CHINA: NIO Deliveries and Margins Improve, Chinese EU Factories and Li Auto Slips Into The Red | 27 Nov 2025

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even when the season ends. So, join us every day, Monday through Friday, new episodes drop

at 3 p.m. wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the podcast. Neo deliveries

and margins are improving. Chinese EU factories on the way, and Li Auto slips into the red.

Plus, stay tuned. Later in the show, I'll tell you why one Chinese people carrier

set a world record for the amount of people on board. Welcome to EV News China, the podcast

dedicated to the world's largest electric vehicle market. Each day, I bring you the

latest headlines, insights, and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry,

and decode how fast-moving developments in the east are shaping the global EV landscape.

We'll start with Neo. Q3 deliveries are swelling, as margins and cash are improving.

In the third quarter, Neo delivered 87,071 vehicles, that's up 41% on the quarter

compared to last year, and 21% up on Q2 this year. Revenue hit a record 21.79 billion yuan,

that's around $3 billion, rising 16.7% year on year, and 14.7% quarter on quarter.

And the quality of its finances improved as well. Gross margin climbed to 13.9%,

while vehicle margin reached 14.7%. The balance sheet also looks less fragile. Neo ended the quarter,

with $36.7 billion in cash, nearly $10 billion more than three months before,

and it turned both operating and free cash flow positive. And the outlook is more

cautious on volume, but ambitious on hitting a profit. For the fourth quarter, Neo guides to

125,000 deliveries, implying growth of around 72% from a year ago,

with revenue up to 34 billion yuan. That is roughly 30,000 vehicles below previous

targets that they had set. But it's a clear signal that management now values margin,

cash flow, and the quality of the business over just growing for growth's sake.

Well, Great Wall Motor wants to be a major European player, not a niche importer,

so the Chinese carmaker is planning a European factory with a capacity of 300,000 vehicles a

year by 2029, and has started scouting sites across the block. The push is part of an effort

to revive weak sales in the region. According to Reuters, Great Wall will launch at least

seven new models or derivatives for Europe in a first wave from mid-2026. Parker Xi,

president of GWM International, says teams are weighing factory locations in Spain and Hungary,

among other options. It's the most detailed update on the group's European

ambitions since 2023. Great Wall is following a path already taken by its Chinese rivals.

BYD is building plants in Hungary and Turkey. Xpong will have Europe-bound cars assembled

by contract manufacturer Magna in Grutz, and is also pursuing its own site. Local production

offers two key benefits. It can soften the blow of potential EU tariffs on Chinese imports,

and it shortens supply chains into core markets. Talking of factories, over here,

CATL and Stellantis are tying Europe's EV future more tightly to Chinese batteries

with a huge new plant in Spain. The factory, next to the Stellantis car plant in

Oregon, is due to start turning out sales by 2026. Work on the site started yesterday,

according to Reuters. Around 2,000 Chinese workers are billed the first of the

plants section. Stellantis and CATL will then hire and train 3,000 Spanish staff to run it.

The project is more than 300 million euros in EU money behind it, a clear sign that

Brussels would rather host Chinese battery tech than watch it stay in Asia.

Chinese technicians and managers are already on the ground in Spain,

with hundreds more due this year, and total Chinese headcount expected to reach around 2,000

by the end of this year. This is a move that cements CATL as a pillar of Europe's EV supply

chain and shows how the EU plans to localise production without reinventing battery chemistry

from scratch. Stellantis gains direct access to proven cell technology. On its doorstep,

CATL gains a locked-in customer inside the EU's trade walls. Local industry sees both promise

but risk as well. Over the next two years, the story will be about how fast the joint

venture can build higher and train. If CATL and Stellantis hit their ramp-up targets

through this year and next year as well, Spain will have secured 3,000 high-value local jobs

and a flagship role in Europe's battery rollout.

Li Auto is next, and they've gone from star pupil to warning sign in China's crowded EV class.

In just four quarters, it's flipped from hefty profit to loss, and the culprit is simple.

Fewer cars are going out the door and a bruising recall on its flagship as well.

In the third quarter, the company posted a net loss of $624 million, a year ago,

it made $2.8 billion. In the second quarter, it still cleared $1.1 billion. The sales slide

is at the heart of the problem. Li Auto delivered 93,000 vehicles in the quarter,

roughly in line with the 95,000 guidance, but that headline masks a drop. Deliveries fell

39% from the same time last year, and 16% down on the earlier quarter this year.

In a market where leading EV and plug-in hybrid brands are cutting prices to maintain market share,

that kind of decline strips away the scale that has been protecting their margins.

Management points to two hits, a significant reduction in vehicle deliveries, and the recall

of the big Li Mega MPV. The delivery drop drives up unit costs and forces

heavier spending to win buyers back. The Li Mega recall adds direct repair costs and dense trust

in the premium family niche that sits at the centre of Li Auto's brand.

