Nio said test drive interest in its Hungarian lineup was “outstanding” at the Ayvens Fleet Conference & Auto Expo over the weekend, with all available test drive slots fully booked in advance.
The event, held at the Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary, allowed fleet partners the test drive Nio’s Hungarian lineup, including the 2022 model year ET5 sedan, the EL6 SUV, and the compact EV model of the Firefly sub-brand.
“Our partners had the opportunity to experience our lineup up close and test drive the NIO ET5, NIO EL6 and firefly models,” the company’s dedicated LinkedIn page for the market wrote on Monday.
“The interest was outstanding, with all available test drive slots fully booked in advance. Thank you to everyone who joined us!”
The fleet event represents one of the first significant commercial demand signals Nio has disclosed for its Hungarian operations since opening its first showroom in Budapest in late January.
Hungary’s central statistical office reports vehicle registration data on a quarterly basis, with first-quarter 2026 figures not yet reported as of Monday morning — meaning Nio’s qualitative demand signal from the Ayvens event provides one of the few publicly available data points on the company’s Hungarian operations.
The Hungarian Market Entry
Nio opened its first showroom in Hungary in late January and delivered its inaugural vehicle in the market, as part of the Chinese EV maker’s plan to be available across 40 countries and regions by the year end.
The first delivery took place at the showroom opening — a second-generation EL8, the brand’s flagship three-row SUV.
The Budapest location on Váci út marked Nio’s tenth European market, following recent entries in Austria, Portugal, and Greece.
The showroom was opened by AutoWallis, the Group’s local partner — which also distributes BYD, XPeng, and Geely’sFarizon brand in the region — and will handle sales and service operations.
The Hungarian-based automotive group hosted a media event in Budapest in mid-December to introduce the Shanghai-based EV maker to the Hungarian market.
The showroom offers Nio’s ET5 sedan, ET5 Touring, EL6 SUV, and EL8, alongside the Firefly compact EV designed for urban mobility.
Hungarian Pricing Structure
Pricing starts at 11.99 million forints ($38,700) for the Firefly, while the ET5 sedan begins at 24.49 million forints ($78,900), the ET5 Touring at 24.89 million forints ($80,200), and the EL6 at 26.99 million forints ($87,000).
In its new European markets, besides adopting a business model based on local distributors, Nio is not offering its 7 series.
The ET7 remains available in Nio’s first European markets while stock lasts.
The previous version of Nio’s EL8 flagship SUV, replaced by a new model in China last September, is only being introduced in select markets.
The Fleet Market Significance
Fleet sales — covering corporate vehicles, leasing companies, and government procurement — typically account for 40% to 60% of premium EV sales in European markets, with Germany and the United Kingdom showing the highest fleet penetration.
Hungary’s fleet market has grown rapidly over the past three years as Hungarian corporates have increased EV adoption in line with broader European trends.
Ayvens — formed from the 2024 merger of ALD Automotive and LeasePlan — is Europe’s largest vehicle leasing company by fleet size, operating across more than 40 countries and managing approximately 3.4 million vehicles globally.
The Battery Swap Operations
Nio first established operations in Hungary in September 2022 with a battery swap station assembly plant in Biatorbágy, located approximately 20 kilometers west of Budapest in the CTPark Budapest West industrial park.
The 10,000-square-meter facility was Nio’s first overseas plant outside China and functions as a multi-purpose hub — assembling Battery Swap Stations for the European network, providing after-sales service, training European power operations staff, and conducting research and development for power products.
Nio‘s first European-made swap station rolled off the Biatorbágy production line in September 2022 and was shipped to Germany.
The current operational status of the plant remains unclear.
The company has not provided detailed disclosure on production volumes, capacity utilization, or workforce levels in 2025 or 2026.
The opacity coincides with a near-total slowdown in European battery swap station openings throughout 2025 and early 2026. The plant chief departed Nio last year.
Nio currently operates 60 battery swap stations across Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, and Norway.
In late January, Nio founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li announced the company completed its 250,000th battery swap in Europe.
Last year, the brand performed one swap every 2.77 minutes, with the most-used station located in Oslo, Norway — the brand’s first European market.
Network expansion has slowed significantly amid investment cuts. Nio opened its 59th station in Europe in December 2024 and closed its first station on the continent last year — the only one in Denmark, Nio’s weakest market by sales among the five it expanded to in 2021 and 2022.
It remains uncertain whether Nio will introduce its battery swap system in new European markets, as the brand leaves that decision to each country’s distributor.
Regional Distribution Expansion
AutoWallis also holds distribution rights for Nio in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania, where the brand is expected to launch later this year.
The multi-market distribution arrangement with a single regional partner reflects Nio’s revised European go-to-market strategy, which moved from direct-sales operations in its first European markets to distributor-led expansion in newer markets.
The model represents a meaningful operational shift from Nio’s original European playbook, which had emphasized Nio-operated showrooms (called “Nio Houses”) and direct customer relationships in markets including Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark.
The distributor-led model reduces Nio’s capital exposure in new European markets while accelerating geographic expansion, but transfers operational control of sales and service to regional partners.
The trade-off that has been characteristic of Chinese EV maker European expansions since 2024 amid broader capital discipline pressures.
