(Yicai Global) March 25 -- Nio’s shares fell after the Chinese electric vehicle startup reported that its fourth quarter loss widened a more-than-expected 46 percent from a year earlier.

Nio’s Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG: 9866], which debuted earlier this month, fell 7.1 percent to close at HKD162 (USD20.70) today. In pre-market trading in New York, its stock [NYSE: NIO] was down 5.8 percent at USD20.71 as of 4.39 a.m. local time.

The net loss was CNY2.14 billion (USD336 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, Nio’s financial results released late yesterday showed. Analysts had expected a loss of CNY1.51 billion, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg News.

Revenue jumped 49 percent to CNY9.9 billion, buoyed by a 44 percent gain in vehicle deliveries to 25,034 in the quarter, in line with Nio’s expectations.

Nio forecast this quarter’s revenue to come in between CNY9.6 billion and CNY10 billion, up 20.6 percent to 25.1 percent, and deliveries to jump 24.6 percent to 29.6 percent to between 25,000 and 26,000.

On a conference call after the earnings were published, founder William Li said the Shanghai-based carmaker may break even in the third quarter of next year and turn profitable in 2024.

This year, Nio will deliver three new products based on Nio Technology Platform 2.0, Li said, noting that the ET7 model will start being delivered at the end of March, the ET5 in September, and the ES7, the firm’s third sports utility vehicle after the ES6 and ES8, in the third quarter.

Nio’s net loss last year widened 88 percent to CNY10.6 billion (USD1.7 billion), the report showed. Revenue rose 122 percent to CNY36.1 billion (USD5.7 billion), and deliveries more than doubled to nearly 91,500.

“2021 had been a year of making decisive investments in products and technologies, as well as in power and service infrastructures,” said, who is also chairman and chief executive. “On top of our growing user base in China, 2021 also marked the beginning of our global market expansion starting from the launch and deliveries of Nio vehicles in Norway in September 2021.”

Editor: Futura Costaglione