Photo/Zhang Jian

Nov. 28 (NBD) -- The 10,000th ES8 electric SUV rolled off the production line at NIO's plant in Hefei, east China's Anhui province Tuesday. 

This means the Chinese electric car startup stands a good chance of crossing the 10,000-vehicle mark in deliveries by the end of this year. 

Li Bin, founder and CEO of NIO, also expressed strong confidence in a recent media interview. 

It seems Li will win his bet from Xiaopeng Motors' founder He Xiaopeng according to which Li would lose an ES8 to He if NIO failed to reach the milestone or He would lose a Xiaopeng car to Li if NIO made it. 

He Xiaopeng once claimed no Chinese electric vehicle startup could deliver 10,000 cars this year. Upon hearing the latest ES8 news, he issued a WeChat Moments post congratulating NIO on its stronger-than-expected performance. 

According to NIO's fiscal report for the third quarter of this year, the carmaker delivered 3,268 ES8 electric SUVs in the July-September period, exceeding its target of 2,900-3,000 vehicles. For the fourth quarter of 2018, the company expects deliveries of the ES8 to be between 6,700 and 7,000 vehicles, representing an increase of approximately 105.0 percent to 114.2 percent from the third quarter. If things go as expected, NIO would be able to hand over 11,000-12,000 vehicles to customers by the end of this year. 

The fiscal report also reveals NIO's net loss for the third quarter was around 2.8 billion yuan (401.7 million U.S. dollars), representing a rise of 116.1 percent from the same period of last year and an increase of 56.6 percent from the second quarter of 2018. Balance of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investment was approximately 9.2 billion yuan (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) as of September 30, 2018.

If calculated based on the third-quarter loss, NIO's account balance could only support the company's operations for less than 10 months. 

In a report released in September, U.S.-based Sanford C. Bernstein set an "underperform" rating and a 4.20-U.S. dollar target price for NIO's stock. The Chinese upstart's costs are too high and its price points are too low, the firm's analysts said. Nio's expenses are rising rapidly, and the company will likely remain loss-making through 2025, they added.

To date, NIO has completed eight rounds of financing. In the previous six rounds, the carmaker had already secured investment of more than 3.2 billion U.S. dollars, ranking top among Chinese automotive startups. 

On October 10, British investment management firm Baillie Gifford, Tesla's second-largest shareholder after Elon Musk, raised its stake in NIO, but didn't disclose the specific investment amount.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn