Nio shares listed across Hong Kong, Singapore have all plunged on Thursday after a new lawsuit from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund in the US courts became public on late Wednesday.
In a statement shared with EV, the company said the matter “is not a newly occurring incident, nor is it directed at Nio‘s recent operational performance.”
In the lawsuit, the fund targets the EV maker but also its founder and CEO William Li and the former CFO Steven Feng, who left the company in July 2024.
Feng was the chief financial officer of Nio when the short-seller firm Grizzly Research published a long report claiming the company was inflating its revenue with amounts reaching over $600 million in the full year of 2021.
The case stems from allegations first raised in a June 2022 report by short-seller Grizzly Research.
Weineng — formally established in August 2020 — operates as Nio’s dedicated battery asset management company. It was set up to support the automaker’s Battery-as-a-Service, or BaaS, model introduced the same year in China.
Under the program, Nio owners can swap depleted batteries for charged ones in a few minutes.
The initiative also separates battery ownership from the vehicle purchase price, allowing buyers to pay less upfront while subscribing to a monthly battery lease — a system Nio has touted as a key competitive and financial advantage.
In the new lawsuit, GIC echoes Grizzly Research’s claims made over three years ago, saying Weineng was used to inflate financial results.
According to the lawsuit, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund alleges that Nio used Weineng to buy up all of its leased batteries, enabling the automaker to book the entire value of those sales upfront.
Nio describes the allegations as “false” adding that its BaaS model “has provided users with an optimal experience in vehicle purchase and usage, while contributing to advancements in the lifespan of batteries.”
The Shanghai-headquartered brand said in the statement that it “has always strictly adhered to the compliance and corporate governance requirements applicable to listings in these three markets.”
Immediately after the release of the statement, Nio shares recovered part of the losses and are trading — as of press time — 3% lower at $6.61.
Here’s the Full Nio statement shared by Nio with EV.
“This matter is not a newly occurring incident, nor is it directed at NIO’s recent operational performance. It stems from false allegations made by short-selling firm Grizzly Research LLC against NIO in a short-selling report released in June 2022.
This report lacks substantiation and contains numerous errors, unfounded speculations, and misleading conclusions.
To safeguard the interests of all shareholders, in August 2022, the independent committee of NIO’s Board of Directors, with assistance from third-party international law firms and forensic accounting firms, completed an independent internal investigation into the short-selling report.
The investigation found that the relevant allegations had no factual basis.
As a company listed on the stock exchanges of the United States, Hong Kong (China), and Singapore, NIO has always strictly adhered to the compliance and corporate governance requirements applicable to listings in these three markets.
Since its launch, the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model has provided users with an optimal experience in vehicle purchase and usage, while contributing to advancements in the lifespan of batteries.
Moving forward, NIO will continue to advance battery technology and innovate business models, delivering greater benefits to users and fostering the sound development of the EV industry.”
