Firefly, the newly launched electric vehicle brand from Chinese automaker Nio, registered 350 units of its debut model during the week of April 28 to May 4, according to insurance registration data shared on Chinese social media.
Although the weekly figures include April 28, customer deliveries of the Firefly model only began on April 29. Nio Group said it delivered a total of 23,900 vehicles in April across its three brands—Nio, Onvo, and Firefly.
Of that total, 19,269 were from the premium Nio brand and 4,400 from Onvo. That implies Firefly accounted for 231 vehicles in the final two days of the month, averaging around 115 units per day.
New car registrations in early May are typically subdued due to the Labour Day holiday in China. The main Nio brand, Tesla, XPeng, Leapmotor, Xiaomi, and Zeekr all posted sales declines from the prior week.
The debut Firefly model is currently available only with the battery included, priced from 119,800 yuan ($16,600). A version offering Nio’s battery-as-a-service (BaaS) subscription—allowing battery leasing and access to swap stations—will be introduced in August, according to the company.
The vehicle will support Nio’s upcoming fifth-generation battery swap stations. While BaaS pricing is still being finalised, Firefly customers are being offered a 3,000 yuan ($415) charging voucher in the meantime.
Firefly positions Nio in the compact EV segment, where it will compete with models such as BMW’s Mini and Mercedes-Benz’s Smart.
The brand was formally launched in the Netherlands and Norway last month, with test drives scheduled to begin this summer. Orders are already open in the Dutch market, where the model starts at €29,900 ($34,000).
Firefly aims to be present in 16 countries across five continents by the end of the year. Target markets include the UK, Singapore, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Norway.
The selection was influenced by what Daniel Ge, head of Firefly, described as “relatively friendly policies, such as low tariffs, or favourable subsidies and traffic rights.”
