$NIO showed exactly what we've been expecting from Chinese EV makers lately: bigger margins, lower revenue than the market wanted.

Q2 2026 numbers:

- Revenue 32.14 billion yuan, up 69% year-over-year.

- Deliveries 107,658 vehicles, +49%.

- Vehicle sales margin jumped from 10.3% to 18.5% – mainly due to a better product mix, meaning NIO is selling more expensive and fewer loss-making models

Adjusted operating profit 206.9 million yuan, third consecutive quarter in the black at this level. Adjusted net income 26.1 million yuan.

On a GAAP basis, the company is still losing 528 million yuan, but the trend is clearly upward. The problem is elsewhere.

Revenue missed analyst estimates and the Q3 outlook also didn't beat consensus.

For me, it's a typical picture of a company in the middle of a turnaround: fundamentals are improving faster than the top-line revenue shows. But the market is currently rewarding growth, not margin, and NIO is now offering mostly margin.

I would mainly watch whether 18%+ margins hold up even with a more aggressive delivery pace in Q3. That will be the test of whether it's real improvement or a one-off mix in a single quarter.

Shares fell -4% after the results.