Nio registered 46 vehicles in Denmark in October, the most in any month since it first entered the country in 2022 and more than in 2023, 2024 and 2025 combined, according to Mobility Denmark data.
The record came in the brand’s first full year back on sale after a relaunch. Nio wound down its own Danish operation in 2024 and returned in late 2025 through local distributor Nic. Christiansen Group, which began taking orders in mid-October 2025 and delivered its first car the following month.
The total was up from a single Nio-brand registration in October 2025. The EL6 SUV accounted for 26 of the 46 and the ET5 sedan for 20.
Including two cars from its Firefly sub-brand, which Mobility Denmark files under the Nio make, the group registered 48 vehicles in the country, up from three a year earlier.
Danish passenger car registrations rose 16.9% to 18,875 in October, with fully electric models taking 88.4%, so Nio’s 46 cars amounted to about 0.2% of the market. Including Firefly, the Nio make ranked 35th among brands in the month.
Mobility Denmark’s public tables do not show whether the vehicles went to private buyers, companies or the importer’s own demonstrator fleet.
The EL6, sold as the ES6 in China, has become Nio’s main seller in Denmark. With 31 registrations from January to October, it has pulled ahead of the ET5 sedan, which stands at 25. The two were level at five each before October.
The Nio brand’s 56 registrations so far this year compare with four in the same period of 2025. Including Firefly’s 28, the group has registered 84 vehicles in Denmark this year, up from nine.
Until October, Firefly had carried the group in Denmark. The compact EV accounted for all of the group’s Danish registrations in the first months of the year, and Firefly’s 22 registrations from January to August outnumbered the Nio brand’s six.
The main brand booked its first registrations of 2026 in May, three EL6s. In September, it registered four cars, three ET5s and one EL6, while Firefly added four.
Nio’s earlier Danish lineup has disappeared from the data. In 2023, its best full year so far, Nio registered 33 cars, according to Mobility Denmark: 20 ET5s, six EL6s, four ET7 sedans and three EL7 SUVs. Registration platform EU-EVs, which EV has cited before, put the 2023 total at 41.
The brand registered five cars in 2024, four EL6s and one ET5, and 12 in 2025, of which eight were Fireflys, three ET5s and one EL6. No ET7 or EL7 has been registered since 2023.
Price Cuts
The October jump followed deep price cuts. In April, Nio cut every model in Denmark by at least 100,000 kroner ($15,000) and by up to 165,000 kroner ($24,700), Danish media reported at the time.
The ET5 sedan fell to 349,900 kroner ($52,400) from 449,900 kroner ($67,300), and the ET5 Touring Long Range to 399,900 kroner ($59,800) from 564,900 kroner ($84,500). The EL6 Long Range dropped to 429,900 kroner ($64,300) from 589,900 kroner ($88,300).
“We see a market in rapid motion, where price levels are being adjusted across the segment,” Country Manager Casper Mysling said then.
Nio’s distributor has since gone further. From October 29, selected new stock cars have been offered at up to 100,000 kroner off, with an ET5 for 264,900 kroner ($39,600), an EL6 for 304,900 kroner ($45,600) and a Firefly for 179,900 kroner ($26,900), down from 209,900 kroner ($31,400). Danish outlet Motormagasinet reported that about 100 Nio and Firefly stock cars were included.
Because the campaign started two days before the end of the month, it can have accounted for only a small share of October’s registrations at most.
A Rebuilt Operation
Nio entered Denmark in October 2022 alongside Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, with direct sales, a battery-rental model and a battery-swap station. Unlike in those markets, it never opened a Nio House there.
Expectations were high. “We expect to get more than 800 cars on the road in Denmark in 2023,” Nio’s then-Head of User Development & Relationship in Denmark, told the outlet Bilmagasinet before the launch. Nio registered 33.
By March 2024, Nio had registered 56 cars in Denmark in about 18 months, only 12 of them to private buyers, motoring association FDM reported. Its Danish staff of 32 was being cut to a handful and operations moved to Stockholm. A planned 2,200-square-meter Nio House at Kultorvet in central Copenhagen never opened, and a temporary showroom on Amager closed.
The model failed to take hold. In June 2025, Nio appointed Nic. Christiansen Group as importer and distributor for Nio and Firefly, making Denmark the first European market where it switched from direct sales to a distributor.
“We will relaunch Nio in Denmark with a new strategy and a much more attractive price point than before,” Mysling wrote on LinkedIn at the time.
The distributor already imports BYD, as well as Chery’s Omoda and Jaecoo brands. “We are very pleased with the agreement we’ve reached to import and sell NIO and firefly in Denmark,” Nic. Christiansen Group CEO Niels Vrist Bertelsen said.