Both squeeze profit at the same time, as rivals either slash costs to defend earnings

or swallow deeper losses to chase growth. Li Auto now has to show that it can restore

volumes, rebuild confidence in its flagship, and earn back those profits.

Staying with Li Auto, it wants to beat Nvidia at its own game. Chips. Next year,

Li Auto plans to ship its own in-house AI chip called the M100 in its mass market models,

rather than rely on Nvidia and local supplier Horizon Robotics. If the chip works as promised,

China's EV race shifts from who can buy the best silicon to who builds the best brain.

On its latest earnings call, Li Auto confirmed the M100 chip as its own inference chip for smart

driving and said it's already running large-scale tests on control units built around it.

A major software architecture overhaul lands this December. That update will tune Li Auto's

driving stack for the M100 and tighten how the car blends language and behaviour data

when making choices. The M100 doesn't stand alone, Li Auto says it co-designed the chip

with its base model, compiler and full software stack in mind, and the target, at least three

times the performance of today's top-end automotive chips. But for similar cost, inside a next-generation

autonomous driving system built on visual language action models.

And Li Auto's not alone. Nio and X-Pung are also building their own smart driving chips,

betting that tight control of hardware and software is what will set them apart.

The next proof point for Li Auto is the December software upgrade that's fast approaching.

After that, the real test will come when M100-powered cars land with customers

and show whether an in-house chip can really match or beat Nvidia's best.

Now, the new Wuling Xinguang 730 is a 7-seat MPV in three powertrains and a very low price.

Comes in plug-in hybrid, pure electric and petrol. On one platform,

with every version priced under $110,000, that's $15,450 US dollars equivalent.

The range runs from $73,000, that's $10,000 US dollars.

Buyers get either a plug-in hybrid that'll do 125km on electric power,

or a 500km pure electric model. SAIC GM Wuling Joint Venture frames the car as the next step

in its long-running push to electrify everyday transport and not just premium cars.

The pure electric version has a 60kWh battery, the so-called magic battery.

Wuling claims 500km of CLTC range using 13.6kWh per 100km and 2C fast charging,

that's a 30-80% in 20 minutes, although we always like the 10-80 please car makers.

It also offers vehicle to load, power, export for appliances and tools.

Now, inside the Xinguang 730 is all set up for family hauling.

A 2 plus 2 plus 3 seating layout, a 230mm aisle in the second row to walk through,

and up to 1200 litres of cargo space. So everything from the school run to a road trip should be

pretty easy. Wuling has dotted the cabin with 25 storage pockets they say,

with dual electric sliding doors for simpler access in tighter parking spots to move around

7 people, and like I say, on a budget that starts at $10,000 USD equivalent. Extreme value

on this. Let's take a break, and when we come back, lots to talk about. JD.com in hot water,

with customers, and IM Motors with hot water out the back of their vehicle. Stick around,

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Welcome back to EV News China, the spin-off show of EV News Daily,

where we take a deep dive into what's happening in the east and how it affects the global

EV industry. JD.com has set out to prove that big-ticket EVs can be sold just like phones online.

The ION UT Super launch is now a case study in how fast trust can crack.

Early buyers rushed in for what was an exclusive JD.com model with an early bird discount. Many

said they did so after seeing the promo images pictured online. They trusted what they saw,

couldn't possibly be computer graphics or even AI generated images. No, they even spoke to customer

service. It showed the car with a sunroof, but once deliveries began, the reality hit. The

delivered cars had no sunroof, and there was no option to add one in the options list.

Some owners told Beijing Business they double-checked with JD.com before paying and

been told, oh yes, it comes with a sunroof. The mismatch did not stop at the glass in

the roof, though. Owners digging into the fine print of the battery rental scheme and the invoicing

rules found limits that also weren't publicised. Those details matter in China, where the invoice

comes from and the type of invoice affects if you get local EV subsidies if the invoice comes

from your local area. The battery plan is also a flashpoint. Launch material pushed the low

early bird fee of 399 yuan a month, writing to 499 a year later. What it didn't say

was that that was for 3000km a month. JD.com later confirmed the cap and said extra use

is 0.2 yuan per kilometre, with unused mileage rolling over but only a one-month roll over.

A staffer at a Beijing Ion store said the cap aims to block ride hailing, and that most

family cars never do more than 3000km anyway. And that may be true for most households, but

it also underlines the core complaint. When people sign up for a battery subscription,

they expect to know the rules up front, not limits they discover on social media once they

have the car. The wider risk here is not a mis-spec rue for a mileage cap on a battery

rental, it's a gap between glossy online marketing, new ways of buying cars, just like

you would buy your phone or tablet online. For JD.com and GAC Ion, this episode will shape

how willing Chinese buyers are to take a gamble on a new EV sight unseen.

