Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese startup NIO has signed a cooperation agreement with local authority of Hefei Economic & Technological Development Zone for building the second-phase complete vehicle manufacturing base at NeoPark and the supporting core auto parts projects, the information office of Hefei municipal government said on May 10 via its twitter-like Weibo account.

Per the agreement, the smart electric vehicle (EVs) models under NIO's all-new mid-/high-end sub-brand will be introduced into the new manufacturing facility, which is expected for production in 2024. The whole project is planned to take up 1,860 mu (1.24 million square meters).

According to the aforesaid Weibo post, the yet-to-be-launched brand will vie with the likes of Tesla and Volkswagen.

Currently, NIO has already finished the building of a core team for the new sub-brand and gone into a critical R&D stage.

On April 29, NIO saw the first tooling trial (TT) builds of the NIO ET5, its fifth production model, roll off the production line, at NeoPark, a Hefei-based a smart EV industry park.

The mid-sized all-electric sedan is the first model manufactured at NIO's second car manufacturing plant. The milestone means that the assembly lines at the new base are completed and ready for production validation.