File photo shows William Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of Nio, demonstrating a Shenji autonomous driving chip developed in-house by Nio. Credit: Nio
- Nio founder reposted a Roadster stunt video and praises Tesla, echoing his 2018 remark that “whatever Tesla has, we have.”
- After Tesla unveiled the second-generation Roadster, screenshots of Li’s old remark have been circulating widely again.
Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) founder, chairman and CEO William Li has responded to Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) flying second-generation Roadster, taking the opportunity to poke fun at a bold claim he made years ago.
On Friday, Li reposted a video of the Roadster on Weibo and wrote: “Amazing! This we really don’t have. Kudos to Tesla.”
The post carried a laughing-while-crying emoji and was widely seen as self-mockery of his 2018 remark: “Whatever Tesla has, we have; what we have, Tesla doesn’t.”
Li made the comment that year at Tencent Academy when asked about benchmarking against Tesla, saying Chinese entrepreneurs should have the confidence to take part in global competition.
At the time, Nio was preparing to deliver its first production model, the ES8, and Tesla’s Model 3 had yet to be delivered in China, so the remark drew little controversy back then.
In the years since, Tesla has kept expanding on the back of global volume growth for the Model 3 and Model Y, as well as Full Self-Driving (FSD) and robotics, and the remark has frequently resurfaced in social media comment sections.
After Tesla unveiled the second-generation Roadster on Thursday local time, screenshots of the remark spread widely once more, and Li responded with “this we really don’t have.”
Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng also commented on Weibo, calling the new car “a very cool flying car in another form.”
He said whether it can be put into use still depends on flight safety and parameters such as range, and that no one can bypass flight certification (such as type certification, or TC), which requires long-term work globally. He said he hoped progress in this area could be accelerated.
Xpeng’s flying car unit Aridge is building flying cars and aims to achieve mass production using automotive-style assembly lines.
Tesla unveiled the second-generation Roadster at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, where a demonstration vehicle drove up a ramp with the help of a fan-based suction system and cold-gas thrusters, flipped in midair and landed, and also jumped over Tesla vehicles including the Semi truck.
The cold-gas thrusters were developed by Tesla and SpaceX engineers and generate thrust by releasing high-pressure gas, without burning fuel.
According to Tesla’s US website, the Roadster comes in 3 versions — Performance, Thrust and Rocket — with the Rocket version being the one capable of flight.
The Rocket version has a single-seat layout and supports brief lift-off from the ground, using thrusters around the body for upward thrust and attitude control. It is available only to invited customers and has not been approved for use on public roads.
Tesla’s China website currently accepts reservations only for the Performance version, with a fully refundable deposit of 332,000 yuan ($49,390), and that version does not include the full flight system.
Elon Musk has set 2028 as the production target for the Roadster. Tesla first showed a prototype of the car back in 2017, and the timeline has been pushed back several times since.
Reservations in China require a 332,000 yuan ($49,390) deposit, with the website describing the Performance version as suitable for public roads.
($1 = 6.7220 yuan)
