If two years ago, the booth of the Shanghai-based Nio Group at the Shanghai Auto Show was already impressive with 3,000 square meters, at this year’s edition — which kicked off on Wednesday — the company, led by William Li, brought its recently launched sub-brands Onvo and Firefly.
While the family oriented Onvo brand is showcased in its own booth, located (likely on purpose) next to Xiaomi’s, the Firefly brand — unveiled last December — was integrated in Nio’s booth.
After unveiling its debut model, the L60, a year ago, Onvo presented on Wednesday the second one — a three-row SUV named L90.
Despite the vehicle’s interior, pricing and exact timeline for the first deliveries were not announced, the company’s co-founder and President Lihong Qin said on Thursday at a media Q&A session that the first deliveries “will be in the second half of August.”
The “tentatively plan” for the official launch is scheduled for July, according to Nio’s co-founder.
“For now, we tentatively plan to fully launch the L90 and announce its price in July. Because based on the current timeline of our various R&D and delivery schedules for the L90, it looks like it will be in the second half of August,” the executive stated.
The first images of Onvo‘s new model appeared last week in China’s regulatory catalogue, followed shortly after by exterior photos shared by Nio’s sub-brand on Chinese social media.
“In the second half of August, we will adjust based on the timing — it could even extend into September. In July, we will launch the L90 and begin full-scale test drives,” he added.
“What I’m hoping is that by then, the perception, the buzz, and the impression the Onvo brand leaves with everyone can return to the level it was around the same time as September 19 last year,” Lihong Qin stated referring to the brand launch event.
“This is actually a process of reclaiming lost ground,” he added as the brand seeks to regain sales momentum after a weaker than expected beginning of the year.
Onvo deliveries reached nearly 6,000 in January, 4,049 in February and 4,820 in March — well below the target of 16,000 units in January and 20,000 in March communicated late last year.
In a separate media session, Lihong Qin said the brand “did not reach the goals we had previously set for ourselves, and we also did not meet the expectations that the outside world had for us.”
However, the executive also argued that sales haven’t been “that badly”, averaging 6,000 units per month during the first six months on the market.
According to the latest weekly registration data published earlier this week, Onvo sold 700, 735, and 770 units in the three weeks between March 31 and April 20, bringing total registrations for April to approximately 2,205 units (as of the 20th day of the month.)
In the first days of April, Onvo’s chief Alan Ai stepped down and the brand’s number two Xia Qinghua transitioned to a new role within the Nio Group — as exclusively reported by EV. Ai was replaced by Shen Fei, a long-time Nio executive who was leading the Nio Power unit for nearly a decade.
