The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker has begun evaluating dealers in key European markets after its president, Qin Lihong, said last month that European sales had missed expectations, two of the people said.
Nio has found that Europe has its "peculiarities," one person said, without elaborating, and the company plans to expand into more European countries, the report said.
A third source said Nio is considering setting up dealerships for the main Nio brand of cars sold in Europe, as well as the Firefly sub-brand, a more affordable brand that the company plans to export to Europe starting in 2025.
Nio's first stop in Europe was Norway, where it launched the ES8 in September 2021. In October 2022, Nio announced its entry into Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, introducing the ET7, EL7 and ET5 to consumers in these countries.
In a contrast to direct sales in Norway, Nio initially offered a subscription model in these countries, which only allowed customers to lease the vehicles. However, after some discussion about this business model, Nio introduced the option to purchase the vehicles.
In China, Nio uses a sales model similar to Tesla's direct model. However, other Chinese manufacturers such as BYD and Xpeng have chosen to use dealer networks in overseas markets.
There were rumors that Nio sold only 832 vehicles in Europe in the first half of the year. But according to Nio's president Qin Lihong, the real operating results are three to four times higher.
Although the figure is only a partial achievement, Qin is not satisfied with it, saying that overseas sales have not met expectations.
Source: Reuters
