Nio has announced its third brand called firefly, which will be launched on December 21 during Nio Day 2024. firefly (actually spelt in lower case) will join the namesake and premium Nio brand as well as the more family-oriented Onvo, the latter making its debut in May this year.
According to the Shanghai-based automaker, firefly is positioned in the “boutique compact car market” and is described as a “a symbol of innovation and sophistication in a smaller package” in the company’s press release.
The first firefly model will go on sale in the first half of 2025, although the company isn’t providing much in the way of details for now. However, CarNewsChina reports that the new brand will initially debut a compact electric hatchback with a swappable battery, which has been a longstanding technology that Nio includes in its offerings.
Back in July, Nio founder, chairman and CEO William Li confirmed that firefly vehicles will get their own dedicated battery swap stations. As such, the new brand will not share existing stations with the Nio and Onvo brands, likely due to packaging reasons considering the more compact dimensions.
firefly’s first model is expected to be priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan (about RM62k and RM124) – possibly less with the company’s Battery as a Service (BaaS) factored in. This fits in with the brand’s positioning under Onvo, which currently offers the L60 that starts from 206,900 yuan (RM128k), and will enable Nio to take on the BYD Dolphin and other EVs that are within said price range.
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All these middle kingdom brand loves to create sub-brand, one after another. Main brand sales figure also so little. Creating sub-brand to renew consumers confidence in them.
What’s goreng next?
Xiaomi > Poco > Redmi
> Mi > Mijia > Amazfit etc
Spanish Fly