Nio‘s family-oriented sub-brand Onvo delivered 17,342 vehicles in October, a monthly record driven almost entirely by the success of its second model.
The turnaround has reinvigorated the struggling budget line after disappointing results in the first half of 2025.
The L90 SUV, a six-seat family hauler launched in late July, accounted for 11,776 of October’s deliveries and has become the cornerstone of Onvo‘s recovery.
The model reached 30,000 cumulative units in just 86 days, pulling the brand out of a slump that saw monthly volumes languish between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles from January through July.
Over the past three months, Onvo‘s deliveries have surged past 15,000 units monthly, with the L90 consistently representing more than 10,000 of those sales.
The brand has now become the best-selling marque within Nio Group — which also includes the premium Nio brand and recently launched Firefly—for three consecutive months.
From Disappointment to Dominance
The October performance marks a dramatic reversal from Onvo‘s troubled start.
After delivering a record 10,528 units of its debut L60 model in December 2024—a mark not surpassed until eight months later—the brand experienced an unusually steep drop in early 2025.
January deliveries collapsed to just 5,912 vehicles, followed by 4,049 in February and 4,820 in March, falling far short of aggressive production targets that had called for 16,000 units in January and 20,000 by March.
Former Onvo chief Alan Ai admitted in February that the company saw “accelerated” order cancellations in December as it struggled to deliver vehicles before year-end, when customers were rushing to qualify for a 15,000-yuan government EV subsidy.
“We initially planned to deliver 20,000 units, but many customers scheduled for January deliveries wanted their cars before the end of December,” Ai explained at the time.
Supply constraints from BYD’s battery division further limited L60 deliveries late last year, as reported by EV.
However, Nio founder and CEO William Li told EV in December that the company had onboarded a third battery supplier to resolve the bottleneck.
Leadership Overhaul
The missed targets triggered a management shake-up.
Li acknowledged in early April that Onvo’s performance “didn’t meet expectations” in the first quarter, citing limited brand awareness, inexperienced store staff, challenges with battery swap infrastructure at Nio stations, and targeted negative PR campaigns on Chinese social media.
Alan Ai stepped down after pledging to resign if the brand failed to meet its targets.
A week later, as exclusively reported by EV, top executive Xia Qinghua, Onvo’s former Head of User Operations and Services, transferred to Nio‘s main brand as Regional General Manager of Shanghai operations.
Fen Shei, formerly Senior VP of Nio Power, the company’s energy division, succeeded Ai as Onvo chief.
Under the new leadership, sales stabilized at 6,000 to 7,000 units in the second quarter before the L90 launch catalyzed the brand’s resurgence.
L90: The Game Changer
Unveiled in July with a starting price of 279,900 yuan ($39,000)—significantly lower than market expectations—or 193,900 yuan ($27,000) under Nio‘s battery-as-a-service (BaaS) subscription model, the L90 generated immediate enthusiasm.
Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao estimated the SUV secured between 30,000 and 35,000 pre-orders in its first four days.
The model officially launched on July 31, with deliveries beginning the following day.
Optimism surrounding the L90 drove Nio‘s US-listed shares up more than 50% over two weeks, climbing from a monthly low of $3.38 on July 8 to $5.21 on July 23.
The stock has since surged to a yearly high of $8.02 in early October, also boosted by the launch of the third-generation Nio ES8.
Shares have more than doubled over the past six months from an April low of $3.02.
The L90 has now delivered 33,348 units cumulatively, establishing itself as the volume driver Onvo desperately needed.
Product Strategy Evolves
In mid-September, Onvo released a refreshed version of the L60, which management characterized as a minor facelift aimed at sustaining demand. Deliveries of the updated model began this week.
The rapid refresh cycle reflects the brutal competitive dynamics of China’s new energy vehicle market, where facelifts have become increasingly common and update intervals are shrinking rapidly.
Onvo had planned to launch a five-seat version of the L90 — designated the L80 — in the fourth quarter.
However, that debut has been pushed to 2026 as Nio prioritizes ramping production of its six-seat SUVs: the Onvo L90 and the Nio ES8, which launched in September.
Scaling Up Production
To meet surging demand, Nio has quietly begun production at its third factory in Hefei and requested local government support to hire 1,000 additional workers.
The company is targeting 150,000 vehicle deliveries across its three brands in the fourth quarter.
Nio Group reached a new monthly delivery record for the third consecutive time last month, with the Onvo brand’s resurgence playing a central role in the parent company’s recovery narrative.
