Firefly, the third brand under the EV maker Nio, registered a record 1,300 vehicles in China during the first week of July, up 54.8% from 840 units a week earlier, according to insurance registration data published on Tuesday.
The increase marks the highest weekly tally for the brand since deliveries began in late April and comes as Firefly launches the option of acquiring the model with the battery subscription plan and continues to ramp up production of its debut hatchback.
The latest figure surpassed the previous weekly peak of 1,130 units, recorded in mid-May.
While several carmakers posted considerable week-on-week declines from the final week of the second quarter, Firefly bucked the trend with a sharp rise in registrations.
The strong performance follows a late-June sales push, during which Firefly recorded 470 and 840 registrations in the final two weeks of the second quarter, respectively.
Cumulative deliveries for Firefly now exceed 9,100 units. The brand was introduced in December 2024 by Nio founder and chief executive William Li during the company’s annual event in Guangzhou.
Although there is no public sales target for the brand, Firefly is seen as a key part of Nio‘s plan to achieve over 440,000 vehicles delivered in 2025.
However, the electric vehicle maker delivered 114,150 cars in the first half, meeting just 25.7% of its full-year target.
The company is banking on its newly launched Firefly brand, additional models under the Onvo sub-brand, and refreshed versions of four core Nio models to accelerate deliveries in the second half.
Firefly delivered 3,932 vehicles in June, up 6.8% from May, the company said last week.
The sub-brand had delivered 3,680 units in its first full month of sales after launching deliveries in late April.
The new sales record is linked to the early rollout of Firefly’s Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) subscription model, originally scheduled for August 1 but launched in June.
The scheme allows buyers to exclude the battery pack from the vehicle’s upfront cost, lowering the entry-level price by 40,000 yuan to 79,800 yuan ($11,100). The higher-spec version was cut from 125,800 to 85,800 yuan — a 31.8% reduction.
Battery rental fees start at 399 yuan ($56) per month, and a promotional offer waives every second monthly payment for up to three years for purchases made by the end of June.
The brand is targeting rivals such as BMW’s Mini and Mercedes-Benz’s Smart and is preparing to enter the European market.
Test drives began in the Netherlands this week, with Norway scheduled to follow later this summer.
Last week, Firefly received two accolades at the 2025 German Brand Awards — “Newcomer of the Year” and “Best of Best” in the “Transport & Mobility” category — as it prepares for its international debut.
Recent sightings of right-hand-drive prototypes in Victoria, Australia, suggest the brand may enter the market.
While Li has publicly targeted fourth-quarter monthly deliveries of 25,000 units each for the Nio and Onvo brands, no specific guidance has been issued for Firefly.
Across its three brands — Nio, Onvo and Firefly — the group recorded 5,110 insurance registrations in China last week, down 18.9% from 6,300 units the previous week.
Nio has confirmed plans to expand to Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria by the end of 2026, in addition to previously announced launches in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic over the next 18 months.
The brand partnered on Tuesday with Here Technologies on map data and location services for the European markets.
