DOMESTIC electric-car maker NIO Inc.’s 200,000th vehicle rolled off the production line yesterday in Hefei, capital of eastern China’s Anhui Province, Xinhua quoted Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of the company, as saying.

The production milestone was achieved less than four years since the first NIO vehicle was produced.

NIO produced its 100,000th vehicle in April 2021, a milestone event that took the firm close to three years to accomplish. It took NIO about a year to complete the production of its second 100,000 vehicles.

A total of more than 900 NIO battery swapping stations and more than 7,000 charging piles have been built across China, greatly easing drivers’ range anxiety, NIO sources said.

Qin told Xinhua that the New York-listed startup has already expanded into Norway and will start to provide services in the markets of Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark this year.

NIO said in October last year that it would double the capacity of its Hefei plant to 240,000 vehicles a year, up from 120,000 units. The factory can make sedan and sport-utility vehicle models.

After the expansion, with extra operating shifts, the plant will be able to make up to 300,000 cars a year, Nio said then. The production line expansion is expected to be finished in the first half of 2022.

Founded in November 2014, NIO is a pioneer in China’s premium electric vehicle market, with its global headquarters located in Shanghai and China headquarters in Hefei.

NIO, which started its stock trading in Hong Kong earlier last month, posted fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates as the industry was buffeted by supply chain pressure throughout last year.

The firm reported a net loss of 2.14 billion yuan (US$336.4 million) in the quarter. Analysts estimated a shortfall of 1.51 billion yuan. Revenue increased 49% from a year earlier to 9.9 billion yuan.

Like its rivals, Nio has faced intense supply disruption across a number of items from semiconductors to raw battery materials. The price of lithium has soared nearly 500% in the past year, adding to cost pressures for electric-car producers. (SD-Xinhua)