r/nio
May 2026 Sales Results - NIO All Time High and Li Auto 3 Year Low
NIO hit record May sales with 63% YoY growth, while Li Auto dropped to a 3-year low due to alleged mismanagement and quality issues.
- NIO achieved record sales in May with a 63% YoY increase.
- NIO is gaining industry respect, evidenced by other major EV CEOs visiting its booth at the Beijing Auto Show.
- NIO is successfully outcompeting rivals like Li Auto in the EV market.
- Li Auto's sales fell to a three-year low due to squandered early lead.
- Li Auto suffers from mismanagement, quality control issues, and loss of consumer trust.
- Li Auto's management focuses on smear campaigns against competitors rather than R&D and product quality.
https://preview.redd.it/0y8jlx9flo4h1.png?width=1316&format=png&auto=webp&s=a68a758c9468fb767ec0c513442009252850937e
https://preview.redd.it/buvgjx9flo4h1.png?width=1304&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ae9b916fe8c019c9575e582c538fe03e17623b4
Remember when bears were saying that NIO would go bankrupt and that Li Auto would win the EV war?
NIO posted record sales for May 2026 with a stunning 63% YOY increase while Li Auto sales fell to a three year low.
It's becoming clear that Li Auto squandered its early lead and popularity with mismanagement leading to numerous quality control issues, safety issues and loss of consumer trust.
Instead of focusing on R&D and quality, Li Auto management instead engaged in smear campaigns and dirty PR tactics to suppress competitors, particularly NIO. That's why at Beijing Auto Show, when all the other major EV CEOs are visiting the NIO booth, Li Auto's CEO Xiang Li was noticeably absent and unwelcome.
Li Auto management was so focused on sabotaging competitors instead of improving itself. It's good to see underhanded, unscrupulous people fail. Of the new EV companies, (NIO, Xpeng, Xiaomi, Zeekr) Li Auto increasingly seems like it will be the one to fail.
I don't remember people saying Li Auto would win the EV war. Most people said BYD would win the EV war. Nio, Xpeng, Li Auto were seen as new kids on the block.
Li Auto is doing badly now because its segment is the hybrid SUVs and is brutally saturated. Huawei-backed AITO, Leapmotor, and Zeekr basically cloned Li's family-first EREV with a fridge and a screen formula but priced it lower. Competition is fierce, and Li hasn't refreshed its core models.
Li tried to pivot into pure EV with the Li Mega but a smear campaign hit its sales hard with the internet called it a 'coffin car'. I can see why they got butthurt over it. But when I saw the Mega in real life, it actually looked pretty good.
In any case, I don't see Li Auto as a close competitor to Nio. Which of their models are close? Xpeng is much closer to NIO in terms of product overlap and target audience. People shopping for NIO cars are more likely looking at Xpeng or Xiaomi as all three are pure EVs in similar price bands, while Li Auto is in a completely different category (EREV family SUVs).
Do you live in China or the West? I can't imagine anyone in China saying that Xpeng is more comparable to Nio than to Li Auto. Xpeng shot itself in the foot when it cheapened its brand image, quality control, components, and manufacturing with the launch of the Mona. What happened with Li Auto is that he wanted to get rich before his time, always thinking about taking short-term profits while rejecting a long-term vision. Xiaopeng has been a mix. He had more vision in some aspects, but then He Xiaopeng succumbed to pressure and started to waver. Wavering in the target audience for his cars (initially more comparable to Li's audience, now to a more humble audience), wavering in his business strategy (“better to focus on the international market because domestically you're increasingly fighting to survive, you need to go abroad and be the first”… (until Stellantis came along to do the same but even cheaper)), wavering in his technology: flying taxis, robots… Nio made a mistake by leaving China too early and going to countries where they are not very welcome politically and culturally, but it knew how to stop the bleeding and its vision as a company always remained steady. Xiaopeng's vision changes more often than I change my T-shirt in summer. And Li, well… the vision of filling his pockets as much as possible while investing the minimum. But in terms of quality? Nio > Li > Xpeng
I am an expat living in China. I can't read Chinese so I am not exposed to the Chinese internet, but I am thinking of buying a car. The one I am looking at is the Xpeng P7. I also like the Xiaomi SU7. I am not really considering Nio, but a direct comparison would be the Nio ET5.
Nio and Xpeng actually had very similar financials. At one point their losses were exactly identical, and there's a good YouTube video comparing the two. In fact, if you go on YouTube, you'll see plenty of 'Nio vs Xpeng' videos but not many 'Nio vs Li Auto' videos. Most 'Nio vs Li Auto' comparisons also include the Xpeng G6.
Here's an example:
Why Xpeng is DESTORYING Nio in China's EV bloodbath
Now, I am no Xpeng fanboy. I am more BYD and Xiaomi. But a lot of what you said is just Nio fanboying rubbish, so let me straighten some facts out for you.
First, the P7 competes directly with the Nio ET5. Both are mid-size electric sedans, similar price bracket, similar performance, similar tech focus. Li Auto doesn't even have a sedan. A Nio buyer will absolutely look at the ET5 against a P7i. Pretending otherwise is pure fanboy denial.
Then you claim Xpeng going mass market cheapened its brand. Tesla has the Model 3 and Y, but they're making a cheaper Model 2. BYD has the Han and Seal, and also the Seagull. Smart brands offer different piece entry points. Xpeng's MONA starts around 119k RMB and is currently Xpeng's best seller, bringing in significant revenue rather than destroying the brand. If a lower-priced car damages a brand, then explain the Audi A3, BMW 1 Series, Mercedes A-Class, and... Onvo.
Your critique of Li Auto is hilarious. You say Li wanted 'short-term profits', but Li Auto is actually profitable and delivers over 30,000 SUVs a month. How is that short-term thinking? And Xpeng 'wavered'? You mean they adapted? Flying taxis and robots are R&D bets. The same as Nio's phone (which flopped) or Nio's battery swap stations (which are bleeding cash). Every EV maker explores side projects. Nio's 'steady vision' nearly bankrupted them twice.
You also throw out a quality ranking: Nio > Li > Xpeng. Based on what? JD Power's initial quality scores in China have put Xpeng above Nio in some categories. Li's L-series quality is widely praised. You're literally just making up a hierarchy to fit your story.
nd finally, 'A Nio buyer would never consider Xpeng' – tell that to real buyers. Thousands of actual owners compare the ET5 against the P7i. Many chose the P7i because of better value, smarter driving aids (XNGP vs Nio's NAD), and a lower price. Are you just caught up reading Chinese internet EV bubbles instead of actually looking at the cars? Because if you were actually looking at cars, you wouldn't say Xpeng isn't a competitor.
On YouTube/in the West, only Nio and Xpeng are known. It's normal that they don't make comparisons or content about Li, because in this regard, Li was the smartest of the three and always focused on the domestic Chinese market. When Xpeng was starting out with its original P7, it did have a more premium air. But that became history when the company changed direction and started selling down to the last cent with the Mona models, whose build quality has been exposed hundreds of times on Chinese social media. Xpeng is more comparable to Xiaomi, both try to catch the eye and make a strong visual first impression, but Xiaomi has a higher quality standard (though it's true that they only have two models so far; we'll see what they do in the future). In any case, the only one that has challenged the traditional premium segment (BBA) from day one is Nio. Li wanted to get into that battle too, but it's gradually falling behind due to the technological reality and features that each company offers. Xpeng has never been in that league, among other reasons because He Xiaopeng himself said he came to democratize EVs. They are different visions.
A customer who is deciding between buying a Mercedes or an Audi doesn't buy a VW, the same goes for Xpeng. If you have money and want your car to project social status (which is expected and desirable for someone buying a 400,000 RMB car), you buy Nio, Wenjie, Zeekr, etc. You don't buy an Xpeng. But a Li Auto? That one can still hold its own.