(Yicai Global) May 19 -- Li Bin, founder and chief executive of Chinese new energy vehicle startup Nio, sold 320 cars via live streaming on e-commerce platform Taobao on May 17 in a 40-minute event that drew CNY128 million (USD18 million) in sales revenue.

He also booked 5,288 test drives. Orders continued to mount even after the live broadcast, Shanghai-based Nio said, and they have now reached nearly CNY150 million.

Car sales that traditionally heavily depend on brick-and-mortar outlets have increasingly gone online recently, and industry executives, celebrities, and internet influencers have also begun to sell cars via live streaming. Many distributors have also turned to them because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Luo Yonghao, founder of financially-distressed smartphone company Smartisan and a popular online personality, sold 12 half-price Haval cars and 11,357 car coupons in a 28-minute live broadcast as a paid influencer. Executives from SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch, FAW-Volkswagen Automobile, GAC New Energy Automobile, Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle and other companies have also joined in moving cars in live appearances.

Buyers prefer to try out and make physical contact with cars because of their cost, rather than risk thee pig-in-a-poke approach, and live streaming has thus mostly functioned as a marketing and publicity device, an industry analyst said, adding sellers generally interact with and hook prospective buyers via deposits, test drive coupons and other dodges in live streaming.

A total of 23 car brands and 1,500 automobile sales service shop dealers sold autos on Taobao live streams from late January to mid-February, with more than 100 broadcasts daily, according to data from Taobao. Nearly 5,000 car companies and dealers had opened accounts with ByteDance’s short video platform Douyin -- Known as TikTok abroad -- as of last month’s end.

The business-to-consumer car sales website run by Beijing-based Autohome also had over 250 live broadcasts from February to March.