Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Nicola Marsala, Nio‘s Head of the Southern European region, hinted that the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer will be expanding to new countries despite the provisional tariffs on China-made EVs.
In an interview to Fleet Magazine, Marsala said Nio will “naturally” expand to more markets in the old continent and the two sub-brands — Onvo and Firefly — are included in the go-to-market plan.
On his LinkedIn profile, the executive says one of his responsibilities is “to establish operations in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece & Balkans” adding that it includes “all Nio Group Brands”.
“Naturally, in the coming years, we will expand our operations in Europe. How will we do this? We will do it not only through the Nio brand but also through other brands that we are about to launch on the market. In particular, there are two sub-brands of Nio,” the executive stated.
“The first is Onvo, which was officially announced and launched in China on May 15. The second has the code name Firefly, which will be launched next year,” he added.
As unveiled by two other European managers in mid-May, the company is exploring various distribution methods as Firefly is set to launch in Europe in the summer of 2025. The plan was now reiterated by the General Manager for South Europe.
“However, what we can say is that Nio will maintain its exclusivity, so the direct-to-consumer sales model will continue. We will sell cars through our Nio Houses with a direct model, while for the other two brands, we are open to working with partners,” the executive said.
“Particularly in Europe, we will build commercial networks made up of importers, distributors, and dealers,” he added.
In a reaction to the extra tariffs announced by the European Commission, Nio has hinted this week that an adjustment on the prices “cannot be ruled out”. However, the company says that is maintaining its prices “at this stage”.
Later in the interview, Marsala emphasized the that the company is working on establishing and “cultivating relationships” amid preparations to welcome the dealership business model.
“This is what we are starting to work on, allowing us to cultivate relationships that will enable us to have a commercial network and distribute our vehicles in countries where we are not currently present, such as France, Spain, and Italy— very important markets where Nio is not yet present today,” Marsala stated.
On Friday, the company announced that its Chief Financial Officer Steven Wei Feng has resigned after five years in the company due to “personal and family reasons”.
As the resignation has immediate effect, Nio‘s board has promoted its Senior Vice President of Finance, Stanley Yu Qu, to become the new Chief Financial Officer.
Earlier in the week, the company reported the delivery of 21,209 vehicles in June, surpassing its estimates of between 17,800 and 19,8000 vehicles.
The result represents a year-over-year growth of 98.10 percent and brings the quarterly deliveries to 57,373 units, a growth of 143.90 percent. As of the time of writing, Nio US-listed stock is trading 4.33 percent higher at $4.33 per share following the news.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
