Nio, the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker, has denied speculation that it could be acquired by Xiaomi later this year, following claims made in a report by Haitong International, a Hong Kong-based financial firm.
The report, published Saturday, outlined “five big conjectures for 2025,” one of which suggested that Xiaomi might acquire Nio. Hours after the claim surfaced, Ma Lin, Nio’s assistant vice president for branding and communications, refuted the speculation on Weibo, calling it “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.”
Since its founding a decade ago, Nio has focused on battery-swapping technology as a cornerstone of its EV strategy, establishing over 3,000 swap stations across more than 700 cities in China. Ma emphasized the positive impact of these stations on sales, adding that the initiative has garnered industry-wide attention.
“Each additional swap station has a positive impact on sales,” Ma noted, while highlighting that even Xiaomi has integrated with Nio’s charging network, enabling over 140,000 Xiaomi customers to charge their vehicles at Nio stations.