EV maker Nio said on Sunday its Middle East and North Africa joint venture — named ‘Nio MENA’ — has recently made “fairly deep organizational adjustments.”
Admitting to a weak start in the first half of the year, co-founder and president Lihong Qin told reporters at a media roundtable in Hangzhou that the brand had “encountered some challenges” since its debut in the region last November.
Nio‘s co-founder said the company’s sales numbers in the UAE “were not very satisfactory” promping the management to adjust its strategy in the July-September period.
“Starting in Q3, our NIO MENA company underwent fairly deep organizational adjustments and a refresh in strategy,” the executive stated.
Lihong said momentum had improved in recent weeks but did not provide sales figures or targets.
“In the past two months, our situation in the UAE has become much better than in the first half,” the executive stated.
Qin said Nio believes the addressable market remains large, while conceding that the company has work to do to close the volume gap with leaders.
“Right now among NEV brands in the UAE, taking August as an example, we might be third—some companies’ data we haven’t fully seen yet, but as far as we know we are roughly already third,” Nio‘s co-founder said.
“However, our third place is still quite far in volume from the top two,” Lihong noted.
The company this month opened its first Nio Hub in the Middle East, located off Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai’s Al Quoz district. The site combines a showroom, delivery center and after-sales service.
It is Nio’s third location in the UAE, after a Nio House in Abu Dhabi in late 2024 and a Nio Space in January at Dubai International Financial Centre’s Gate Avenue. The Abu Dhabi Nio House, launched in November 2024, was the company’s first flagship showroom in the region.
Lihong, who co-founded Nio with William Li back in 2014, recalled that the brand is also scaling physical presence and infrastructure planning in the region.
“Two weeks ago in Dubai we opened a new full-function Nio experience center — Nio Hub — with sales, aftersales, and brand experience,” the executive said, calling Dubai “the UAE’s primary city market.”
Nio offers the three-row EL8 SUV (known as the ES8 in China), the EC6 coupe SUV and the entry-level ET5 sedan.
The ET5 is priced from AED 205,800 ($56,000), while the EC6 SUV starts at AED 247,800 ($67,500). Prices for the luxury EL8 begin at AED 370,800 ($100,100).
On swap-station deployment, he outlined a corridor strategy designed to cover the country’s biggest flows.
“As for the UAE swapping-station layout, we’ve studied it — it’s a Y-shaped layout: on the highway connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai, there will be two swap stations; most of the country’s demand can be covered,” Lihong stated. “I think in a few more months these things can successively be put in place.”
Qin also noted that while battery swapping remains part of the offer, capital for energy infrastructure should come from partners.
“We are very determined: first, we must do swapping; second, we must not use our own funds to do it — we still want to use third-party capital, and everyone will share the returns in the future,” he said.
Mohammed Maktari, the chief executive of the company’s Middle East joint venture, said recently that the brand aims to be in the top 3 in the premium EV segment in the United Arab Emirates within two to three years.
