Nio‘s co-founder and President Qin Lihong said on Wednesday that the Chinese EV maker plans for a larger-scale expansion overseas “in the next two to three years.”
According to the executive, Nio will “lay the foundation” in 2026, with a forecast of “several thousand units” delivered outside of its domestic market.
The target echoes Qin’s January remarks during the EV maker’s celebration of producing its one-millionth vehicle.
By then, founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li also outlined plans for the company to be present across “40 countries and regions” by year-end.
The target was reiterated as Nio reported its fourth quarter earnings results — posting its first profitable quarter since its 2014 inception.
The results pushed the company’s US-listed shares up more than 15% to $5.70 during Tuesday’s trading session — marking the largest single-day jump in over a year.
A similar trend followed in Hong Kong on Wednesday, where the stock rose by over 14% to close at HK$43.50.
The performance also prompted several analysts to raise their price targets for the Shanghai-based EV maker.
Nomura said the company is “finally entering a healthy business cycle,” while Bank of America noted that the results were broadly in line with expectations.
Market Presence
By the end of 2025, Nio was present across 20 markets, including China.
In the Middle East, the EV maker has expanded to the UAE, Israel and announced in 2024 it would be entering Azerbaijan.
Last year, the company also doubled its market presence in Europe to 10 markets, with several to follow in 2026 — including Romania, Czech Republic, and several others.
It has additionally entered Macau and Singapore with its more affordable Firefly brand, which also debuted in Thailand earlier this month. Uzbekistan and Costa Rica are scheduled to follow.
Global Strategy
Founder and CEO William Li wrote to employees earlier this year that “Firefly serves as our pioneering brand for global market entry.”
According to Li, “in China, our lineup is ‘Nio, Onvo, Firefly,’ while globally it is ‘Firefly, Onvo, Nio.”
The two sub-brands were launched within the past two years — Onvo in 2024 and Firefly in 2025 — and are designed to target the family and urban car markets, respectively.
Both offer more affordable models compared to the main Nio brand, which sits at the premium end of the market.
Nio exported 389 Firefly vehicles in December, in a total of 750 vehicles across the three brands. It shipped 70 additional units of the compact Firefly EV in January.
Europe
Nio entered Europe via Norway in 2021, and has operated in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden since 2022.
The brand has since expanded to Belgium, Greece, Austria, Portugal and Hungary.
Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Cyprus are scheduled to follow.
Throughout 2025, the premium brand faced challenges in selling its 2023 and 2024 model-year vehicles across its main European markets, offering various incentives on the ET5, ET5 Touring, EL6, and EL8 models.
Firefly launched in Europe in mid-August, with deliveries starting in the Netherlands and Norway. Onvo is scheduled for an European debut in 2027.
Last week, EV learned that Nio has quietly dismantled its European management structure in February, splitting the region into six separate departments and shifting its sales operations toward a dealer and distributor model.
The reorganization came as the Chinese EV maker’s sales across its established European markets collapsed to their lowest levels since market entry.
As part of the restructuring, the company fired its head of German operations, as first reported by EV earlier this month.
Right-Hand Drive Markets
The company began mass-producing right-hand drive Firefly vehicles in November, with the first units destined for Singapore.
While Singapore marks Firefly‘s first right-hand drive deliveries, Macau became the first right-hand drive market where the brand began taking orders late last year.
The UK, Australia, and New Zealand are expected to follow.
The EV maker seems to be targeting growth in these markets since they are tariff-free, unlike Europe, where Chinese-produced electric vehicles face import duties since late 2024.
Several Chinese brands have chosen to expand in Europe through hybrid models, which are not subject to the same tariffs as battery electric vehicles.
America
Last November, Nio teased for the first time that its presence could be extended to North America.
The company wrote in a Weibo post that “driven strongly by Nio‘s national general-distributor model, Firefly is deepening its presence across Europe, North America, and Asia.”
In mid-August, Nio announced it was entering Costa Rica, its first (Central) American market. The EV maker aims to launch in the market “between 2025 and 2026.”
In North America, however, Nio has faced investment cuts and pressure from ongoing US-China trade tensions.
It has culminated in a halt in the US expansion last year, as exclusively reported by EV last June, with the entire go-to-market team being laid off.
While the EV maker has never indicated any plans to enter Canada, that possibility could now be inferred.
Earlier this year, Canada and China struck a trade deal under which Ottawa agreed to allow up to 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into the country annually at a reduced tariff of 6.1% — down from the 100% tariff that had been in place since 2024.
Canada has since begun accepting applications for imports under the quota.
However, Nio has not filed for a permit as of Wednesday.
