SHANGHAI, September 23 (WNM) - "It took Tesla about 15 years to record losses of 5 billion US dollars. NIO - known as China's Tesla - has made it in four years. The bleeding's going on", writes the south China Morning Post. The Shanghai-based electric car company NIO will report on Tuesday according to the SCMP that it lost a further 2.6 billion yuan (369 million US dollars) - around 4 million US dollars a day - in the second quarter, according to an average of two analysts' estimates.

This would increase the accumulated losses of the company, which is supported by the technology group Tencent Holdings, to about 5.7 billion US dollars - a record sum since William Li founded the carmaker in 2014.

Cost overruns, weak sales and significant recalls have caused NIO to collapse 74 percent since its market value reached a record $11.9 billion about a year ago. More generally, the reversal of the company's assets shows why there is growing concern that China has created an electric vehicle bubble that could soon burst.