NIO
September brought the good, the bad, and the battery-swap buzz
NIO kicked out a fresh deliveries update, and the headline is pretty simple: the company is moving more metal. September deliveries rose to 37,408 vehicles, up 7.7% year over year, while third-quarter deliveries climbed 25.4% to 109,178. For the first nine months of 2026, deliveries are up 49.2% — which is the kind of growth that makes EV bulls sit up a little straighter.
The brands are not all running at the same speed
This is where the plot gets a little more soap-opera-ish. NIO’s main brand was the star, with deliveries jumping 55.3% in September to 21,318 vehicles. FIREFLY also posted growth, up 26.9% to 7,327. But ONVO? That brand stumbled badly, with deliveries falling 42.5% to 8,763. So yes, the company is growing — but the growth is wearing mismatched socks.
Management still sounds upbeat
The third quarter landed inside management’s guidance range of 108,000 to 111,000 vehicles, which is a nice checkmark in the “we can hit the numbers” column. And NIO is already aiming higher, targeting average monthly deliveries of more than 40,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter. That’s a pretty aggressive flex, especially in a market where every EV maker seems to be fighting for the same buyers.
- The All-New ES8 hit 150,000 cumulative deliveries on Sept. 20.
- The ES9 crossed 30,000 deliveries on Sept. 23.
- NIO Power also got a boost from Geely’s planned investment, which could help the swapping business scale faster.
Why investors should care
Bigger delivery numbers usually mean more revenue, more operating leverage, and less “when will this turn the corner?” hand-wringing. But investors will still be watching whether NIO’s growth is broad-based or whether it’s leaning too hard on one brand while another backslides.
Big picture: NIO is proving it can grow the top line of its delivery story, but the market still wants the sequel where all the brands show up to work.