NIO ES9 Debuts, Wang Chuanfu Takes The Subway & Tesla Skips The World's Biggest Auto Show Again

**Obi** (0:00)
The biggest auto show in world history just opened in Beijing. Nio debuted the Es9 with 40 industry-first technologies. The CEO of Xiaomi showed up and gave t-shirts to his competitors. The richest man in China took the subway. Huawei took over four halls simultaneously.
Xpeng showed level four autonomous driving. Tesla was nowhere to be found. Big Tech reports earnings this week, the biggest earnings week of the year. And the Fed meets Tuesday with 100% chance of doing absolutely nothing. Monday, April 27th, let's get into it. I'm Obi. This is Courtside Financial. Let me start in Beijing because that's where the entire global auto industry is right now. Auto China 2026 officially opened on April 24th, 380,000 square meters, 1,451 vehicles, 181 world premieres, the largest auto show in history. And Nio came ready. For the first time ever, Nio brought all three of its brands, Nio, Onvo, Firefly, under one roof at the same booth, 11 models, 12 full stack technologies on display, and the headline product, the Es9, made its public debut. Over 40 industry-first technologies, dual Shenji Nx9031 chips, SkyRide full active suspension, the largest electric SUV Nio has ever built, official launch late May, deliveries June 1st. Going, I want to show you guys something real quick. The platform that I personally use is called Moomoo. If you haven't heard of them, Moomoo is backed by Futu Holdings, a NASDAQ listed company, FINRA registered, SIPC insured, close to 30 million users globally. And there are two things in the app that I think every investor needs to see. First thing is institutional tracking. Every institution managing over a hundred million dollars has to file their holdings with the SEC quarterly. Moomoo pulls all of that into one screen. Buffett, ARK, Tiger Global. You can see exactly what they're buying right now without digging through SEC documents yourself. For anyone in the Chinese EV space watching this, knowing where institutional money is moving, that's not a small thing. This is how you stop guessing and start following the data. Second is the earnings hub. Anyone who watches this channel who's part of this community knows that Nio's earnings are a big deal. Instead of reading a dense report, Moomoo turns all of it into visuals. Revenue, earnings per share, actual versus expected, cash flow. You can evaluate a company in five minutes. And I mean that literally. That's two tools, none of it behind a paywall. And if you're new, link in the description and pinned comment. Sign up, deposit, and you get a chance at up to $1,000 in Nvidia stock. Your idle cash also earns up to 8.1% APY through their cash suite program while you figure out your next move. Again, links in the description.
But here's what I want to talk about because it's a story nobody in Western media is covering properly. The cars were impressive. The CEOs were even more impressive. Li Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, showed up on opening day and visited the booths of Nio, Xpeng, Li Auto, and BYD. And he gave printed t-shirts to Li Bin, Li Zeng, and He Xiaopeng.
Personal gifts in public. Photos hit the Chinese hot search immediately. Think about what that move does. Xiaomi borrows the audience of every competitor simultaneously. It positions Li Jun as the friendly peer in a room full of rivals. Its soft power executed perfectly.
One t-shirt, four hot search appearances, and then there's Xu Xiaoming, the founder of Leap Motor. He quietly slipped into Nio's booth to study the products. Then he walked over to keep an eye on BYD's Datong, the direct competitor of his newly launched D19. The man is doing competitive intelligence on the show floor in real time. Wang Chuanfu, the founder of BYD, the richest man in China, took the subway to the venue on opening day, stood at the booth from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., attended every BYD sub-brand press conference back to back. The richest man in China took the subway. That's either the most genuine display of humility you've ever seen from a billionaire, or it's the most calculated PR move of the decade. Honestly, it might be both, and it doesn't matter because everyone's talking about it. This is what the Chinese auto market looks like at the top. Founders who are marketing machines, CEOs who are the product, and a show floor where every move is strategic. Here's the context that puts all of this into perspective. The secretary general of the Passenger Car Association said something at the show that deserves more attention than it's getting. Global auto shows are in a slump. The major shows in Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea have been shrinking, reducing their schedules or canceling entirely. Detroit, Frankfurt, Tokyo, all declining. Beijing 2026 just set a global record. 380,000 square meters, 2,000 exhibitors from 21 countries, 181 world premieres more than any previous edition.