Shanghai (ZXZC)- China-based EV startup NIO has delivered a total of 11,348 ES8s by the end of 2018, among which 3,318 units were handed over in last December, according to NIO's sales report.

Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, said in an interview at the opening of the NIO House in Shenzhen in August last year that NIO would be able to hand over 10,000 ES8s by December 31, 2018. This comment was delivered as a bet with He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of XPENG Motors, over what he previously said that no China-based EV startup would achieve cumulative deliveries of 10,000 vehicles in 2018. The latest resultant data suggest that NIO didn’t fail the bet.

“NIO delivered 11,348 ES8s in 2018, which has been beyond the initial goal we set in the first year going public. Some milestone fruits we gained last year include outputting and delivering over 11,000 ES8s and launching the NIO ES6 high-performance long-range intelligent all-electric SUV,” said Li Bin, “we will continuously expand our market and further improve the  systematic efficiency for NIO's development and operation.”

“It is predictable that the overall automotive market will face multiple challenges in marketing and sale and the demand in the first quarter will grow slower, while we still endeavor to develop our sales networks and strengthen the brand penetration to shore up NIO's future growth,” added Xie Dongying, CFO of NIO.