(Yicai) June 7 -- Nio’s stock price tumbled after the Chinese electric carmaker said its loss widened 9.4 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, mainly because of growing price competition in the world’s biggest auto market.

Nio [HKG: 9866] ended down 7.2 percent at HKD38.25 (USD4.90) a share in Hong Kong today. Its New York-listed stock [NYSE: NIO] slid 6.8 percent to USD4.91 yesterday.

The net loss was CNY5.2 billion (USD717.8 million) in the three months ended March 31, Nio said in a financial report released yesterday. Operating revenue fell 7.2 percent to CNY9.9 billion because of lower product prices and fewer vehicle deliveries than expected. 

Shanghai-based Nio delivered about 30,100 units in the first quarter, compared with its prediction of 31,000 to 33,000. But they reached a record high of 20,500 last month, up 32 percent from April and 234 percent from a year earlier.

Nio's charging business division will remain open to external investment, founder and Chief Executive Li Bin said on the firm’s earnings conference call. Nio’s gross margin will recover to double digits this quarter and continue to widen afterward, he added.

The carmaker expects deliveries to surge between 130 percent and 138 percent to 54,000 to 56,000 this quarter from a year ago. Operating revenue will likely jump between 89 percent and 95 percent to CNY16.6 billion to CNY17.1 billion (USD2.3 billion to USD2.4 billion), it said.

Nio has scaled down its discounts since this month, Li noted, adding that in the next phase, the key task is to increase the gross margin and sales volume.

Nio will start deliveries of its ONVO sub-brand in September when it will open around 100 showrooms across China. The company has invested about CNY1 million to CNY2 million (USD138,000 to USD276,000) in each store.

Nio's third brand, the Firefly project, will also begin deliveries this month. According to Li, the models are small entry-level cars and will share Nio’s sales networks.

Neo Energy Investment Hubei, Nio’s energy charging and battery swapping business, secured investment of CNY1.5 billion last month. Nio’s stake in it will remain around 90 percent, Li pointed out, while noting that Nio Energy's independent financing plan has been launched, and it is open to investment from other car companies or investors.

Editors: Xu Wei, Martin Kadiev