- NIO topped Hefei July passenger-car sales and led cumulative Jan–July sales citywide.
- ES8 maintained nine-month dominance as Hefei’s best-selling model above RMB 400,000.
- NIO’s Hefei plants and supply chain integration underpin rising margins and rapid ES8 deliveries.
On Aug. 17, NIO General Manager Yu Dongming released the latest retail data, showing that NIO topped Hefei’s passenger vehicle market by sales in July 2026.
NIO also ranked first in cumulative passenger vehicle sales in Hefei from January to July.
During the same period, NIO led Anhui’s premium vehicle market in cumulative sales, ahead of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
NIO’s strength in Hefei is not concentrated in a single model.
In July, the ES8, ES9, ONVO L80 and ONVO L90 ranked the top four in Hefei’s large SUV segment, with the four models together accounting for more than 60% of the local market.
The ES8 delivered the strongest performance. In July 2026, it ranked first in both Hefei’s large SUV market and the RMB 400,000 ($59,300) price segment.
This extends its run as the city’s best-selling model above RMB 400,000 to nine consecutive months.
NIO is also expanding its product coverage into lower price segments. From January to July, firefly ranked No. 1 in Hefei’s premium small-car segment for seven consecutive months.
NIO’s performance in Hefei is closely tied to the city’s established automotive industry base.
In 2025, Hefei produced 1.87 million vehicles, including 1.37 million new energy vehicles, ranking first nationwide in NEV production for the second consecutive year.
Volkswagen Anhui, NIO JAC and BYD’s Changfeng plant, along with other automakers and component suppliers, have continued to cluster in the city, making the automotive industry a major pillar of Hefei’s manufacturing sector.
NIO’s relationship with Hefei dates back to 2020. In 2019, NIO was under severe cash-flow pressure, reporting a net loss of RMB 11.4 billion ($1.69 billion), while its share price at one point fell to $1.19, approaching the delisting threshold.
In February 2020, Hefei’s state-owned investment entities and NIO signed a framework cooperation agreement.
The final agreement was completed in April, with Hefei committing RMB 7 billion ($1.04 billion) in strategic investment.
The two sides subsequently jointly developed the Xinqiao Smart Electric Vehicle Industrial Park.
NIO’s Advanced Manufacturing Plant in Xinqiao and its second Xinqiao plant gradually entered operation, with the latter later becoming the production site for NIO’s one-millionth mass-produced vehicle.
NIO’s manufacturing capacity, production operations and supply chain are now deeply integrated into Hefei’s automotive ecosystem.
Changes on the market side have made the outcome of that early investment more visible.
After posting its first-ever quarterly profit in Q4 2025, NIO remained profitable on a non-GAAP basis in Q1 2026, with vehicle gross margin reaching 18.8%.
Meanwhile, NIObrand’s average transaction price reached RMB 434,600 ($64,450) in July, up 71% year over year and still above most mainstream premium brands.
NIO is also accelerating deliveries. Yang Bo, assistant vice president of user operations at NIO, said the company is expected to deliver its 140,000th new-generation ES8 this week.
The 130,000th ES8 was delivered on July 22, meaning the latest 10,000 deliveries took roughly one month, keeping the model’s delivery pace at around 10,000 units per month.
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