Nio celebrated its tenth birthday final month by formally unveiling its third model, Firefly. The model will launch and debut its first automotive on December 21 in China throughout Nio Day. Right here is all the pieces we find out about it up to now.
Firefly is the Shanghai-based EV maker’s third model, after the premium Nio model and the family-oriented Onvo. Its focus is on younger consumers in want of compact and budget-friendly EVs. Firefly was initially believed to be a codename, however in November, Nio introduced it was the precise model and the identify of the primary mannequin. The corporate lately launched its official web site, app, and social media accounts.
That is fairly a standard advertising strategy to call the primary automotive of a brand new sub-brand solely by the model’s identify. BMW, for instance, did it with its Mini model, the place the primary automotive was merely Mini. So, the primary EV beneath the Firefly model can be referred to as Firefly.
Firefly was initially supposed for Europe to compete with Volkswagen ID.3 and provide a small-budget electrical hatchback to European clients who love these issues. Nonetheless, amid disappointing European gross sales and the announcement of recent tariffs, Firefly shifted from the Europe-first technique. It even introduced that the model would launch in China moderately than Europe as initially deliberate.
Nonetheless, Nio doesn’t hand over on the outdated continent regardless of promoting solely 29 automobiles in November in essentially the most vital European automotive market, Germany. Firefly’s chief, Daniel Jin, introduced that the corporate may launch in Europe within the first quarter of 2025. After that, it want to transfer to Southeast Asian and Latin American markets.
Firefly first mannequin
Firefly’s first mannequin is a compact electrical hatchback with a swappable battery. Nio introduced in July that Firefly wouldn’t be capable of use the present battery swap stations that Nio and Onvo use, confirming CarNewsChina report from June. The reason being dimensions issues – Firefly compact EVs are a lot smaller than giant Nio SUVs and sedans, so the battery pack is adjusted accordingly.
Nio presently has 2,8000 swap stations in China and 59 in Europe – most in Germany, Netherlands, and Norway. None of them could possibly be used for Firefly EVs as it can have a separate community. Nonetheless, Firefly’s chief stays optimistic, saying that will probably be quicker to deploy the swap stations as they’re smaller and cheaper to construct. Jin concludes that Firefly is not going to create the battery swap stations upfront however will deploy them primarily based on customers’ calls for.
In contrast to Onvo, Firefly EVs can be offered in Nio’s current gross sales community, the corporate CEO mentioned in June. Deliveries will begin within the first half of the 2025.
Daniel Jin
Daniel Jin joined Nio in 2022 as “Basic Supervisor of Nio Sub Model” after working for 17 years in Shanghai Auto (SAIC) and SAIC-GM three way partnership. Earlier this month, he was formally offered as Firefly chief throughout the Nio media occasion.
Apparently, between 2009 and 2011, he spent in SAIC’s UK workplace in Birmingham. Jin beforehand claimed that “quite a lot of work has gone into adjusting the chassis of the Firefly, and this work is being carried out within the UK.”
Editor’s take
Regardless of Nio’s declare that the Firefly is a world EV, its major market, driving gross sales, can be China, at the least till 2026/27. Because the bloody EV value struggle continues within the Center Kingdom in 2025, many potential clients and analysts ask the identical query: What is going to the value be? William Li teased it might be between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan (13,700 and 27,400 USD).
The entry-level Onvo L60 begins at 206,900 yuan (28,400 USD) with a 60 kWh battery. Firefly is a decrease class than Onvo, and to have the ability to compete with BYD’s Dolphin and different EV hatchbacks, which begin at 99,800 yuan, we anticipate the value to start out at round 140,000 yuan (19,200 USD) with battery and round 100,000 yuan with out the battery.
