Nio

"Generally speaking, people who say Li Auto and Nio are bad are either those who have never touched their real cars or those who can't afford them. And then of course there are those who have taken sponsorship from their competitors," Luo said.

Chinese electric carmaker Nio recently bought back and increased its stake in Nio China at a total cost of RMB 15.5 billion ($2.4 billion), which was seen by some as a move to prepare for Nio China's IPO. However, Nio has denied this.

Nio shares rose 156% in the fourth quarter, peaking at $57.20. The stock was traded at $56.67 as of the market close on Friday.

Referring to his goal, Nio's Li quoted the famous Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history, and his words, if translated directly, were "The world is divided into three kingdoms, and we want to be one of them."

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio said today it entered into an agreement to purchase 3.305% of Nio China's stake for RMB 5.5 billion from two of the minority strategic investors that invested in Nio China in April 2020.

A recent LinkedIn job posting by Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio suggests that it may be accelerating its plans to enter the US market.

Nio announced on Thursday that it entered into an agreement with the municipal government of Hefei, Anhui province, where Nio China's headquarters is located, to jointly build a “world-class” smart electric vehicle industrial campus.

Under the agreement, Nio will receive support from Red Star for the construction and operation of the stations in 2021.

Nio announced January deliveries of 7,225 units, which China's top investment bank CICC believes is in line with the company's planned monthly capacity of 7,500 units, indicating strong consumer demand.

William Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of Chinese electric carmaker Nio, recalled his woes at the end of 2019 in a recent interview with CCTV, saying it made sense for investors to choose not to bail out Nio at that time.