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Nio showroom in Shanghai in early June
Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images
In Shanghai, an electric car from the Nio company fell from the third floor of the company's headquarters.
Two people lost their lives.
According to the company, the accident happened on Wednesday afternoon.
The fatalities were in the vehicle when it fell from the building, the BBC reports.
The company now wants to have the incident investigated: “We can confirm that it was an accident (not caused by the vehicle),” it said in a statement.
“We are very saddened by this accident and would like to express our deepest condolences.
A team has been formed to help the families.«
Thousands of people commented on Nio's first official statement on the Chinese news service Weibo within half an hour.
In particular, the claim that the accident had nothing to do with the vehicle triggered many angry reactions.
One user commented, "This shows the coolness of capitalism," while another wrote, "The test drivers came to test the vehicle, but Nio says the accident was unrelated to the vehicle?" Another Weibo user wrote: Not the company should confirm whether it was an accident or not.
With Nio, China is trying to dominate the electric vehicle market.
The company is banking on swappable batteries in its cars to allay customer concerns about frequent charging.
The company is sometimes dubbed China's "Tesla killer" in reference to its rivalry with multi-billionaire Elon Musk's US manufacturer, which has a large manufacturing facility in Shanghai.
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