Nio Group will announce a series of partnership deals with European national distributors on Wednesday during the Shanghai Auto show as the Chinese electric vehicle maker works to expand in overseas markets by introducing its sub-brands Onvo and Firefly across most EU markets.
Without revealing further details, the company’s founder and chief executive William Li said on Tuesday told reporters that Nio plans to seek more local partners to expand in Europe and will announce some deal signings with European partners during the auto show.
The company expanded to its first overseas market in 2021 when it expanded to Norway, the country with the highest EV penetration rate.
A year later, the company founded by William Li further expanded in Europe and entered into four new markets, including Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.
However, demand for its battery swap compatible EVs has been lower than the company’s expectations. In March, the premium brand sold 86 vehicles across the five European markets: 44 units in Norway, 21 in Germany, 13 in the Netherlands, eight in Sweden and none in Denmark.
Nio’s progress in Europe has been slower than expected due to the sales and service network challenges, Nio CEO William Li told reporters at an event ahead of the Shanghai auto show.
Firefly brand in Europe
Last December, Nio’s chief had said that Firefly would launch in Europe in the first half of this year via a distribution partner established in each country.
However, the company updated its target on Tuesday saying it now expects to hold the European launch of the new brand in the third quarter.
Nio’s co-founder and president Lihong Qin added at the media Q&A session that the Firefly brand will be present in “about 20 markets” outside China with the right-hand drive version will be ready before October.
’25 by 25′
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 reaffirmed last month.
“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 added noting that Nio will “control the scale of investment going forward.”
“Our priority in those countries will be serving existing users while being more conservative on new sales activities,” he added.
“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.”
