Data published by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed that Nio Inc. — including the main Nio brand and the sub-brands Onvo and Firefly — exported 44 vehicles in April.
The figure marks the lowest monthly total since July 2025 and a sharp decline from the 103 units shipped in March.
All of Nio Inc.’s manufacturing plants are based in China’s Anhui Province.
April’s numbers bring the Shanghai-based group’s cumulative exports for the first four months of 2026 to 315 vehicles, compared to just 98 a year ago — when only the Nio brand was being shipped overseas.
The pace continues to trail the target set by co-founder and President Qin Lihong, who said in March that the company is aiming for “several thousand units” delivered overseas this year while laying the groundwork for a “larger-scale expansion in the next two to three years.”
April’s shipments also remain far below the group’s record of 750 vehicles exported in December, when the Firefly sub-brand alone accounted for more than half of the total.
The CPCA data does not break down April exports by brand.
As a result, it is unclear how the 44 units were distributed among the premium Nio brand, the family-oriented Onvo, and the more affordable Firefly.
In the first quarter, the Nio brand accounted for the largest share of exports, shipping a combined 138 units — including 50 in January, 35 in February, and 53 in March.
Firefly shipped 123 units over the same period, while Onvo contributed 10, with its strongest export month in March when it shipped nine vehicles — five L60 SUVs and four L90 units.
Domestic Sales
Domestically, Nio sold 29,312 vehicles in April, according to CPCA figures.
The company had separately reported 29,356 global deliveries for the month, representing a 22.8% increase year-over-year — but a 17.3% sequential decline from March’s 35,486 units.
All three brands saw sequential declines in April.
The premium Nio brand delivered 19,024 vehicles, down 15.4% from March’s 22,490 units.
Onvo delivered 5,352 vehicles, a 22.2% drop from 6,877 in March. Firefly delivered 4,980 units, down 18.6% from 6,119 the previous month.
In the first quarter, the Nio brand had accounted for 58,543 of the group’s 83,465 deliveries, or 70.1% of the total.
Onvo contributed 13,339 units, while Firefly delivered 11,583 vehicles across the three months.
Through the first four months of 2026, Nio has delivered 112,821 vehicles globally across its three brands, a 71% increase year-over-year.
The company is targeting 40–50% delivery growth for the full year, implying between 456,000 and 489,000 vehicles — meaning the January-to-April total accounts for between 23.1% and 24.7% of that annual target.
Firefly Marks One Year
April also marked the first anniversary of Firefly‘s domestic launch.
The sub-brand was unveiled in December 2024 at Nio Day and began deliveries in China on April 29, 2025, handing over 231 vehicles in its first two days.
Since then, the brand has grown into Nio Inc.‘s primary vehicle for international expansion.
Founder and CEO William Li wrote in an internal letter earlier this year that “Firefly serves as our pioneering brand for global market entry” and that “in China, our lineup is ‘Nio, Onvo, Firefly,’ while globally it is ‘Firefly, Onvo, Nio.'”
In its first year, Firefly has expanded from a single model in one market to a presence across roughly a dozen countries spanning Europe, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Americas.
The brand debuted in Europe in mid-August 2025 with deliveries in the Netherlands and Norway, and has since expanded to Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Portugal, and Luxembourg.
Late last year, it began mass production of right-hand drive vehicles in preparation for launches in markets without tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.
Firefly entered Singapore in January, making it the brand’s first right-hand drive market, and launched in Thailand in early March through a partnership with Thonburi Group.
The UK, Australia, and New Zealand are among the confirmed right-hand drive markets to follow.
Brand chief Daniel Jin told Nikkei at the Bangkok Motor Show in late March that Firefly plans to launch in 20 to 30 countries this year, up from roughly ten overseas markets at the time.
He acknowledged that early 2026 sales had fallen “considerably” but maintained the brand’s expansion targets.
Firefly crossed 50,000 cumulative deliveries on March 28, eleven months after handovers began.
The brand also launched a refreshed version of its debut model in April, adding a free over-the-air motor power upgrade to 120 kW, new ADAS features, and additional colour options.
Whether the refreshed model will be introduced in overseas markets remains unclear.
Export Strategy
Nio‘s three brands have followed distinct geographic strategies as the group expands internationally.
The premium Nio brand was the first to go overseas, entering Norway in October 2021 through a direct-sales model.
It expanded to Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark a year later and has since added several European markets through distributor partnerships.
The brand is now in the process of restructuring its European operations, transitioning away from direct sales toward an asset-light distributor model as it works to lower costs and expand more widely.
Onvo‘s first international market was Uzbekistan, where the sub-brand opened an authorized showroom in Tashkent in February through local distributor Abu Sahiy Motors. The L90 and L60 are available for purchase in the market.
Onvo also launched in Armenia through dealer N-Motors in March alongside the Nio brand, and is available in Costa Rica as part of the first overseas showroom to carry all three brands.
According to company management, the Onvo brand is planned to debut in Europe next year.
Costa Rica holds the distinction of being the only overseas market to date where all three brands are sold simultaneously.
The group opened its showroom there on March 30 in partnership with local distributor Horizontes Cielo Azul, offering the Nio ET5 Touring and EL6, the Onvo L60, and the Firefly EV.
The Onvo L90 began pre-sales at Costa Rica’s annual EXPOMOVIL auto show in April.
Overseas Target
Founder and CEO William Li has set a goal for the group to be present across 40 countries and regions by year-end — up from approximately 20 at the close of 2025.
The group is preparing to enter Cyprus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Poland this year, among other markets.
However, the 315 vehicles exported through the first four months of the year remain a fraction of the group’s output, representing just 0.28% of the 112,821 vehicles delivered globally during the period.
As EV has exclusively reported, no new vehicles have been shipped to v’s established European markets in recent years, with the existing fleet cycling through a subscription model that registers each vehicle only once — regardless of how many customers use it.
The company continues to see European demand weaken despite introducing the Firefly sub-brand on the continent and doubling its number of markets.
In the Netherlands, Firefly accounted for all six of the group’s April registrations, with zero from the main Nio brand.