Now IM Motors is sparking debate because they've included a shower in their latest SUV,

but they're deadly serious. It's new LS9, just launched in China, and it's a long-range hybrid

setup with six seats, it's got a heated floor and a built-in shower, and has kicked off a bit of a

fight over why. The basics first, revealed on November 12th, this year the LS9 starts at

$322,000, about 45,000 USD equivalent. It packs a 66kWh battery and a hybrid system

good for 402kms of electric only range before the gas engine kicks in.

The odd parts are on the options list though, buyers can add gruffine underfloor heating

and an outdoor luxury pack. That hides a 10 litre heated water tank, a shower head,

and even a shower curtain that you can deploy when you lift up the big boot lid or tailgate

as it swings outwards and hinged from the top, it swings up, and so looks like you would stand

underneath it to have a shower. And that hardware turns the LS9 into something between an SUV and a

rolling wetroom. Engineers and buyers remain unconvinced, a 10 litre water tank means

a brief rinse, not a full shower, and that's before you think about families. Plumbing and

tanks require cabin and boot space to be taken up. To critics, these are simple gimmicks that

distract from what buyers say they want, safe, efficient, affordable transport with some solid

road manners, not a day spa on wheels, but fans see things differently. In Northern China,

where underfloor heating at home is more common, a warm cabin floor isn't a toy or a gimmick,

but it's a comfort that people know and value from having in their house and actually

make sense in their car. For campers, long-haul drivers and anyone who spends days off-grid,

perhaps, even a quick wash in the car with some heated water, heated up from a big traction

battery anyway, could be worth the trade-offs. In fact, IM's own CTO, Chief Technology Officer,

has leaned on that point, saying that while warm floors and an in-car shower might look

maybe childish to purists, they came from real-user requests in colder regions.

Now, Geely isn't waiting around. It's EX2 hatchback just topped China's sales charts this year,

and yet test mules are now on the road for the next one. Fresh spy shots from China point to a

facelift on the outside and a bigger push on cabin tech. Signs that Geely wants this car

to scale. Launched in October last year, 2024, as the Xingwan in China, the EX2 had its first

update less than a year later on October the 10th this year. Now comes a bigger revision.

From January to October, this was China's best-selling car in all powertrains, with 387,000

units sold according to China EV Data Tracker. With volume now under control, Geely has

started exports while it trials a refreshed model on home roads. Auto homes, spy shots show a shape

that stays similar to the car that's out there at the moment, a new set of aero wheels, and

they've not shared powertrain changes. They may not come at all. Today's base EX2 has a 58kW

motor, a 30kWh LFP pack, the higher spec has an 85kW motor and a 40kWh pack. That's good

for 410km of range. In China, prices start at $68,800 yuan. That's around $9,700 USD. That drops it

straight into a fight with BYD's Seagull. Now finally, Geely will finish us off in the news

today. They didn't just launch their Galaxy V900 MPV. It actually crammed 42 people inside

and called in the world record, or the world records people with their clipboards,

to watch the attempt. The extended range minivan now is the official world record holder of the

most people crammed into a multi-purpose vehicle. A blatant publicity stunt aimed squarely at proving

how much space is inside. All 42 participants were adult female dancers with an average

height of 170cm, so this was a no kids only trick. The V900 itself is an e-rev, an extended range

version of the LEVCL380 and secured Chinese sales licenses earlier this year. The numbers back

up the headline though. Geely claims 8.41m2 of interior floor and cabin utilisation rates of

92%. More than 1m between each seating row allows plenty of room to go down the middle

and explains how 42 adults squeezed inside the thing. On the outside is a full-size MPV,

5.36m long, 2m wide, 1.94m tall, and a 3.2m wheelbase with short overhangs as well.

The record itself is admittedly a narrow category. A Toyota RAV4 once held 41 people.

The VW Campervan 50, but the world records people track each car body style separately, apparently.

As marketing stunts go, this one's obvious, but it did gain attention. The car's pitch is

high efficiency and maximum cabin space, so what a curious way to prove it. The real test

does come next though. Regulatory sign-off, pricing, delivery data. If buyers care more

about real-world comfort, running costs and range than about party tricks, well Geely could be on

to a winner. And that's your podcast for today. Thanks for listening. See you on the next one.

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CHINA: NIO Deliveries and Margins Improve, Chinese EU Factories and Li Auto Slips Into The Red | 27 Nov 2025

About this episode

Great Wall

BYD

Xpeng

Wuling Xinguang 730

pure electric

plug-in hybrid

60kWh battery

2C fast charging

CLTC range

vehicle to load

battery subscription

Peugeot iOn

LS9

long-range hybrid

hybrid system

electric only range

heated water tank

boot lid

Geely EX2

facelift

powertrains

LFP pack

BYD Seagull

Ford Galaxy

Geely Galaxy V900

e-rev

MPV

Toyota Rav4

VW Campervan

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