ET5 will only be a preamble for the Nio in Europe. The Chinese brand has big plans for the Old Continent for the next few years. Indeed, after the presentation of the sedan and the electric station wagon, Nio intends to develop a full range for the European market.

William Lee, CEO of Nio, presented the company’s strategy in an interview with Autocar, in which he discusses the launch of a new brand dedicated to European customers.

Compact to rival the MG

According to William Lee, Europeans are customers for compact cars at limited prices. Therefore, in order to gain a foothold in this demanding market, at the opposite end of the American and Chinese markets, it will not be enough to import ET5 or other top models.

Nio is well aware of this and instead plans to launch a kind of “sub-brand” codenamed “Firefly” (which may not be the final name). This facility is currently being studied for a possible launch in 2024.

According to some unconfirmed rumors, the first Firefly model should be compact (probably from the C segment) priced below 30,000 euros. This would be sort of an alternative to MG4, but with a bit more Nio specificity: the ability to replace batteries in just five minutes thanks to the democratization of its famous exchange points.

Advantage of “battery replacement”.

Indeed, on Nios, battery packs can be replaced in about five minutes at several dedicated stations across Europe. There are currently 10, but William Lee said the brand wants to sell at least 1,000. “outside China” until the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, the Nio ET5 (sedan and wagon) will be available in Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden by the end of 2023.

With an expected list price of around €50,000, the car has two electric motors, four-wheel drive, a 75, 100 or 150 kWh battery and a range of 550, 700 or 1,000 km on a single charge in the WLTP cycle. and according to the selected battery.