Nio Inc.‘s premium brand registered one vehicle in the Netherlands in June, ending a two-month shutout from the Dutch market, data from the Dutch automotive association BOVAG showed on Wednesday.
The sole Nio-branded registration was an EL6 — the entry-level SUV in the premium brand’s European lineup.
The sale marks the first time the nameplate has appeared in Dutch registration records since March, when a single unit was also recorded.
The brand posted zero registrations in both April and May — the first consecutive months without a sale since the company entered the Netherlands in October 2022.
Combined with the more affordable Firefly brand, the company registered six vehicles in the Dutch market last month — unchanged from April and up from four in May.
A year earlier, the group also posted seven June registrations — one from the Nio brand and six from Firefly, though those Firefly units were pre-launch test vehicles registered ahead of the sub-brand’s commercial debut in August 2025.
The figures posted by BOVAG capture newly registered vehicles purchased outright and do not include vehicles operating under the Nio Subscription programme, as EV exclusively reported.
Nio Brand
June’s single registration brings the premium brand’s first-half total to seven vehicles — an 85.1% decline from the 47 units registered in the same period of 2025.
The monthly breakdown for the Nio brand in 2026 illustrates a near-total collapse: three units in January, two in February, one in March, zero in April, zero in May, and one in June.
Between 2023 and 2024, the company was registering roughly 20 to 40 vehicles per month in the Dutch market under the premium nameplate alone.
The deterioration extends beyond the Netherlands.
In Germany — Europe’s largest automotive market — Nio posted just eight registrations in the entire first quarter, an 87.5% year-over-year plunge.
In Sweden, the brand failed to register a single vehicle in February — the first zero in the country since entry.
Across its five original European markets — Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark — Nio brand registrations fell 31% in 2025 to 1,129 vehicles, and the 2026 figures are tracking well below that pace.
Nio continues to seek to increase its brand awareness in the Dutch market and across Europe.
The company served as a mobility partner to Uber at the Amsterdam Dinner Foundation’s annual benefit last month, providing vehicles for ambassadors and guests attending the event.
The charity dinner raised more than €1.5 million ($1.7 million) for the fight against HIV and AIDS, the company said on LinkedIn.
Firefly Carries Dutch Operations
Firefly accounted for five of the group’s six June registrations, extending the pattern that has defined 2026 in the Netherlands.
Through the first half of the year, the sub-brand has recorded 38 of Nio Inc.’s 45 total Dutch registrations — roughly 84% of volume.
The compact hatchback, designed at Nio‘s Munich design centre and priced from €29,900 ($34,100) in the Netherlands, was conceived specifically for European consumers and won the Dutch Car of the Year award from automotive publication AutoRAI in December 2025.
Despite the accolade and its position as the group’s most affordable European offering, Firefly‘s Dutch numbers have not broken out of single digits on a monthly basis.
The five June registrations represent a slight uptick from the four units recorded in May but remain below the six sold in April and well below the 14-unit January peak — which itself was fuelled partly by post-launch momentum.
Brand chief Daniel Jin acknowledged in March that early 2026 overseas sales had fallen “considerably” but maintained Firefly‘s target of entering between 20 and 30 countries this year.
Founder and CEO William Li wrote in an internal letter earlier this year that Firefly serves as the group’s “pioneering brand for global market entry,” adding that the overseas priority order is “Firefly, Onvo, Nio” — the reverse of the domestic hierarchy.
First-Half Summary
At the group level, Nio Inc. registered 45 vehicles in the Netherlands in the first half of 2026.
The headline figure represents a 15.1% decline from the 53 units registered in the same period a year ago — though the comparison is distorted by the fact that Firefly‘s six June 2025 registrations were pre-delivery press and test vehicles rather than customer sales.
Stripping out Firefly entirely, the premium brand’s seven first-half registrations against 47 a year earlier represent the sharpest sustained decline in any of Nio‘s established European markets.
The full-year 2025 total for the Netherlands stood at 252 vehicles across both brands — with the Nio brand contributing 199 units and Firefly adding 53 from its August debut onward.
At the current first-half pace of 45 registrations, the annualised 2026 total would land at approximately 90 vehicles — a 64% decline from last year and the lowest annual figure since the company entered the Dutch market.
December 2025 alone — when 85 Nio-brand vehicles and 22 Firefly units were registered as buyers rushed ahead of Dutch tax changes — accounted for more than twice the entire first half of 2026.
The weak Dutch results reflect broader challenges that continue to weigh on Nio‘s European operations.
Every vehicle currently offered in the Netherlands — and across Europe — was built in 2023 and 2024 under the company’s NT 2.0 platform.
The refreshed lineup launched in China during the first half of 2025, including updated versions of the ET5, ET5 Touring and ES6, has not reached European showrooms.
As EV exclusively reported, Nio told its European operations during a customer event in the Netherlands that no model updates would arrive on the continent until late 2027 and no new battery swap stations would be built.
Nio faces a combined 30.7% tariff on vehicles imported into the EU — a 20.7% countervailing duty on top of the standard 10% import levy — further compressing margins on any European shipments.
The company has also overhauled its European management structure, dismantling its unified regional organisation in February and splitting operations into six separate departments.
A new Europe Sales & Network Development team has been tasked with expanding sales channels via distributors or dealerships across Europe, excluding Norway — a formal departure from the direct-sales model that defined Nio‘s European entry.
Nio Inc. delivered 40,597 vehicles globally in June across its three brands, its strongest month of 2026, closing a second quarter that fell short of the company’s 110,000-to-115,000 guidance range at 107,658 units.
