Shanghai (ZXZC)- NIO has paved the way for building an annual production capacity of 500,000 vehicles for its yet-to-be-launched mass-market brand, under which the vehicles would be priced around 200,000 yuan ($29,840), William Bin Li, CEO and chairman of NIO, revealed on June 16.

The preparation he referred to is the agreement NIO signed with the local authority of Hefei Economic & Technological Development Zone on May 10 for constructing the second phase of the plant at NeoPark, a smart electric vehicle industry park at Xinqiao, Hefei, Anhui province.

Photo credit: NIO

Mr. Li also disclosed that the mass-market brand would provide the models that take on Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y, but are 10% cheaper and compatible with swappable battery packs. 

He also noted that delivery of the vehicles under the mass-market brand would begin in the second half of 2024 according to the current plan. Riding on the NT3.0 platform and a swappable battery architecture, the yet-to-be-launched brand's models would be priced between 200,000 yuan ($29,840) and 300,000 yuan ($44,750).

NIO previously revealed it had already established a core team and specified the strategic direction and the brand positioning for the new sub-brand. The first batch of products have gone into a critical R&D stage.