Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese EV startup NIO on June 14 refuted an online rumor which said a fire took place at the JAC-NIO production base in Hefei, where NIO's ES8 and ES6 SUVs are manufactured.

A video recently airing through the Internet showed that a fire breaking out on June 5 at JAC-NIO Advanced Manufacturing Center has caused several casualties. The EV manufacturer released afterwards its rumor refutal, saying whatever shown in the video is nothing more than a vicious slander, and the JAC-NIO plant is now in a normal operation without any safety accidents happened.

NIO said the malignant rumor has brought bad influence on the company's reputation, and it has reported to police and reserve the right to pursue the rumormonger's legal liability.

(NIO EC6, photo source: NIO)

This is the second negative rumor that troubles NIO in June. The EV maker issued on June 9 a statement, refuting rumors that an EC6 explosion caused injuries and deaths. NIO said the anonymous person cooked up the story by using the photos about the firing cases of other brands’ vehicles, and released the false news on some social media platforms like Bilibili, Autohome and Sina Webo.

The high-profile EV manufacturer announced on April 29 it inked definitive agreements for investments in NIO China with a group of strategic investors led by Hefei City Construction and Investment Holding (Group) Co., Ltd., CMG-SDIC Capital Co., Ltd., and Anhui Provincial Emerging Industry Investment Co., Ltd. As per the agreements, they will pump an aggregate of 7 billion yuan ($986,763,400) in cash into NIO (Anhui) Holding Ltd., the legal entity of NIO China. Besides, NIO will invest 4.26 billion yuan ($600,516,012) in cash into NIO China.

William Bin Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, officially became the legal representative of NIO (Anhui) Holding, on June 5, taking over the position from Wang Zhenglin, according to the Chinese enterprise information inquiry platform Tianyancha.

In addition, NIO (Anhui) Holding got its registered capital increased to 3.851 billion yuan ($542,860,836) from 11 million yuan ($1,550,628) in early June, and introduced a new shareholder, NIO Power Express Limited, in the meantime, according to Tianyancha.

NIO delivered 3,436 vehicles in May 2020, a robust year-on-year surge of 215.5%. The deliveries are composed of 2,685 ES6s and 751 ES8s. As of May, its cumulative deliveries reached 42,342 units, of which 10,429 units were handed over this year, according to NIO's latest delivery result.