In the January-May period, Nio delivered 66,217 vehicles, up 50.99 percent year-on-year, with SUVs contributing 58.58 percent.

By the end of May, Nio's cumulative deliveries since inception stood at 515,811 vehicles.

China's auto market started 2024 with a fierce price war and the weak performance at the beginning of the year continued into April.

On March 14, Nio made significant adjustments to its BaaS (battery as a service) battery rental service to make the plan more attractive amid a fierce price war.

While the company did not lower the selling prices of its vehicles, it allowed customers who buy its cars based on the BaaS model to pay less per month.

At the same time, Nio began allowing BaaS customers to recoup a portion of what they previously paid when they buy out the vehicle's battery pack in the future, which it previously did not allow.

In the tweaked BaaS program, for every four bill payments a user makes, the next bill is free, up to a maximum of 12 bill payments.

The entitlement expired on May 31, though Nio announced earlier today that it was renewed this month.

The strong performance in May might have exceeded the expectations of many, as some Wall Street analysts have previously suggested that Nio's sales growth rate may be lower without any brand-new model in the first three quarters of 2024.

On May 15, Nio launched the Onvo (Ledao in China) sub-brand and began pre-sales of its first model, the L60, at a pre-sale price of RMB 219,900 ($30,400), RMB 30,000 less than the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y.

The L60 will officially go on sale and begin deliveries in September, Onvo said at a launch event last month.

($1 = RMB 7.2418)

Xiaomi CEO visits Nio, checks out Onvo L60