China to get first Nio Firefly EV before Europe

Nio seems to have changed its plan for the first Nio Firefly EV. The company will now introduce it first in China, not Europe, as per a new local report.

In an exclusive report, 21st Century Business Herald claimed that Nio’s first Firefly EV will debut in China. Originally, the company planned to introduce its third brand in Europe, which would’ve indicated an increased focus on foreign markets. According to the Chinese publication’s sources, Nio’s new plan is to unveil or launch the first Firefly EV in China at the end of 2024 and bring it to Europe in the first half of 2025.

It is worth noting that Firefly is not the actual third brand of Nio but its project name. During Nio’s Q1 2024 earnings conference call the same day, Nio Founder, Chairman, and CEO William Li said that he had driven an early build of the first Firefly EV and “it’s pretty good.” He called it “a boutique compact vehicle” for China, priced in approximately 100,000-200,000 yuan (~13,000-25,000 euro) range.

The new brand under the Firefly project will leverage the Nio brand’s retail network, with deliveries starting in the first half of 2025, Li said later during the Q1 2024 earnings conference call. There will be a clear differentiation between the three marques, he said. The Firefly vehicles will start at around 100,000 yuan (13,000 euros), Onvo will have starting prices of around 200,000 yuan (25,000 euros) and Nio won’t be cheaper than 300,000 yuan(~38,000 euros), respectively. However, all of them will feature power swap functionality, and there will be synergies on the software front as well.

According to the 21st Century Business Herald report, Nio has received some relief from the ongoing price war in the EV space following the launch of the Onvo L60. It can now comfortably retain the premium positioning of the top-end Nio brand in the market. The arrival of the third brand from the Firefly project would give it further solace in that regard.

Rumour has it Nio plans to manufacture the EVs from its upcoming brand at a domestic factory in Chuzhou (Anhui Province), previously owned by Cheetah Automobile. The company won’t introduce any new models under its core brand in 2024, but the Onvo L60 and the upcoming EV from the third brand may keep investors and fans excited throughout the year.

21jingji.com (21st Century Business Herald in Chinese)