Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
The Hong-Kong based firm Haitong International published on Saturday “five big conjectures for 2025,” where it mentioned that Chinese tech giant Xiaomi might acquire EV maker Nio later this year.
However, hours later, a Nio executive denied the rumors.
On the social media platform Weibo, Nio’s assistant vice president for branding and communications, Ma Lin, dismissed the speculation from the Hong Kong-based bank as “purely fictional.”
“A colleague from the company had a brief “exchange” with the author, who explained, “When sharing internally, the intent was to express recognition of the Nio brand and its battery-swapping model,” Ma wrote. “Well then, the recognition seems genuine, and the speculation was purely fictional.”
Nio shares closed at $4.36 on Friday, resulting in a market cap of $9.1 billion. As of the end of the third quarter of 2024, Xiaomi had nearly $20.7 billion in cash (151.6 billion yuan).
Since 2018, the ten year old EV maker has built more than 3,000 battery swap stations in China. “Nio has been steadily advancing its battery-swapping initiative, now covering over 700 cities nationwide. Each additional swap station has a positive impact on sales”, Ma wrote.
Ma also noted that Nio’s founder and CEO, [William] Bin Li, had recommended battery-swapping models to Xiaomi’s chief, Lei Jun. As of today, Xiaomi has only joined Nio’s charging network, allowing its more than 140,000 customers to charge at Nio’s network in China.
“CEO Bin Li even recommended battery-swapping models to Lei Jun, and several models from other brands collaborating on battery-swapping are already on the way.” he wrote.
“Indeed, even CATL, the company that knows batteries best, has adopted the battery-swapping model, reflecting how the entire industry recognizes its value for electric vehicles,” he added.
CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, has established a battery-swap alliance with five automakers: Changan, GAC, BAIC, Wuling, and FAW. The company unveiled two standardized battery models, the ‘#20’ and the ‘#25,’ last month.
Last month, Nio filed lawsuits against individuals accused of creating and spreading false rumors about the automaker.
The rumors, which circulated on Chinese social media in late November, claimed that Nio and Shenzhen-based BYD had formed a joint venture named BYD-Nio Auto Group.
According to the allegations, BYD would acquire Nio for 16.5 billion yuan ($2.27 billion), holding a 51% stake, with Nio retaining 49%.
In a statement posted on its Legal Department account on Weibo, the EV maker said the rumors have caused significant harm to its reputation in the capital market.
Nio opened the “Nio Legal Department” account on Weibo in May 2023 aiming to fight false information on social media.
Late last year, the company led by William Li had stressed that it would “resolutely safeguard” its “legitimate rights and interests” against similar rumors.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
