In 2016, a little-known Chinese company called NextEV relaunched itself at a global party held at the swanky Saatchi gallery in London’s Chelsea. The electric car company would now be called Nio, baby-faced founder William Li told the assembled crowd, competing for attention with its launch model – the 1341bhp EP9 electric hypercar – lurking menacingly on a nearby podium.
Fast forward to 2022 and Nio is now regularly billed as China’s answer to Tesla
