Research Note

Amid positive sector sentiment, investors are inclined to take opportunities on laggards like Nio to play the catch-up, Morgan Stanley said.

After the price cut and a series of new models, Nio sales could reach 20,000 units per month in the third quarter, according to Edison Yu's team.

PHEVs get the same tax exemption as BEVs, and the extension of the tax break will attract more automakers to the market, Fitch said.

Western Europe is a traditional stronghold for international carmakers, and it's difficult for Chinese brands to stand out, TrendForce said.

While touring cars might be relatively niche compared to sedans, some comparable offerings in the market can still deliver monthly sales of about 10,000 units on a consistent basis, Tim Hsiao's team said.

With Nio's broad price cuts and the rapid rollout of new NT 2.0 models, it could see a considerabe sales rebound in the second half of the year, according to Edison Yu's team.

At present, 89 percent of the new energy heavy trucks are pure electric models, and half of them support battery swap.

Nio reported weak first-quarter underlying results but showed surprising Opex discipline to start the year and also presented a better-than-feared outlook for second-quarter sales, Edison Yu's team said.

Second-tier battery makers may adopt a more aggressive pricing strategy to gain market share in the second half of the year, and CATL could face increasing risks to its market share and margins in the domestic market, Morgan Stanley said.

Confirmed orders for the ES6 accounted for 35-40 percent of new orders in May, meaning inflows since the model's launch in the last week of May have been quite meaningful, Morgan Stanley said.