NIO files US$1.8b IPO in US

Source: Xinhua | 2018-08-15

Chinese electric carmaker NIO has filed for a US$1.8 billion initial public offering in the United States as the burgeoning company seeks to compete with US rival Tesla.

NIO is one of dozens of new automakers to crop up in China as policy-makers push an all-electric future for the world’s largest auto market.

American, Japanese and European auto giants dominate sales of combustion engine vehicles in China, but homegrown firms unencumbered by the billions sunk into refining gasoline engines are in the driver’s seat when it comes to electric cars.

While Tesla chief Elon Musk is trying to take his company private, NIO filed papers at the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to go public.

But the upstart Chinese automaker faces a long road ahead for its proposed float of up to US$1.8 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company had delivered only 481 of its first mass production electric SUV model, ES8, by the end of July, with reservations and deposits in place for an extra 17,000.