Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Although its official plans to enter new markets are still unknown, Nio has been teasing the expansion to new countries — and even continents — over the last few months.
So far, Nio has expanded to five European markets including Norway in 2021 and Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark in late 2022.
In the long term, the group is aiming to sell its electric vehicles (EVs) in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and in the Balkan countries besides UAE region later this year and Latin America.
Thomas Chretien, Head of User Development for Nio France and one of the first employees based in the Paris office, shared on LinkedIn a text focused on the battery swap technology.
The executive included, in one of the first lines, a teaser for “exciting news” stating, “I have been quiet for a while, and will still ask you for a bit of patience before sharing exciting news to come later,” Chretien wrote on LinkedIn.
The company is expected to announced new European and global new markets at the upcoming annual event, the Nio Day, usually held in late December in China.
This year, the Shanghai-headquartered brand will host the event in Guangzhou, in the southern region of the country.
In a reaction to the extra tariffs announced by the European Commission, Nio has hinted that an adjustment on the prices “cannot be ruled out”. However, the company says that is maintaining its prices “at this stage”.
Last month, Nio‘s Head of the Southern European region Nicola Marsala, hinted that the company will be expanding to new countries despite the provisional tariffs on China-made EVs.
Marsala said Nio will “naturally” expand to more markets in the old continent and the two sub-brands — Onvo and Firefly — are included in the go-to-market plan.
On his LinkedIn profile, the executive says one of his responsibilities is “to establish operations in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece & Balkans” adding that it includes “all Nio Group Brands”.
“Naturally, in the coming years, we will expand our operations in Europe. How will we do this? We will do it not only through the Nio brand but also through other brands that we are about to launch on the market. In particular, there are two sub-brands of Nio,” the executive stated.
“The first is Onvo, which was officially announced and launched in China on May 15. The second has the code name Firefly, which will be launched next year,” he added.
As unveiled by two other European managers in mid-May, the company is exploring various distribution methods as Firefly is set to launch in Europe in the summer of 2025. The plan was now reiterated by the General Manager for South Europe.
“However, what we can say is that Nio will maintain its exclusivity, so the direct-to-consumer sales model will continue. We will sell cars through our Nio Houses with a direct model, while for the other two brands, we are open to working with partners,” the executive said.
“Particularly in Europe, we will build commercial networks made up of importers, distributors, and dealers,” he added.
Later in the interview, Marsala emphasized the that the company is working on establishing and “cultivating relationships” amid preparations to welcome the dealership business model.
“This is what we are starting to work on, allowing us to cultivate relationships that will enable us to have a commercial network and distribute our vehicles in countries where we are not currently present, such as France, Spain, and Italy— very important markets where Nio is not yet present today,” Marsala stated.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
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