscillating around 16,000 units a month in the past three months. It’s noticeably less than in the record months of July-August (around 20,000), The drop in sales is despite the fact that the entire lineup of models has been gradually refreshed. We would expect faster growth but it seems that the initial surge of the upgraded models (like the ES6 selling 11,000 units in July) weakened.

The question is how NIO intends to increase its sales volume, which is a prerequisite for profitability.

The overwhelming majority of NIO sales are in China. The company is expanding its business in Europe too.

The volume of 15,959 units last month includes 10,545 crossovers/SUVs (up 32% year-over-year) and 5,414 sedans (down 12% year-over-year). The company does not provide a breakdown between the individual models.

NIO EV deliveries last month (YOY change):

• Crossover/SUVs (EC6, ES6, EC7, ES7, ES8): 10,545 (up 32%)
• Sedans (ET5, ET5 Touring, ET7): 5,414 (down 12%)
• Total: 15,959 (up 13%)

So far this year, NIO delivered more than 142,000 electric vehicles, which is 33% more than a year ago.

NIO EV deliveries year-to-date (YOY change):

• Crossover/SUVs (EC6, ES6, EC7, ES7, ES8): 80,138 (down 1%)
• Sedans (ET5, ET5 Touring, ET7): 61,888 (up 139%)
• Total: 142,026 (up 33%)

For reference, in 12 months of 2022, NIO sold more than 122,000 electric cars globally and hoped to double that result in 2023. We already know that the year 2023 will be better than 2022, but the company can forget about doubling its sales to well over 200,000 with just one month to go. Cumulatively, NIO sold 431,582 electric cars.

The NIO lineup currently consists of eight models (five crossovers/SUVs and three sedans), all based on the NT2.0 platform.

NIO Technology (NT2.0) platform:

• Crossover/SUV: new EC6, new ES6, EC7, ES7, new ES8
• Sedans: ET5, ET5 Touring (ET5T), ET7
  *in Europe ES6 is EL6, ES7 is EL7

Maybe the business will be boosted by the agreements with other Chinese manufacturers, related to the use of NIO’s battery swap stations. We recently heard that Geely is interested in this network, as well as Changan Automobile—both companies entered into a partnership with NIO, while NIO is working on a new 800-volt architecture of its battery pack.

As of the end of November, NIO’s network of battery swap stations expanded to 2,217 stations globally (mostly in China, with a small number of sites in Europe).