Firefly's first model will make its debut in China, possibly at the end of this year, before launching in Europe in the first half of next year, according to local media.

Nio (NYSE: NIO) had originally planned to launch a third brand, codenamed Firefly, in Europe first, but has now changed its strategy and the new brand will be speeding up and launching in China first, according to a report today from local media outlet 21jingji.

Firefly's first model will make its debut in China, likely at the end of this year, before being released in Europe in the first half of next year, the report said, citing multiple sources.

The sub-brand's mobile app is expected to go live in December, according to the report.

The head of the Firefly business unit is Jin Ge, who is an assistant vice president at Nio and reports to Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li, according to the report.

In January 2023, Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong confirmed the existence of the new brand at a user event, stating that the brand is primarily targeting the small car as well as mini car market.

The first Firefly model will have a price range of RMB 100,000 ($13,800) to RMB 200,000, and is expected to debut in the European market in the third quarter of 2024, Qin said at the time.

In an interview with local media earlier this year in May, Qin said the third brand's products were ready, but the launch of the new brand would be delayed until the second quarter of 2025, given the overall brand sequence, the report noted.

Nio officially launched the Onvo (Ledao in China) sub-brand on May 15, and has begun pre-sales of the second brand's first model, the L60, at a pre-sale price of RMB 219,900, which is RMB 30,000 less than the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y.

The L60 will officially go on sale and begin deliveries in September, Onvo said at a launch event last month.

In Nio's product array, the main Nio brand is aimed at the market priced above RMB 300,000, the Onvo brand is aimed at the market priced between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000, and the Firefly is aimed at the market below RMB 200,000.

In his first live video stream on short-video platform Douyin on March 14, Li said that Firefly is to Nio what Mini is to BMW.

Although the Firefly brand focuses on small cars, it will be built based on five-star European safety standards and support battery swap, he said.

The reason why Nio has moved the launch of Firefly's first model to China may have something to do with the current fierce competition in the country, 21jingji's report today noted.

The Nio brand is aimed at the higher-priced market, but in the midst of a price war, the company's internal teams will be affected by external market conditions and have sales pressure, the report said, citing a person close to Nio with knowledge of the situation.

In March, Nio cut the price of its BaaS (battery as a service) service amid a fierce price war, increasing the appeal of its models while avoiding price cuts on vehicles.

The launch of the Onvo brand last month went some way to easing Nio's anxiety about sales, according to 21jingji.

Pre-orders for the Onvo L60 exceeded expectations by a 2-3 times, Onvo president Ai Tiecheng said in a media interview in May.

Compared to the beginning of the year, the morale of the Nio team became high after the launch of the Onvo brand, the report said, citing several Nio sources.

Onvo got off to a good start, allowing the Nio brand to take a break from the price war and focus on the high-end market, while the second brand can deal decently with mainstream competition, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter, adding that the Firefly serves the same purpose.

Firefly is targeting the EV market priced at RMB 100,000-200,000, the best-selling market for EVs in China with the highest user demand, the report noted.

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