BEIJING \u2014 Chinese electric car start-up Nio said Tuesday a global chip shortage will force it to manufacture fewer cars in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

High demand for electronics amid the coronavirus pandemic and pressure from U.S.-China trade tensions on the highly specialized semiconductor supply chain have contributed to a backlog in chip manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Major automakers have had to cut production as a result, with China-based Nio the latest to announce such reductions.<\/p>\n

The company had ramped up production capacity in February to 10,000 vehicles a month, an increase from 7,500 previously, founder William Li said in a quarterly earnings call Tuesday. But a shortage in chips and batteries means Nio will need to fall back to the 7,500 level in the second quarter, he said.<\/p>\n

Li said he expects manufacturing can increase again in July, for a total annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles under one work shift \u2014 with the potential to double by early 2022 to 300,000 units a year under two shifts.<\/p>\n

Tesla said late last year that annual production capacity at its Shanghai factory had reached 250,000 units.<\/p>\n

Nio predicts strong deliveries<\/h2>\n

Despite competition from Tesla, Nio remained ahead of its start-up rivals in terms of vehicle sales.<\/p>\n

The company delivered 7,225 vehicles in January and 5,578 in February amid the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. With a forecast of 20,000 to 25,000 deliveries in the first quarter, Nio anticipates deliveries will rise to at least 7,197 cars in March.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Xpeng said Tuesday it delivered 2,223 electric cars last month, while Li Auto expects it will deliver fewer than 4,000 cars a month in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Nio founder Li said that pre-orders for the et7 sedan revealed in January have exceeded that of the company's other models, but declined to share specific figures. The et7 is Nio's first non-SUV consumer car and is set to begin deliveries next year.<\/p>\n

Li added the company remained on track with plans to enter Europe later this year.<\/p>\n

Shares of New York-listed Nio fell 4% in extended-hours trading after reporting a fourth-quarter earnings loss of 0.93 yuan (14 cents) a share. That's greater than the 0.39 yuan loss per share predicted by analysts, according to FactSet.<\/p>\n

The company attributed a nearly 33% quarterly increase in net losses \u2014 to 1.39 billion yuan ($212.8 million) in the last three months of 2020 \u2014 primarily to the depreciation in the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n

Nio shares soared more than 1,000% last year after the struggling start-up received a roughly $1 billion capital injection from state-backed investors, and traders piled into the stock alongside a surge in Tesla's shares.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Nio expects total revenue of 7.38 billion yuan to 7.56 billion yuan in the first quarter, up from 6.64 billion yuan in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

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