The U.S.-listed shares of China-based Nio Inc. NIO, +0.46% gained 0.1% in afternoon trading Thursday, after closing the previous session at the lowest price since July 2020, despite the 6.7% selloff in rival electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc.’s stock TSLA, -6.65% after disappointing third-quarter results.
Meanwhile, shares of fellow China-based EV makers XPeng Inc. XPEV, +3.52% climbed 3.9% after closing Wednesday at a record low, and Li Auto Inc. LI, +2.98% hiked up 3.0% after closing Wednesday at a two-year low. The rallies come after Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk was asked on the post-earnings conference call with analysts about the EV maker’s performance in China, and Musk answered “China is experiencing quite a burst of a recession of sorts,” according to a FactSet transcript. He said Europe was in a “recession of sorts” while North America’s economy remained “pretty healthy.” Tesla hasn’t filed its third-quarter 10-Q yet, but the second quarter 10-Q showed that revenue generated from China represented 22.4% of total revenue. Nio’s stock has tumbled 46.3% over the past three months, while Tesla shares have lost 16.3%, the iShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI, +0.46% has dropped 25.1% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.80% has declined 7.2%.