(Yicai) Jan. 7 -- Nio’s founder reaffirmed his optimism that the Chinese new energy vehicle startup will achieve its first-ever quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of 2025, as the company celebrated the rollout of its one millionth pure electric vehicle yesterday.

“Nio is still alive, and as long as we are alive, there are opportunities,” Li Bin, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of the Shanghai-based firm, said at a media briefing held yesterday to mark the production of Nio’s one millionth electric car at the firm’s Xinqiao plant in Hefei, eastern Anhui province.

This milestone makes Nio the fourth NEV startup to join the “million-unit club” following Li Auto, XPeng and Leapmotor. It also makes Nio the second pure EV brand worldwide to produce more than one million autos after US electric car giant Tesla. Nio is also the only Chinese NEV manufacturer whose entire product lineup consists solely of pure electric vehicles.

Li reaffirmed his confidence that Nio will achieve its first-ever quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of 2025. Although the financial results for this quarter have not yet been released, he said he remains optimistic.

Compared with the third quarter, Nio delivered an additional 40,000 units of its newly launched third-generation ES8 in the fourth quarter, Li said. With a price tag in the CNY400,000 (USD55,600) range, the model’s gross margin is expected to exceed 20 percent, which could significantly boost the company’s gross profit in the three months ended Dec. 31.

Whether Nio can turn a quarterly profit for the first time has drawn intense market attention, as this achievement is widely regarded as a key litmus test of whether the NEV startup can survive in the long run.

However, weaker-than-expected sales have sparked concerns over Nio’s ability to do so. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Nio delivered 124,800 vehicles to customers, falling short of the 150,000-unit sales target set by Li in early September. Full-year deliveries for 2025 came in at 326,000 units, well below the 440,000-unit target set by the company at the beginning of the year.

Nio aims to maintain an annual sales growth rate of between 40 percent and 50 percent, Li added. This would require deliveries of at least 456,400 units this year.

Pure EV makers typically need annual sales of around 400,000 autos to break even, according to earlier estimates by US consulting firm AlixPartners.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor