Nio founder William Li has launched personal accounts on X and YouTube, as the company aims to be in a cumulative 25 global markets in 2025.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) founder, chairman and CEO William Li has launched his personal account on X, previously known as Twitter, as the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker plans to enter more overseas markets.
Li's handle on the social media platform owned by Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk is @WilliamLiNIO, and his profile photo shows him pointing to Nio's charging map as the company reaches the 50 millionth battery swap service milestone.
The account, registered in November 2024, is not yet verified, and a Nio spokesperson confirmed to CnEVPost that it belongs to Li.
Li posted the first content on X about three hours ago to warm up for Nio Day 2024, which will begin in a few hours.
“I'm at Haixinsha Park in Guangzhou. NIO Day 2024 will take place here tonight. Here's a sneak peek at the venue! We'll be unveiling the flagship executive sedan ET9 and our premium compact car brand, firefly. Stay tuned, and let's power up together! #NIODay2024,” he wrote in English.
I'm at Haixinsha Park in Guangzhou. NIO Day 2024 will take place here tonight. Here's a sneak peek at the venue! We'll be unveiling the flagship executive sedan ET9 and our premium compact car brand, firefly. Stay tuned, and let's power up together! #NIODay2024 pic.twitter.com/PdVXUdJmzM
— William Li (@WilliamLiNIO) December 21, 2024
Li graduated from Peking University, one of the best in China. He used English at a product launch for European consumers last year, and used English in some of his prepared remarks earlier this year on earnings calls.
In addition to X, Li's personal account on YouTube has been launched as @NIOWilliamLi, and the first video was posted about three hours ago.
The video is same one Li posted on the Chinese social media platforms on December 17, in which he interviewed Long Yu, or Anna Long, an independent director at Nio, about her feelings after experiencing the ET9.
Long, founding and managing partner of BAI Capital, was appointed on July 12, 2021, as an independent director on Nio's board.
Nio will hold Nio Day 2024 in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, about two hours later, at 7 pm Beijing time on December 21.
The company will officially launch the ET9 executive sedan at the event, and will also formally unveil the Firefly brand, and the Nio sub-brand's first model is also expected to make its global debut.
The ET9 was unveiled at Nio Day 2023 a year ago, when it went on pre-sale for RMB 800,000 yuan ($109,640).
In addition to X and YouTube, Li also has a personal account on LinkedIn with the same profile picture.
The launch of Li's accounts on overseas social media platforms signals that Nio is expected to increase its engagement with an international audience, as the company plans to enter more markets.
Nio hopes to expand to as many as 25 countries or regions by the end of 2025, the company's co-founder and president, Qin Lihong, said in an interview with Chinese state-run media outlet CGTN on the sidelines of 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, last month.
“And we want to enter more than 90 percent of the market presence in next five to 10 years. That's our plan,” Qin said in English at the time.
Nio has already brought its products and services to five European markets -- Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.
On November 15, the company announced that it had appointed Green Car as its national distributor in Azerbaijan and would begin delivering vehicles in the Central Asian country in the second quarter of 2025.
On November 28, Nio House Abu Dhabi opened, its first in the United Arab Emirates and the first Nio House it has opened in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
On the opening day of the facility, Nio also announced that the EL8 -- known as the ES8 in China -- has been delivered in the UAE market, and that local deliveries of the EC6 and ET5 would begin in the first quarter of 2025.
Nio's first battery swap station in the MENA region will be operational by the end of 2024, the company said.
($1 = RMB 7.2966)
Nio still hopes to expand global presence to up to 25 countries and regions by 2025
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