Nicola Marsala, the head of the Southern European region for Nio Group, has left the electric vehicle maker weeks before its entry into several new markets across the continent.
The executive announced his departure from Nio on his LinkedIn on Wednesday.
As reported in 2023 by several Italian media outlets, Marsala joined the EV maker as a Country Manager amid preparations to enter Italy.
However, according to his LinkedIn profile, Marsala has served since January 2023 as “Head of Business Development” and “Managing Director for Nio in the Southern Europe region including Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.”
He also said he was a “Member of the BOD [Board of Directors] at Nio Europe.”
On LinkedIn, Marsala wrote this Wednesday: “After almost three years, my time at Nio is coming to an end. It’s time to write a new chapter.”
The EV maker opened its first pop-up store in Greece in early August and is preparing to officially launch in Portugal later this month.
“With [the] European team, we explored different business models, introducing [the] Firefly brand and expanding our operations in new markets,” he wrote.
Nio opened its first pop-up store in Greece in early August and is preparing to officially launch in Portugal with its sub-brand Firefly later this month.
Marsala later in the post thanked the company’s management and the partners.
“Working in a truly international company with a bold and innovative vision of mobility is not a privilege for everyone,” the executive wrote.
“These have been precious years in which I’ve learned a lot, met special talented people, understood what does it mean to truly have the courage to innovate,” he added. “Thanks to all the management and partners for the great journey.”
Nio entered Europe via Norway in September 2021 and a year later expanded to Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.
Group sales in Europe dropped 17.8% in August from the previous month to 88 vehicles, even after the start of deliveries from its Firefly sub-brand.
A year earlier, Nio sold 79 vehicles under its main brand alone. That means registrations for the core brand slumped 63.3% year-on-year.
New markets include Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Romania and Portugal — among others.
AutoWallis, the distributor for Austria, Hungary, Romania, Czechia and Poland, said sales in Austria and Hungary will start between October and December.
The carmaker plans to offer four models in the new markets — the EL6 SUV, EL8 flagship SUV, ET5 sedan and ET5 Touring.
Compared with existing markets, Nio will not sell its larger sedan and SUV from the 7 series, the ET7 and EL7.
Onvo, Nio’s family-focused sub-brand launched in China in 2024, is not yet confirmed for Europe.
Prior to Nio, Marsala worked 11 years at Kia in Italy.
He joined the South Korean brand as Head of Dealer Network Development & Sales in November 2011.
Six years later, he started overseeing aftersales and customer experience before being promoted to Head of Sales, Product Marketing and Mobility Solutions in late 2019.
