Five of the world’s top ten automakers will be Chinese

It’s been a very busy year for Chinese electric car maker Nio. Not only did it launch semi-solid-state batteries and continue to expand its battery swap network, it also launched two new sub-brands – Onvo and Firefly. Now, NIO CEO William Li says he wants to see the brand become one of the world’s top 10 automakers by 2035.

Li laid out his ambitions while speaking at a recent media conference in China. He said he did not want to see NIO left behind by its “excellent Chinese peers” and did not expect many automakers to survive the current turmoil in the global market. According to IT Home, Li believes that by 2035, five of the world’s top ten automakers will be Chinese brands, and said that Chinese brands may account for 40% of new car sales.

Read: Nio’s affordable new Firefly EV hatchback comes with LEDs that look like iPhone cameras

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard the boss of a new Chinese company announce grand ambitions to become one of the world’s largest carmakers. In late 2022, a year before the launch of the SU7, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said he believed the tech giant could become one of the top 5 global car brands in the future. At that time, he proposed that the world’s top five brands would account for 80% of the total new car market and set an annual sales target of more than 10 million vehicles, allowing Xiaomi to join this ranks.