Bengaluru — Shares of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker NIO fell as much as 15% in their market debut, a day after its initial public offering (IPO) was priced at the lower end of an expected range, weighed down by investor worries about the prospects of main rival Tesla. NIO’s shares opened at $6 and dropped to a low of $5.35, giving the company a market capitalisation of $5.52bn. The company, whose ES8 pure-electric, seven-seat SUV is seen as a rival to Tesla’s Model X, priced 160-million shares at $6.26 on Tuesday, just above the low end of its $6.25 to $8.25 target price range, raising $1bn. Tesla’s struggles to meet its production targets and an abandoned attempt by CEO Elon Musk to take it private have weighed not just on its own stock but also on peers looking to develop mass-market EVs. NIO, formerly known as NextEV and backed by Chinese tech heavyweight Tencent, of which JSE-listed Naspers owns 31.2%, is one of several largely Chinese-funded EV start-ups betting on the be...
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