Nio's 100,000th production vehicle ES8 rolls off the assembly line on Wednesday in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province. Photo: Zhang Hongpei/GT

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk sent his plaudits to Chinese NEV manufacturer NIO which saw its 100,000th car come out of assembly line. Commenting on his Twitter account, Musk said "That is a tough milestone" on Saturday. 

At the same time, Musk also posted a congratulatory message on Chinese Twitter-liked social media site Sina Weibo. 

Tesla's China Vice President Tao Lin reposted Musk's message, and said that there will be more "fellow travelers" in the NEV industry. "The 100,000th NEV of NIO and Xiaomi vowing to produce NEVs mean a new era is around the corner, and this will accelerate the transformation of vehicles from fuel to new energy," Tao said.

According to the data released by NIO at the early April, NIO had delivered 7,257 NEVs to its clients in March, achieving a new monthly sales record. A total of 20,060 NIO NEVs were delivered in the first quarter of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 422.7 percent. 

In March, Tesla China also refreshed its monthly sales volume record with a shipment of 35,478 units. The total sales of 69,280 Tesla NEVs in China from January to March 2021 made up about 37 percent of its global sales. Musk praised the Tesla team on Twitter with a special mention of Tesla China.