Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
The logo for Nio’s much-anticipated second subbrand, Firefly, have been shared on Chinese social media Weibo ahead of the official brand launch. According to the latest updates from the CEO William Li at the earnings conference call last week, the deliveries of the first model will start in the first half of next year.
The leaked photos reveal the code name of the Firefly logo, shaped like a ‘y’. In a second photo, the Firefly (萤火虫) name is prominently displayed below the logo, with Nio Auto (蔚来汽车) appearing in the right column. Additionally, the images also include symbols for Onvo, Nio’s first subbrand unveiled last month.
Nio founder and CEO, William Li, had outlined the company’s updated strategy for Firefly during an earnings conference call earlier this week.
“For Firefly, as I’ve mentioned, in China, it will be an affordable boutique compact car. We target the family-oriented users, especially those families who are buying Firefly as their second vehicle. That’s about the positioning of these three brands,” Li stated.
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Li further clarified the pricing strategy for the three brands under the Nio Group. “Price-wise, it is also pretty clear. The starting prices of our brands will be around RMB100,000, RMB200,000, and RMB300,000, which is also clearly differentiated. However, these three brands do share a similarity: all three brands can support power swap,” he added.
The first model has been seen several times over the last months in road tests across China. According to official documents shared recently on Weibo, the factory responsible for producing Firefly vehicles is planned to have an annual output of 120,000 units.
Regarding the development progress of Firefly, Li shared optimistic insights.
“Our third brand, Firefly, is making good progress in R&D. Several months ago, I tested an early build of their first model, and it’s pretty good. The Firefly product for the Chinese market will be a compact vehicle, priced around RMB100,000 to RMB200,000. Despite its affordability, it will adhere to high standards for safety and quality, making it a well-designed boutique car.”
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Li also discussed the sales strategy for Firefly, indicating that it will share sales channels with Nio. “In terms of the sales channel, it will also share the point of sales with NIO, similar to how [indiscernible] shares its dealership sources with BMW. The selling price of Firefly will not be as high as many others, but product-wise, it is definitely a very good project,” he explained.
We will start product delivery from the first half of next year. While the brand and product launch dates are yet to be finalized, the delivery timeline is already set for the first half of next year,” Li added.
“Regarding ‘Firefly,’ all four European Nio markets (Norway, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands) are free to choose their distribution model,” Nio’s general manager for the German market Marius Hayler said in a recent interview with Norwegian media. Hayler added that several dealership groups in Germany were already invited to discuss potential partnerships, with discussions set to take place in June.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
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