During our earnings call on March 1, 2021, William Li, our founder, chairman, and CEO noted that “NIO concluded a transformational 2020 with a new quarterly delivery record of 17,353 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2020. The strong momentum has continued in 2021 as we achieved a historic monthly delivery of 7,225 vehicles in January and a resilient delivery of 5,578 vehicles in February, representing strong 352% and 689% year-over-year growth, respectively.” 

But that’s only part of the story. Overall, the automotive industry has some definite seasonal trends. In the United States, car dealers often experience difficulty selling inventory during the winter months, when consumers are less motivated to brave the cold to make a car purchase. 

Similarly, February was the Lunar New Year holiday month, which is the biggest holiday of the year in China. The majority of the employees receive seven days off work as a public holiday to spend time with their families, though the celebrations can last for more than two weeks nationwide. Most of the factories were shut down for weeks, and many products that rely on shipping and manufacturing might have been delayed. Despite all the challenges during the slow season, NIO still delivered a healthy number of 5,578 vehicles in February, which was even 1,740 more than all delivered vehicles in Q1 2020 combined. 

Read our full fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial report for more information.