- Firefly is positioned by Nio as a premium small car brand, with its most direct competitors including the BMW Mini and Mercedes-Benz Smart.
- By the end of this year, Firefly would enter about 20 overseas markets, with the right-hand drive version set to be ready by October at the latest.
Nio Inc's (NYSE: NIO) premium small electric vehicle (EV) brand Firefly will begin its first deliveries in Europe in 10 days, with overseas markets expected to start contributing meaningful sales to the company.
On August 14, Firefly will begin deliveries in Norway and the Netherlands, Nio announced today on Weibo.
The Chinese EV maker mentioned the plan while sharing details about the 10th anniversary of its global design center in Munich.
Over the past decade, Nio has entered five markets -- Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark -- to build a user experience encompassing products, services, user operations, and energy infrastructure, it said.
In June, Nio announced that it would enter 11 new European markets in the next two years through a national distributor model, the company said.
Unlike Nio's previous direct sales approach in Europe, it has adopted a more asset-light model as it enters more markets.
Firefly officially launched its first model, named after the brand, on April 19, with a starting price of RMB 119,800 ($16,690) in China, including the battery pack. Deliveries began on April 29.
Firefly is positioned by Nio as a premium compact car, with its most direct competitors including the BMW Mini and Mercedes-Benz Smart.
The brand shares sales channels with the Nio brand, unlike Nio's other sub-brand Onvo, which has independent sales channels.
Firefly would choose an appropriate time between June and August to launch its first model in Europe, Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong said in response to a question from CnEVPost at a media roundtable in Shanghai on April 22, ahead of the Shanghai auto show.
By the end of this year, Firefly would enter about 20 overseas markets, and the right-hand drive version would be ready by October at the latest, Qin said at the time.
($1 = RMB 7.1784)
