(Yicai Global) Sept. 14 -- Nio's Hong Kong-listed shares kept rising for the second straight day after analysts forecast the electric carmaker's fifth and the most affordable model, the ET5, will become a hit.

Nio's stock price [HK: 9866] moved up as much as 4 percent to HKD175 (USD22.30) intraday as of 1.09 p.m. after surging more than 16 percent yesterday. The shares are 8 percent up since they started trading in March.

The automobile manufacturer's US-listed equity [NYSE: NIO] was 1 percent down in pre-market trading as of 1.26 p.m. Beijing time after closing 0.8 percent higher at USD21.97 yesterday.

The mid-sized electric sedan, which is cheaper than Nio's other models particularly due to the firm's battery rental program, will lead the startup into a new product lifecycle that may help it obtain a bigger market share in the entry-level luxury market, analysts said.

Citic Securities wrote in a research report yesterday that it is optimistic about the ET5 becoming a hit, giving credence to social media rumors. Nio is expected to turn its losses into a profit as early as in the fourth quarter of 2023, it added.

The ET5 was launched last December. The model costs from CNY328,000 to CNY386,000 (USD47,134 to USD55,469). But if buyers choose to rent the battery, prices fall to around CNY258,000, a more than 30 percent cut. Before this, Nio models cost more than CNY400,000.

The first RT5s will be delivered on Sept. 30, according to the Shanghai-based company's plan. Nio is expected to deliver more than 10,000 ET5 vehicles in December, Chief Executive Li Bin said earlier.

In the second quarter, the car company reported a 22 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to a record high of CNY10.3 billion (USD1.5 billion), according to its earnings report. Deliveries tallied 25,100 cars, a 17 percent uptick. The gross margin was 16.7 percent, exceeding market expectations despite falling by 1.4 percentage points from the first quarter.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi