Nio is “very assured” of assembly its goal of doubling gross sales to 250,000 electrical autos this yr, Chief Monetary Officer Steven Feng mentioned, prompting the Chinese language automaker’s shares to surge in Hong Kong.

“We’re very assured to realize our gross sales goal in 2023,” Feng mentioned in an interview with Bloomberg Tv on Wednesday.

That will likely be achieved with new fashions, increasing the corporate’s charging and battery-swapping community, and unlocking autonomous driving applied sciences, he mentioned.

Assembly the quarter-million gross sales objective will likely be a milestone for Nio, which delivered 122,486 vehicles in 2022. Whereas that was up 34 % from a yr earlier, it missed the corporate’s authentic goal as a result of gross sales have been hampered by China’s now-abolished COVID restrictions.

Nonetheless, it now faces intensifying competitors in China, the place a worth warfare has damaged out as home EV makers reminiscent of BYD and main worldwide automakers search to bolster gross sales.

The value cuts present the nation has too many automakers, Feng mentioned. The discounting was sparked by Tesla, which first lowered costs in October, after which minimize extra deeply in January. Chinese language automakers reminiscent of Nio and Xpeng adopted go well with, in addition to main worldwide manufacturers together with VW and Ford.

“We anticipate the trade to undergo some profound consolidation,” Feng mentioned. “It’s nearly consensus that China now has too many automakers, however we have now no plan to purchase anybody.”

The China Affiliation of Vehicle Producers on Wednesday urged automakers and native governments to finish the value warfare, saying it’s not a long-term resolution, and the auto market ought to return to regular order as quickly as potential.

Nio earlier this month posted a wider-than-estimated 5.8 billion yuan ($843 million) fourth-quarter loss as advertising and marketing and promotional bills climbed.

The automaker additionally reported an annual internet lack of 14.4 billion yuan on income of 49.3 billion yuan. Gross margins within the fourth quarter dropped to three.9 % from 13.3 % the three months prior resulting from a manufacturing platform change and COVID disruptions.

Feng mentioned the corporate is “assured” about breaking even on the group stage subsequent yr. “Sturdy income progress along with tightened spending are the important thing to improved profitability,” he mentioned.

Regardless of this week’s positive factors, Nio’s shares in Hong Kong and the U.S. have plunged greater than 50 % previously 12 months.

Price nearly double Ford when its market worth peaked at nearly $100 billion in early 2021, Nio is now valued at lower than a 3rd of the U.S. automaker.