(Yicai Global) Aug. 29 -- Chinese electric carmaker Nio, which filed to go public in the United States earlier this month, expects to raise up to USD1.3 billion in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Tencent-backed firm plans to issue 160 million American Depositary Shares at between USD6.25 and USD8.25 apiece, it said in an amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday (Eastern Daylight Time). It plans to use the funds for research, marketing and developing its production facilities.

Shanghai-based Nio, whose name in Chinese means Blue Sky Coming, only began delivering cars in June. Up to yesterday it had made 2,200 of its first car, the ES8, and had shipped 1,381 of them -- with 900 of the deliveries come this month. Founder Li Bin, or William Li, expects production growth to remain steady through September before surging in the following months.

Rather than building its cars in bulk and then trying to sell them, Nio has opted to use a pre-order system to shift its vehicles. It already has more than 14,400 deposits for ES8 orders that are yet to be fulfilled.

The low production levels so far saw the company earn just CNY46 million (USD6.7 million) in the first half, losing a total CNY3.3 billion (USD484 million) after splurging CNY1.5 billion on research and development. That followed a CNY5 billion loss last year, with R&D making up more than half of outgoings.

Nio lists one of its main competitors as Tesla, which Chief Executive Elon Musk was supposedly planning to take private at USD420 a share, but has since scrapped those plans. By delisting, he would have been able to avoid disclosing information that could benefit rival companies and could better align the Californian carmaker with long-term shareholders.

Triple Threat

The firm plans to use a triple-class weighted voting rights structure to ensure that Li and Tencent retain the lion's share of control at Nio.

Li will carry 14.5 percent of outstanding share capital, all of the company's Class C shares, but will amass more than 48 percent of the firm's voting rights. Tencent will hold all Class B stock, 12.9 percent of the shares, but will obtain 21.5 percent of voting power.

Those holdings will be affected if underwriters opt to exercise their over-allotment option, which could also boost the IPO's value to more than USD1.5 billion. Some 5 percent of shares have been set aside for company directors, workers and other natural persons affiliate with Nio.

Editor: James Boynton