Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
The Chinese electric carmaker Nio, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, opened its first overseas market in 2021 when it expanded to Norway, the country with the highest EV penetration rate.
In 2022, the company founded by William Li further expanded in Europe and entered into four new markets, including Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.
In early 2021, as Nio launched its first second-generation model, the ET7 sedan, CEO William Li said the company aimed to be present in 25 regions by 2025 — a goal the automaker reaffirmed during a media event on Sunday.
“We will enter 25 countries and regions this year, and so far there is no problem with that,” the chief executive stated.
Asked about Nio’s investments in Europe since 2021 — including best-in-class showrooms and its battery swapping and charging network — Li drew a distinction between markets the company has already entered and those it plans to enter next.
“In the five European countries we’ve already entered, we’ll continue operating under the direct-sales model, since the investments have already been made,” Li stated. “But we’ll control the scale of investment going forward” hinting at a lower expansion across the five markets.
“Our priority in those countries will be serving existing users while being more conservative on new sales activities,” he added.
Nio sold 73 vehicles across its five European markets in February, including 32 in Norway, 25 in Germany, 12 in the Netherlands, four in Sweden and none in Denmark.
“For other countries, we’re now implementing the national distributor model,” Li stated. “The national distributor handles everything—we settle with them at a wholesale price. The model is very simple.”
Nio’s chief said the company has no plans to adopt a traditional dealership model in new markets, citing operational efficiency: “We will not use a traditional dealership model, because that would require us to build our own management structure in that country. Now, the national distributor takes care of it all.”
Nio Group President Lihong Qin added that the EV maker is currently in the contract-signing stage “with more than a dozen countries,” adding that the local partners “must achieve positive profit and cash flow” within the first year.
“There hasn’t been any public reporting yet, but we’ve entered the contract-signing stage with more than a dozen countries,” Lihon Qin stated.
“The standard we set for those national distributors is that within the first rolling 12 months, they must achieve positive profit and cash flow,” Nio Group president detailed.
Commenting on the network strategy for these new markets, Lihong Qin reminded that all models of the Group “can all support [battery] swapping.”
“The national distributor is also an investor—they evaluate when and how to invest in swap stations,” he stated. “If they invest early, it will help sales, but it will also bring pressure on themselves. That’s their decision to make.”
The executive also guaranteed that “a strong national distributor will always deploy swap stations in the first year,” allowing customers to use one of Nio’s main unique selling points.
Firefly brand in Europe
Last December, William Li had already confirmed that Firefly would launch in Europe in the first half of this year via a distribution partner established in each country.
“We need the partners to be fully ready,” the chief executive said back then. The chief executive added later on that the company has already reached an agreement with many partners in Europe.
According to Li, the cost of building these stations in Europe will be about one-third of the cost of Nio’s fourth-generation battery swap stations which serve both Nio and Onvo customers.
