Bitauto, founded by Nio's William Li, says it's going to start building cars, is this April Fool's stunt?

Bitauto, founded by William Li of Nio, said on Thursday that it will build a data-driven intelligent new energy car, and the new car launch will be broadcast live at 19:30 Beijing time on Thursday.

The company has accumulated years of experience in the auto information and auto marketing business, and the technologies behind its business system include artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing, similar to Li Auto founder Li Xiang's autohome.com.cn.

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According to Bitauto, it has established a "holographic dynamic user data platform", which not only includes users' basic attributes, physical attributes, interest tags, and static information on car preferences but also has data on dynamic behavioral scenarios of users when buying cars online.

At the level of understanding user needs, Bitauto's capability is no less than that of car manufacturers; at the level of intelligent driving research and development, this company's advantage is reflected in its extensive user data.

Bitauto can provide data and software foundation in car building, but lacks sufficient funds and hardware technology development. If it were to build a car, it would probably be more similar in form to Baidu's joint venture with Geely, NetEase News said.

However, there have never been rumors of a Bitauto car, and now the company is announcing a direct launch of a new car, which raises doubts.

The official poster shows a car with an exaggerated shape that "looks more like a space ship than a car," Tencent News said, adding that it is less likely that Bitauto is building a car and may only be involved in the car-making chain.

Building a car requires a lot of capital, and Bitauto's revenue in the first quarter of 2020 was RMB 1.74 billion ($265 million), while Xiaomi, which just announced a $10 billion investment to build a car, had revenue of RMB 49.7 billion in the first quarter of last year.

Three or four years ago, more than 50 new companies entered the new energy vehicle industry in China, but with the reduction of subsidies and increased competition in the market, most companies withdrew from the competition without mass-produced models.