Nio‘s more affordable sub-brand Firefly delivered its 60,000th vehicle on Saturday, the company announced on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
The milestone was reached thirteen months after the brand delivered the first vehicles in its home market.
Between April 29, 2025, and April 30, 2026, Firefly has delivered 55,977 units, as monthly figures revealed by the company on the first day of May showed.
Saturday’s announcement indicates that, in the first 23 days of May, Firefly delivered 4,023 EVs globally.
The figure represents a year-over-year improvement when compared with May 2025 — the brand’s first full month of deliveries — when 3,680 vehicles were handed over.
Considering those figures, May’s count so far already represents a 9.3% increase over the full month a year ago, with eight days remaining.
In April, the brand led by Daniel Jin delivered 4,980 units across all its markets.
For deliveries to grow sequentially, Firefly needs to deliver nearly 1,000 vehicles in the final eight days of May — an increase of over 20% from the current daily run rate.
April itself marked an 18.6% sequential decline from the 6,119 units registered in March, the brand’s second-strongest month on record.
Firefly‘s monthly delivery trajectory has been uneven since launch.
Volumes peaked at 7,084 units in December 2025 before slumping to 2,807 in January and 2,657 in February — weighed down by China’s longest-ever Chinese New Year holiday.
A March rebound brought the brand back above 6,000 units before April’s sequential decline.
The pace remains well below the internal targets set by Firefly‘s brand chief Daniel Jin, who said last year that the brand aimed to reach 100,000 deliveries globally by the end of 2026, and set a target of 6,000 to 6,500 monthly deliveries starting from the second quarter.
Through the first four months of 2026, Firefly has handed over 16,563 vehicles domestically, and the implied May total — even if it surpasses April — would leave the brand short of the monthly run rate needed to close the gap.
Model and Software Updates
The delivery figures come as Firefly works to build momentum following the April 7 launch of a refreshed version of its debut model in China.
The update added new colour options, expanded driver-assistance features, and a software-only motor power upgrade to 120 kW — available at no cost to every Firefly owner, with no hardware changes required.
The refreshed model retained the same pricing as the original lineup — the ‘Freedom Edition’ starts at 119,800 yuan ($17,600) and the ‘Glow Edition’ at 125,800 yuan ($18,500).
Under Nio‘s Battery-as-a-Service rental model, those prices drop to 79,800 yuan and 85,800 yuan, respectively, with a monthly battery subscription of 399 yuan ($55).
Firefly began rolling out version 1.5.0 of its Aster OS in China earlier this month.,
The update includes software required to use the company’s upcoming fifth-generation battery-swap stations.
The release continues the cadence the brand has maintained since its operating system launched alongside the vehicle in April 2025 — with updates arriving roughly every two months.
Brand Awareness
Recently, Nio‘s founder and CEO William Li used a virtual appearance at the 18th Xuanyuan Automotive Blue Book Forum in Guangzhou to position Firefly as more than an entry-level vehicle line — comparing the brand’s cultural appeal to Apple’s iPhone.
Li said Firefly was designed around the idea of “glowing with its own light,” targeting a broad demographic that cuts across both age groups and income levels.
“A young graduate can afford it, but a wealthy executive can also drive it to take their children to school,” the CEO stated.
Firefly has evolved beyond being simply a transportation product, Li added, describing it as a lifestyle and fashion-oriented brand with its own emerging culture.
The comments highlight Nio‘s strategy as competition intensifies in China’s EV market, where automakers are increasingly attempting to differentiate through branding and lifestyle positioning rather than vehicle features and specs alone.
Earlier this month, Leapmotor confirmed that it will also launch a sub-brand, with the first model to be unveiled before the year-end.
Last month, Nio‘s Senior VP of Design Kris Tomasson travelled to Milan to unveil a one-off Firefly customisation concept at Milan Design Week — marking the Chinese EV maker’s debut at one of the world’s most prominent design events.
William Li also confirmed that Firefly currently has no plans to launch a second vehicle model, saying the brand already commands roughly 70% of China’s premium compact EV segment.
Export-focused Brand
Firefly is positioned as Nio Inc.‘s primary vehicle for international expansion.
William Li wrote in an internal letter earlier this year that while the domestic lineup follows a “Nio, Onvo, Firefly” hierarchy, the global order is reversed — “Firefly, Onvo, Nio.”
The brand debuted in Europe in mid-August 2025 with deliveries in the Netherlands and Norway, and has since expanded to Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Portugal, and Luxembourg.
Right-hand-drive production began in November, enabling expansion into Singapore, Thailand, and additional markets.
The brand is now present in nearly a dozen countries, with the UK, Australia, and New Zealand among the territories targeted for further rollout this year.
However, overseas volumes remain modest.
CPCA data showed that Firefly represented more than half of the Nio‘s exports in early 2026, but total group exports through the first four months of the year amounted to just 315 vehicles — a fraction of overall output.
Brand chief Daniel Jin acknowledged in March that overseas sales in early 2026 had fallen “considerably,” but maintained Firefly‘s target of launching in 20 to 30 countries this year.
Li has set a broader goal for Nio to be present across 40 countries and regions by year-end.
The Shanghai-based EV maker reported last week a narrow net loss of 332.1 million yuan ($48.1 million) for the first quarter of 2026, reversing the first quarterly profit in its history a quarter earlier.
The company remained profitable on an adjusted basis with vehicle margin reaching 18.8% on deliveries of 83,465 units — a 98.3% year-over-year increase — mostly driven by the six-seat ES8 SUV.
