PARIS – China’s premium electric vehicle maker Nio is on track to unveil a new model under a mass-market brand by the end of this month and sell a second smaller electric vehicle in Europe next year for less than $30,000, an executive said Reuters On Monday.
Nio has created the Onvo sub-brand to launch a new electric vehicle, targeting the Tesla Model Y, the world’s best-selling electric vehicle, according to CEO William Li.
“Nio is currently working on introducing new car brands that are less premium, obviously still 100% electric and more suitable for the needs of the European market,” said Nicolas Vincelot, general manager for France, during a France-China business meeting in Forum Paris.
On Monday, the Onvo brand’s new website went live in China with the message to “stay tuned” for details about the new model, the L60.
Vincelot said more details on the brand, previously codenamed “Alps,” are expected later this month.
Onvo is one of two sub-brands that the loss-making electric vehicle maker is launching. The second project, codenamed Firefly, is to develop smaller electric vehicles for urban transportation that are expected to be priced under $30,000, he said.
Both brands target sales in Europe. The first Onvo L60 is expected to arrive in Europe at the end of the year. The Firefly brand is expected to debut in 2025, Vincelot said.
Both are also designed to work with the rapid battery swap stations that Nio developed in China, which allow a dead battery to be swapped for a full one in just a few minutes.
Images of the Firefly prototype distributed by Chinese automotive media show a compact four-door hatchback.
Rival Xpeng is also planning a new mass-market brand called Mona that will add self-driving features to cars priced under $21,000.
Vincelot said Nio is no longer relying primarily on the subscription model it initially used, but is moving toward a broader distribution model, selling and renting cars online or in showrooms in major cities.
In Europe, the company has started selling cars in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.
Nio has sought to cut costs to respond to declining electric vehicle sales and fierce price competition in China. The company announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce last year, and Reuters reported that the Hong Kong-listed automaker planned to spin off its battery production.
As domestic sales slow, several Chinese electric vehicle makers are expanding in Europe, seeking to capitalize on their cost advantages over European rivals. The European Union is investigating Chinese electrical imports to determine whether they violate competition rules. On Monday,
Vincelot’s comments coincide with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to France, where the EU investigation was set to be the focus of talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.