NIO’s first small electric vehicle model will be smaller than Mercedes-Benz’s Smart-branded cars and come with an intelligent driving system expected to outperform that of its rivals such as the Mini Cooper, founder, chairman, and chief executive William Li said on Thursday.
The car, part of a new lineup codenamed Firefly, will make its debut at the company’s annual launch event NIO Day next Saturday and sales will begin simultaneously next year in China and overseas markets including Europe. Li expects deliveries of “at least several thousand units” per month next year for the niche product, which will also maintain a “reasonable” profit margin, as the company aims to break even in 2026 (our translation).
The launch of Firefly will be of great significance in NIO’s global expansion push, Li said, with the company eyeing a current market size of 10 million units in the global small to medium vehicles segments, of which 4 million units are sold each year in Europe. Li added the company’s small, quality EVs will have enhanced safety features compared to rivals’ offerings. BMW’s Minis scored four stars in a round of Euro NCAP crash tests in 2014, while NIO’s four bigger models achieved five-star ratings in the past two years.
NIO is also working on tailored plans for the new business in China and overseas markets against the backdrop of a slowdown in EV adoption worldwide. Although Li reaffirmed the company’s strategy to sell only battery EVs (BEVs) in China, it has become open to other power options such as hybrids. While planning only one model under the Firefly marque in China for the time being, Li hinted at the likelihood of launching variants to meet specific customer demands in different markets.
The comments were delivered after a Reuters report published last month stated that NIO will launch its first extended-range hybrid model, also under the Firefly brand, only for overseas markets in 2026, as suggested by one of its main investors. Speaking to reporters in Shanghai at a press event on Thursday, Li said the rest of the world is lagging behind China by about five to 10 years in terms of public charging infrastructure.
The Chinese EV maker is hoping to create synergies across its three product lineups. The all-electric Firefly car will be powered by swappable batteries in a smaller size than those for its NIO and Onvo siblings, meaning the marque will have an independent battery-swapping network. Still, it will share sales and service networks with NIO’s namesake brand, Li said. Meanwhile, the mainstream Onvo brand plans to open 100 dedicated showrooms by the end of year but will share part of the company’s battery swap stations with the NIO brand.
Li reiterated the company’s target of doubling its sales to around 440,000 units next year, anticipating that Onvo will become a major growth driver. More than 10,000 Onvo crossovers will be delivered to customers in December, as the company is making progress on production ramp-up, and a higher target of 20,000 units has been set for next March. The Onvo L60 went on sale in September at a starting price of RMB 206,900 ($28,428), and the Firefly brand is set to cover a price range of between RMB 140,000 and RMB 200,000.