Battery rental was dropped as the standard way to buy, and Nio closed its only Danish swap station in November 2025 as reported by EV. It was the first swap station Nio had closed in Europe.
The distributor delivered its first car under the new model that month. Nio’s showroom in Kastrup, near Copenhagen, opened in early 2026, and Firefly added pop-up showrooms in Aarhus and Odense in February.
“Now we are nationwide, sort of,” Mysling wrote then.
He has also acknowledged the limits of the network. “It has been a challenge to secure a broad geographic presence in the Danish market,” Mysling told Danish site Mobilsiden in an article published on Sunday. “We are in dialogue with Nio about adjusting the sales strategy in the Danish market,” he said.
Since the relaunch, Nio and Firefly have registered 90 cars in Denmark from October 2025 through October 2026. Zeekr registered 489 in October alone.
A Market Gone Almost Fully Electric
Nio’s record came as Denmark moved closer to an all-electric new-car market. Battery-electric cars made up 88.4% of October registrations, up from 70.6% a year earlier, and 97.6% of cars bought by private buyers, Mobility Denmark said.
Buyers are moving ahead of a registration tax increase on electric cars due on January 1, 2027, under current rules. “It makes no sense to raise the tax at New Year when there are also ambitions for a new model, and potentially a full abolition of the registration tax on electric cars,” Chief Executive Officer Mads Rørvig said.
Chinese Brands
Chinese brands have been among the main beneficiaries. Brands based in China registered 3,024 cars in Denmark in October, up from 1,000 a year earlier, lifting their combined share to 16.0% from 6.2%, according to EV‘s tally of Mobility Denmark data.
From January to October, they registered 17,786 cars, up 148.7% from 7,151, for a 10.4% share of the market against 4.8% a year earlier. The tally excludes Volvo and Polestar, which are owned by China’s Geely but based in Sweden.
MG, owned by SAIC, was the biggest Chinese brand in October with 1,039 registrations, nearly four times its total a year earlier, led by 423 ZS SUVs. XPeng followed with 496 and remains the largest Chinese brand this year, with 4,799 registrations, up 128.6%, led by the G6 SUV.
Leapmotor, which was not sold in Denmark a year ago, registered 374 cars in October and 1,270 this year, led by the B10 SUV. Its importer, Wismo Group, launched the B10 at 199,990 kroner ($29,900). BYD registered 303 in October and 2,655 this year, up 36.9%.
Newer arrivals added smaller volumes. Changan’s Deepal registered 131 cars in October and 446 this year, GAC’s Aion 65, and Chery’s Jaecoo 62.
The Premium Field
In the premium segment where Nio competes, Geely’s Zeekr has pulled far ahead. Zeekr entered Denmark in mid-2025 through established dealer groups Bjarne Nielsen, Pedersen & Nielsen and Via Biler.
Zeekr registered 489 vehicles in October, up from 159 a year earlier, and 3,034 so far this year, nearly eight times the 393 it registered in the same period of 2025.
The 7X SUV is Zeekr’s best seller this year with 1,749 registrations. The 7GT shooting brake, which had no Danish registrations a year earlier, led in October with 321 and has reached 1,120 for the year. Zeekr also registered 91 of its X crossover and 74 of the 001.
Other Chinese premium brands remain marginal. FAW’s Hongqi has registered 90 cars this year, down from 234, almost all of them EHS7 SUVs, and 10 in October. Chery’s premium Exlantix brand has registered 51, while Lynk & Co, also owned by Geely, has registered nine. Dongfeng’s Voyah has registered none this year.
Nio’s 84 group registrations this year put it just behind Hongqi and ahead of Exlantix and Lynk & Co, but at less than 3% of Zeekr’s volume. Polestar, Geely’s Swedish premium brand, registered 1,699 cars this year, up 2.8%, but 107 in October, down from 170.
Tesla registered 137 cars in October and 10,126 this year. XPeng passed 10,000 deliveries in Denmark in August, making it the brand’s third overseas market to reach that mark.
A Leaner Approach in Europe
Denmark was the first of several European markets where Nio has moved away from direct sales. After closing showrooms in Germany, the company said it had no plans to retreat from Europe.
“We will not simply replicate what works in China,” Li wrote in September, adding that Nio would not pursue expansion for its own sake.
Nio Inc. registered 238 vehicles across eight European markets in September.
The Danish result came in a weak month for Nio Inc. overall. The company delivered 34,246 vehicles worldwide in October, down 15.2% from a year earlier.
