Nio’s sub-brand Onvo began deliveries of its newly launched L90 electric SUV early Friday, handing over the first batch of vehicles to customers in 44 cities across China.
According to a post from the ‘Nio Beijing Club’ — a user-run community — the first batch of L90 units sold out in under three hours after the configurator opened.
A separate social media post from user ‘Cnevhome’, who attended the launch event, claimed that Onvo had approximately 10,000 units in inventory at the time.
The brand announced on Thursday that it would add 400 additional test drive vehicles to meet rising demand, bringing the total fleet to around 1,000 units.
William Li, founder and CEO of Nio Group, personally delivered the first vehicles during a handover event in Hangzhou, while Onvo chief Shen Fei delivered the initial units in Hefei — the city where Nio’s two manufacturing plants are based.
A third one is on track to begin production in September, the management recently stated.
Hefei, located in Anhui province, is a key strategic partner for the EV maker.
Last September, Nio signed investment agreements with three local entities — Hefei Jianheng New Energy Automobile Investment Fund Partnership, Anhui Provincial Emerging Industry Investment Co., Ltd., and CS Capital Co., Ltd. — to strengthen the group’s capital base.
Under the agreement, the three investors committed a combined 3.3 billion yuan ($458 million), while Nio Inc. contributed 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to subscribe for newly issued shares in its China unit.
The Shanghai-headquartered company is ramping up efforts to achieve profitability, with Li naming the Onvo L90 as a contributor to the goal.
At a media roundtable held earlier this Friday, Li reiterated the group’s target to break even in the next quarter.
Li said the company is aiming to deliver 25,000 vehicles per month under the Onvo brand by the fourth quarter, alongside another 25,000 units from Nio’s core brand.
US-listed shares of Nio closed up 7.98% at $4.87 on Thursday and are trading 1.7% lower on Friday’s pre-market trading session.
Nio, along with its Onvo and Firefly sub-brands, is expected to report July delivery figures later on Friday.
