This means that Nio's vehicle revenue in December was about RMB 4.65 billion and will easily exceed RMB 10 billion in the fourth quarter.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

As the only car company in China that currently has a firm foothold in the premium market, it's not really fair to compare Nio's deliveries with its local counterparts. Its average transaction price provides a new perspective to evaluate it.

The average sales price of Nio's three models currently on sale reached RMB 443,500 ($69,700) in December, Ma Lin, the company's senior director of corporate communications, said in his WeChat status today.

Compared to the performance of German luxury brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi in China, Nio's average sales price is second only to Mercedes-Benz, according to Ma.

The average sales price of Nio's first SUV, the ES8, reached a record of more than RMB 536,700, he said.

Nio released figures on January 1 showing it delivered 10,489 vehicles in December, up 49.7 percent from 7,007 a year earlier and down 3.6 percent from 10,878 in November.

This includes 2,782 ES8s, 4,939 ES6s and 2,768 EC6s.

The average sales price revealed by Ma implies that Nio's vehicle revenue in December was about RMB 4.65 billion.

In the fourth quarter, Nio delivered a record 25,034 units, up 2.4 percent from 24,439 units in the third quarter. This means that Nio's revenue in the fourth quarter will easily exceed RMB 10 billion.

Nio's revenue guidance for the fourth quarter was RMB 9.38 billion to RMB 10.11 billion when it announced its third-quarter earnings in early November.

Ma did not provide more information, though local consultancy Land Roads said in a report released late last month that the average sales price of Nio vehicles was RMB 413,800 in the first 11 months of 2021.

In the Chinese market, the average sales price of Nio vehicles ranked fourth, lower than Mercedes-Benz's RMB 481,900, but higher than Lexus' RMB 403,000 and well above the auto industry's average transaction price of RMB 179,000, according to the report.

The average sales price of Nio vehicles increased by RMB 24,000 compared to the same period in 2020, the report said, adding that this was mainly due to changes in the company's sales mix.

The Nio ES6's sales share fell and the EC6's share grew significantly and sold more higher-trim models, allowing Nio's average sales price to increase, according to Land Roads.

For comparison, Nio's peer Li Auto, also listed in the US, sold for an average price of RMB 333,600 in the first 11 months of 2021, compared to Xpeng Motors' RMB 236,900.