Published - Apr 4, 2022 @ 4:11 PM (EET)

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Nio investors have patiently been waiting for this day.

And although the announcement came on April fool's day, the pioneer in the premium electric vehicle market said it delivered a record number of 25,768 electric vehicle units for the quarter.

For March 2022, Nio (NYSE:NIO) reported 9,985 vehicle deliveries, representing year-over-year growth of 37.6%, while cumulative deliveries of vehicles as of March 31, 2022, reached 192,838.

The deliveries included 163 ET7s, the company's premium sedan that only started deliveries on March 28.  Nio said its new mid-to-large five-seater SUV, the ES7, will debut in May 2022.

ES7 is Nio's first SUV equipped with Nio Technology Platform 2.0 (NT2.0), and while not many details are available yet, NT2.0 is expected to be an autonomous driving technology.

In other news, in a statement to CNBC, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said consultations between the Chinese and U.S. regulators on audit requirements were ongoing and that the commission convened a meeting this week asking some accounting firms to prepare for a "joint" inspection of the audit.

Following the latest quarterly report, shares of Nio jumped as much as 8% on Friday.

GROWTH EXPECTATIONS

Nio's primary market, China, is one of the top countries where EV's percentage of total vehicle registrations is the highest.  Outside China, Nio is already delivering cars in Norway and will soon start selling in Germany, tallying among the Top 3 markets in EV registrations.

Operations in Europe should provide greater recognition for NIO's brand globally and should pave the way for it to establish itself as a global player.

Recently, the electric vehicle giant's resilience to supply chain disruptions awarded NIO's a reiterated Buy Rating on the stock by Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu.  

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The stock rating with a price target of $50 implies an upside potential of 128% from current levels.

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