Nio’s entry-level sub-brand Firefly has delivered its first vehicles to customers in Europe this week, nearly four years after the company started selling electric vehicles on the Old Continent.
The Shanghai-based company did not disclose how many units were handed over. But data from registration tracker EU-EVs show that six Firefly vehicles were registered in the Netherlands and one in Norway during the first half of August.
Photographs released by the company confirm the figures, showing six handovers at its hub in Utrecht and one at its store in Norway on August 14.
Norwegian registrations were first recorded in July, according to the national EV database Elbil Statistikk, with the initial units destined for test drives.”
In the Netherlands, test drives began on July 7 and have been available through the local Nio App in 90- or 120-minute slots, with cars available in cities including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht.
The European debut comes four months after the brand’s launch in China.
“Less than 4 months from our first delivery in China, we’ve brought the Firefly to Europe, our fastest-ever global rollout,” Nio founder and chief executive William Li wrote on LinkedIn.
The sub-brand was launched in April and began deliveries in China only 10 days later.
Firefly marked its 10,000th delivery in the domestic market within 97 days.
Cumulative handovers there reached 10,209 units by the end of July, following 2,366 deliveries that month — down 39.8% from June.
The first European deliveries took place at Nio’s Utrecht hub in the Netherlands and at its one of its showrooms in Norway. Prices start at NOK 279,900 ($27,370) in the Nordic market and €29,900 ($34,800) in the Netherlands.
As Norway is outside the European Union, Firefly avoids the 20% additional tariff imposed on Chinese-made EVs by Brussels.
The brand plans to expand into 12 further European markets by the end of 2026, including Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Austria and Poland — among others.
The B-segment hatchback, designed at Nio’s Munich studio, is positioned as the brand’s most affordable model and is aimed at rivals such as BMW’s Mini and Mercedes-Benz’s Smart.
The fully electric model measures 4,003 mm in length and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.1 seconds, with a top speed of 150 km/h.
Production takes place at one of Nio’s plants in Hefei, Anhui province.
While output was disrupted in July, Firefly’s marketing head said last month that ramp-up issues had been resolved and forecast a new monthly delivery record in August.
As reported earlier this Sunday, William Li said the company is shifting from years of heavy investment into what he called a “harvest period.”
The CEO reaffirmed the goal of posting the first quarterly profit in the coming quarter. The newly launched SUV Onvo L90, and the the forthcoming L80 and Nio ES8 are seen as central to reaching that milestone as the company continues cutting costs.
