Nio opened its first showroom in Hungary on Thursday 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 marks Nio‘s tenth European market, following recent entries in Austria, Portugal, and Greece.
The showroom was opened by the Group’s local partner AutoWallis — which also distributes BYD, XPeng, and Geely‘s Farizon brand in the region — 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.
Pricing starts at 11.99 million forints ($36,980) for the Firefly, while the ET5 sedan begins at 24.49 million forints ($75,500), the ET5 Touring at 24.89 million forints ($76,7670), and the EL6 at 26.99 million forints ($82,340).
In the new markets, besides adopting a business model based on local distributors, Nio is not offering its 7 series.
The ET7 remains available in its first European markets while stock lasts.
The previous version of its EL8 flagship SUV, replaced by a new model in China last September, is only being introduced in select markets.
Battery Swap Operations
Nio first established operations in Hungary in September 2022 with a battery swap station assembly plant in Biatorbágy, outside Budapest.
The 10,000-square-meter facility produces stations for European markets, though progress on further development remains unclear.
The company operates 60 swap stations across Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and Norway.
Earlier this week, Nio founder and CEO 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 this year 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.
AutoWallis also holds distribution rights for Nio in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania, where the brand is expected to launch later this year.
