As the delivery time of the second brand Ledao approaches, NIO's third brand "Firefly", which has always maintained a mysterious color, has also received new news.
Foreign industry media recently revealed spy photos of a "firefly" conducting road tests in Catalonia, Spain. This is also the first time that "fireflies" have appeared in Europe after being exposed in China in March this year. Except for spy photos, other information about Firefly is still highly confidential.
Firefly (also known as "Firefly") is currently progressing smoothly in research and development. Although it is priced at over 100000 RMB, it is a high-quality small car designed according to very high safety and quality standards. "At the first quarter financial report of this year, NIO Chairman Li Bin mentioned the progress of this project. From a current perspective, Firefly will share its sales network with NIO brand in China, just like the relationship between MINI and BMW. Of course, our car won't sell more expensive than MINI
Regarding the market pace, Li Bin revealed at that time, "Firefly will be officially delivered in the first half of next year, and the release time has not been finalized yet. Overall, the delivery will definitely be earlier in the first half of next year
According to industry sources, "Firefly's first new car is planned to be launched in China and may make its debut in the domestic market by the end of this year, before being introduced to the European market in the first half of next year. The person in charge of NIO said, "There is currently no more information that can be made public
In the eyes of industry insiders, the reason why NIO may release the first model of "Firefly" in China is because its price range coincides with the current best-selling and highest demand market for electric vehicles in China.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in the first half of this year, sales of new energy passenger vehicles were mainly concentrated in the compact class, with a cumulative sales of 1.577 million units, a year-on-year increase of 12.3%; From the price range, it is mainly concentrated in the price range of 150000 to 200000 yuan, with a cumulative sales of 1.292 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 15.6%.
Of course, competition is undoubtedly more intense in the market with the highest demand. If we follow NIO's previous positioning, "Firefly" mainly targets the European market, aiming to avoid the extremely competitive domestic new energy vehicle market. But now, in Europe, affordable electric vehicle models are equally skilled.
The latest report from UBS shows that due to the uncertainty of the overall car market and the decline in household purchasing power, European households' car consumption ability is constrained, and consumers hope to have entry-level electric models with lower prices. Therefore, car companies such as Stellantis, Renault, Volkswagen, and Hyundai have plans to launch affordable electric models.
Just recently, Ford CEO Jim Farley revealed that Ford will launch a pure electric model priced at $30000, with plans to achieve profitability within about two and a half years. Volkswagen revealed at the end of May that it would develop an electric car model priced at 20000 euros; Renault also stated that it will work with its Chinese partners to develop a pure electric version of the new generation Twingo microcar, with a price that may be controlled within 20000 euros.
In addition, the EU's measures to impose tariffs on Chinese made electric vehicles will also become another uncertain factor for "fireflies" to enter the European market. We certainly don't want to impose so many tariffs in the end, but if the final decision is made, even if these additional tariffs are imposed, Firefly will still be competitive in Europe At a recent user face-to-face event, Li Bin stated that if the EU imposes tariffs, it will have a certain impact on NIO's "Firefly" sales and profits in Europe.