Nio (NYSE:NIO) operates as a luxury electric vehicle (EV) company, although it has a plan up its sleeve to attract customers who favor a more affordable option. Actually, it has two plans. Both offer fresh growth opportunities for NIO stock.
The first is Onvo, which is short for “On Voyage.” The L60 SUV will be the brand’s first vehicle with a starting price of about $31,000. Nio expects L60 deliveries to begin during the third quarter, and preorders are already open.
Nio boasted about the new brand in a press release:
“Benefitting from NIO’s unwavering R&D investment of more than RMB 43 billion in the 12 full-stack technology capabilities, ONVO has already gained competitive advantages in R&D, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, battery charging and swapping network, as well as sales and service networks.”
Nio’s second plan is “Firefly,” which is the project name for a new Nio brand. An early build of the first vehicle has already been built, with CEO William Li characterizing it as a “boutique compact vehicle.”
With that in mind, let’s dive into seven other facts about Nio’s two new brands.
NIO Stock: 7 Things to Know About Nio’s Two New Brands
- The first Firefly vehicle is expected to start between $13,800 and $27,600, with deliveries beginning in the first half of 2025. That price range carries the highest EV demand in China.
- Nio had initially planned to debut the first Firefly in Europe. According to the 21st Century Business Herald, the vehicle will now debut in China at the end of the year before joining Europe in the first half of 2025, likely for competitive reasons.
- According to Li, the Firefly brand will be to Nio like the Mini is to BMW (OTCMKTS:BMWYY).
- As of May, preorders for the L60 had exceeded management’s expectations by 2 to 3 times. The vehicle seeks to compete with Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model Y.
- The L60 is equipped with an “Ultra Long Range Battery” and will have a CLTC range of 621 miles.
- Citi analyst Jeff Chung now believes that the new brands will result in Nio delivering 227,000 and 308,000 vehicles in 2024 and 2025, respectively. His initial estimate was 190,000 in 2024 and 259,000 in 2025.
- All three of Nio’s brands will be able to utilize Nio’s battery swap feature with over 1,000 of these stations in China.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
