(Yicai) March 24 -- Nio's stock price dropped after the Chinese electric vehicle maker said its loss grew 8.1 percent last year, with deliveries and gross margin falling short of target.

Nio [HKG: 9866] closed down 3.3 percent at HKD34.70 (USD4.46) a share in Hong Kong today. In pre-market trading in New York, its stock [NYSE: NIO] was trading 0.2 percent lower at USD4.49 as 6.01 a.m. local time, after giving up 4.5 percent on March 21.

Nio’s net loss was CNY22.4 billion (USD3.1 billion) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, the Shanghai-based firm said in a financial report released on March 21. Revenue jumped 18.2 percent from the year before to CNY65.7 billion, with vehicle margin growing to 12.3 percent from 9.5 percent.

“Since last year we have already started the cost mining initiatives and for the 2024 full year, we were also on track for the cost reduction initiatives,” founder and Chief Executive William Li said on an earnings conference call.

“As you can see in our fourth-quarter vehicle margin, it has fulfilled our expectation,” Li said, referring to the firm’s overall vehicle margin of 13.1 percent for the last three months of 2024. “And we will continue such cost reduction actions this year from multiple aspects, including supply chain, R&D.”

Over the past year, the carmaker has brought in a Cell Business Unit model, breaking operations into distinct business units with clearly defined performance metrics, The Paper reported earlier this month, citing a source familiar with the matter. Nio has also taken major steps in cost control, particularly in its supply chain and product development, the source noted.

“Looking ahead to 2025, we will sharpen our focus on enhancing profitability by driving cost reductions through technological advancements, optimizing operational efficiency, and accelerating scalable growth,” Chief Financial Officer Stanley Yu said in a press release.

Despite deliveries surging 39 percent to 221,970 vehicles last year, Nio missed its sales and gross margin targets. Li had set the monthly sales goal at over 20,000 and the annual figure at 230,000, while aiming for a gross margin of between 15 percent and 18 percent.

For the fourth quarter of last year, the net loss widened 38 percent to CNY7.1 billion (USD979.4 million) from a year earlier, while revenue rose 15.2 percent to CNY19.7 billion. The firm had CNY41.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of Dec. 31, with a debt-to-asset ratio of 87 percent.

Nio expects deliveries to jump around 36 percent to 43 percent to between 41,000 and 43,000 vehicles this quarter from a year ago, while revenue will likely be between CNY12.4 billion and CNY12.9 billion, according to the company.

Nio plans to launch nine new models across its Nio, Onvo, and Firefly brands this year, aiming to achieve a 20 percent gross margin for the first brand and 15 percent for Onvo in the fourth quarter.

In addition, the carmaker plans to continue expanding its nationwide network of battery swap stations throughout the year, after having already built 3,167.

Editor: Martin Kadiev