Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming helps EV maker NIO in overseas drive

Chinese EV maker NIO 9866.HK has picked basketball superstar Yao Ming to represent its new flagship SUV model, the company said on Wednesday, as it aims to expand overseas.

The premium EV brand is bringing to market its electric ES9 sport utility vehicle that it calls China's largest battery-electric SUV.

Chinese ⁠automakers are now targeting expansion abroad, at a time of slowing sales at home. Many of them are making a premium push, shifting away from mass-volume models to improve profitability.

As they push into overseas markets, Chinese carmakers have increasingly used celebrity endorsements, sports partnerships and influencer campaigns to build global brand recognition, like British actor Daniel Craig for BYD's premium EV brand Denza.

Yao Ming, an eight-time NBA All-Star and a Hall of Famer, has built a bridge between the East and West, NIO said in a statement.

SPACIOUS DESIGN

The new luxury SUV is spacious enough to carry six people and 13 suitcases and is equipped with NIO's self-developed Shenji NX9031 autonomous-driving chip, which runs on the company's own operating system, NIO CEO William Li said at the launch event in Beijing.

Along with Li, the 2.3-metre-tall Yao took the stage and praised the vehicle's space.

NIO aims to sell thousands of its cars overseas this year, in a plan to expand abroad over the next two to three years, the company said earlier.

This month, NIO posted an adjusted net profit of 43.5 million yuan ($6.41 million) for the first quarter, its second consecutive profitable period.

Vehicle deliveries were 83,465 in the January-March period, up 98.3% from a year ago, but down 33.1% from the previous quarter, the results show.

The rise of China's electric ​vehicle ⁠makers presents a "significant opportunity" to redefine the high-end and luxury car market, opening ⁠doors ​for NIO to become a ​global premium marque, CEO William Li told Reuters last month.

($1=6.7821 Chinese yuan renminbi)

-Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Gus Trompiz/Reuters