(Yicai) Feb. 12 -- Doubling electric vehicle sales is only one of Nio’s three targets for this year, according to the chairman and chief executive officer of the Chinese new energy vehicle startup.

In addition to doubling sales, Nio will also strive to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter and build systematic capabilities, Li Bin said during a recent internal meeting, Yicai learned.

The Shanghai-based carmaker sold 221,970 NEVs last year, up nearly 39 percent from the year before. Among them, 201,209 units were Nio brand vehicles, and 20,761 were Onvo-branded.

Doubling sales is a reasonable goal, Li noted. Nio’s high-end brand Nio may not be able to double sales alone, but the company’s cheaper second brand Onvo may help achieve such goal on a combined basis, he explained.

This year, Nio will launch new products, such as the Nio ET9 and its new small EV brand Firefly, and gradually promote the replacement of old products. Meanwhile, Onvo will release two mid-to-large sports utility vehicles.

Overseas markets will also become a new growth point for Nio this year. According to Li, the automaker will enter a total of 25 countries and regions by the end of the year, thanks to the delivery of new models under Onvo and Firefly.

Nio faced some problems last year with orders, as its new products received more orders than expected at launch but much fewer orders afterward because of slow delivery. For example, it took the Onvo L60 three months to achieve a monthly production capacity of 10,000 units after launch.

Nio needs to speed up deliveries after new product launches to establish a solid sales reputation as soon as possible in the early marketing stages, Li pointed out.

In order to break even in the last quarter of this year, Nio is striving to reduce its operating costs as it set up cell business units last month for each major department to have its own cost settlement center.

To further cut costs, Nio will also equip all the car models under its three brands with self-developed vehicle operating systems, intelligent driving chips, and other components this year, a person familiar with the matter told Yicai.

Editor: Futura Costaglione