Nio Group‘s co-founder and President, Qin Lihong, has outlined the updated launch timeline for the company’s upcoming Onvo L80, now scheduled for unveiling in mid-April.
The model’s debut had previously been postponed as Nio prioritized ramping up production capacity for its larger SUVs toward the end of last year.
After facing weaker-than-expected demand for its sedans throughout 2024 and 2025, Nio opted to focus on SUVs in 2026, with the L80 being one of three it plans to launch this year.
“Sometime around April 20th, there will be a comprehensive product and technology launch event,” Lihong revealed.
The timeline coincides with the Beijing Auto Show, which is scheduled to take place between April 24 and May 3.
Adding that “there’s quite a lot to cover for the L80,” the executive said that the event will “start with about two hours going in depth, walking through all the key technical details,” matching the company’s previous launch events.
Onvo was the first sub-brand of Nio. The Shanghai-based EV maker launched the family-oriented marque on May 15, 2024 — coinciding with Global Family Day.
“Then, around mid-May — which also coincides with the second anniversary of the Onvo brand — alongside a series of events celebrating the brand’s two-year milestone, we will officially announce the price and begin deliveries,” the President announced.
Pricing and Details
While the exact price will be announced at the launch event, Lihong hinted at the model’s market positioning without disclosing specific figures.
According to the executive, it “will definitely be lower than the L90, but higher than the L60 — right in between that range.”
The L60 SUV, for which deliveries began in September 2024, starts at 149,900 yuan ($21,700) when purchased with Nio’s Battery as a Service (BaaS).
Prices rise to 206,900 yuan ($29,900) if the battery is included.
The larger L90 — launched last Summer — is priced from 179,800 yuan ($26,000) with Nio’s BaaS and from 265,800 yuan ($38,500) if customers opt to buy the battery outright.
Last month, regulatory filings revealed that upcoming iterations of the L90 SUV will have LiDAR — marking the first time the sensors are included in the sub-brand’s models.
Previously, Nio had included the suite of sensors only in models from its main premium brand.
At an offline event held days after the catalogue was published, Onvo‘s brand chief Shei Fen revealed that the L80 SUV will be available in both pure-vision and LiDAR versions.
The executive was one of Nio’s earliest employees, joining in 2015 just months after the company was founded in Shanghai.
He later became the lead architect of Nio’s battery swap technology strategy, before transitioning to Onvo‘s lead.
Shei Fen replaced Alan Ai after the brand missed key sales targets in early 2025.
Launch Delay
Onvo filed the L80 with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) last June.
The filing showed for the first time that only the seating layout will differ from the L90, allowing most components to be shared across both models.
Nio‘s founder and CEO William Li said that L80 deliveries would begin in the final quarter of the year.
Three months later, Onvo’s Head of Product Yu Bin told local media that the company intended to first “serve L90 users well” before setting a new timeline for the L80.
“Please give us some time to consider the appropriate timing for the launch of the Onvo L80,” he said them.
Onvo Sales
Despite having added a second model to its lineup last August, the brand reported its worst month since September 2024, when deliveries of the L60 first began.
Onvo delivered 3,481 vehicles in January, a 62% decline from December and a 41% drop from a year earlier.
Monthly deliveries peaked at 17,342 units in October 2025, driven by the production ramp-up of the L90 three-row SUV.
The L90, which recorded more than 30,000 deliveries during its first three months on the market, saw its figures plunge to the worst month on record.
Onvo delivered 1,502 L90 units in January.
