Hong Kong (CNN Business) Nio (NIO) — China's troubled Tesla rival — gave investors a little bit of hope this week when it reported improving car sales and revenue. But the electric carmaker is still hemorrhaging money and could have problems keeping the lights on if it doesn't find more cash.

Nio's stock popped nearly 54% in New York on Monday to $3.72 after it reported $257 million in revenue for the third quarter, a 25% uptick from the same period a year earlier. It also said it delivered nearly 4,800 cars in the quarter, an improvement over the first and second quarters of 2019. It expects to have delivered more than 20,300 cars by the end of the year.

But the company has lost $1.2 billion so far this year, and admitted Monday that its cash problems are a huge issue. It had about $274 million cash on hand at the end of September, and said in a statement that it doesn't have enough money to keep its operations going for the next year without external financing.

Tencent TCEHY Nio has gotten some funding from investors. New CFO Feng Wei, who also goes by Steven Feng, pointed out during an earnings call Monday thatloaned the company $100 million — money reflected in its most recent earnings report. Nio CEO Li Bin, also known as William Li, also loaned the company roughly $90 million out of his own pocket as part of that agreement.

Feng added that Nio has made "significant positive progress" on securing new funds. But he said those projects are still ongoing and declined to disclose any other information.

Read More