China’s strongest Tesla challenger has a bold plan to launch a new car every year

While Tesla wants to get away from Wall Street, China’s toughest Tesla challenger is going the other way. Nio, a maker of electric cars, announced today that it wants to raise US$1.8 billion in an IPO stateside.

(Update on August 29: A new filing has set the share price range, indicating Nio will raise up to US$1.3 billion.)

“We are generally targeting to launch a new model every year in the near future as we ramp up our business,” said Nio founder William Li in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Established 2014, Nio started selling its first model in China this summer – the all-electric ES8 SUV.

Photo credit: Nio

Priced from US$65,000, it’s designed to take on luxury barges from the likes of Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes – and Tesla’s Model X,  of course.

Here’s how Nio is shaping up so far, according to its SEC filing:

• 6,200 employees, most based in its Shanghai headquarters
• Other offices: California, Oxford, and Munich
• Sales: 481 units since ES8 launch in June 2018
• 17,000 more reservations for the SUV

Financials

• Revenue: US$7 million in first half of 2018
• Net loss: US$503 million in same period
• 2016 net loss: US$759 million
• 2017 net loss: US$503 million

What is Nio working on?

The fledgling automaker, which started out under the NextEV name, also has a Formula E team.

Photo credit: Nio

Plus there’s a limited-edition 1,340-horsepower electric supercar, the EP9.

Meet the team

What’s next?