Shanghai (ZXZC)- In the third quarter (Q3) of 2022, NIO Inc. recorded a total revenue of 13,002.1 million yuan ($1,827.8 million), representing a 32.6% jump year-on-year and a 26.3% growth quarter-on-quarter, according to the financial results the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) startup released on Thursday.

NIO's vehicle sales in Q3 2022 reached 11,932.7 million yuan ($1,677.5 million), jumping 38.2% from the same quarter of last year, while also rising 24.7% from the second quarter (Q2) in 2022. The company said both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter increase in its Q3 vehicle sales were mainly attributable to higher deliveries as a result of a more diversified product portfolio offered to users.

Gross profit of NIO amounted to 1,735.1 million yuan ($243.9 million) in Q3 2022, sliding 12.9% from the previous year, while growing 29.5% from the previous quarter.

ES7; photo credit: NIO

The company's gross margin stood at 13.3% in Q3 2022, versus 20.3% in Q3 2021 and 13% in Q2 2022. NIO said the increase of gross margin compared to the previous quarter mainly stemmed from the sales of automotive regulatory credits with high sales margin.

Vehicle margin of NIO was 16.4% in Q3 2022, shrinking 1.6 percentage points over the prior-year period, while remaining flat compared to a quarter earlier.

The startup noted the year-on-year decline in its Q3 vehicle margin mainly resulted from the increased battery cost per unit, which was partially offset by the decrease in subsidization in user vehicle financing arrangements.

NIO still logged an operation loss of 3,870.3 million yuan ($544.1 million) in Q3 2022, representing a 290.2% surge year-on-year and a 36% growth quarter-on-quarter.

In Q3 2022, NIO's R&D expenses amounted to 2,944.5 million yuan ($413.9 million), soaring 146.8%% over the same quarter of 2021, while also jumping 37% over a quarter ago. The rise on R&D expenses was mainly ascribed to the increased personnel costs in R&D functions as well as the incremental design and development costs for new products and technologies, said NIO.

As for future outlook, NIO expects its vehicle deliveries to reach between 43,000 and 48,000 units in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2022, growing roughly 71.8% to 91.7% compared to the same span of 2021.

The company also anticipated a total revenue of 17,368 million yuan ($2,442 million) to 19,225 million yuan ($2,703 million) for Q4 2022, representing a surge of around 75.4% to 94.2% from the same quarter in 2021.