Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
In late November, electric carmaker Nio opened its first showroom in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) shortly after starting vehicle deliveries in the country. This week, the Shanghai-based brand opened a new one in Dubai, the second one in the country.
After expanding to several European markets between 2021 and 2022, the company started earlier this year the next wave of expansion which included the establishment of Nio Mena to cover the Middle East and North Africa regions.
In October, Nio announced the formation of a joint venture with its major investor CYVN Holdings, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, to expand to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region under the name Nio MENA.
In 2025, and largely driven by its sub-brands Onvo and Firefly, the company ‘hopes’ to be present in 25 countries by the end of next year. The family-oriented brand Onvo now has over 20,000 users in China three months after the initial deliveries took place on September 28. Two new SUVs will be launched next year while the brand prepares to arrive in new markets and continents.
The Firefly brand will start deliveries of the fully electric hatchback in late April, with the European launch event planned to take place in the first half of the year, according to the company’s founder and CEO, William Li.
In 2025, the company expects to deliver 50,000 Firefly EVs — Goldman Sachs said on Saturday, citing Nio’s management.
Nio’s first showroom in the UAE —a Nio House— is located in Galleria Al Maryah Island, a high-end mall in Abu Dhabi. The second one is a Nio Space (smaller than the Nio House) and is located in Dubai.
When announcing the expansion to the MENA region, the company also unveiled plans to establish local production there, which would become its first manufacturing plant outside China.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
