Last Updated on: 7th June 2025, 02:03 am
NIO is in a challenging place. It is supposed to be approaching profitability this year, but the Chinese EV market is so hyper-competitive that there’s price war after price war and there’s always another new competitor trying to eat your lunch. NIO’s sales continue to grow, but its finances are not near profitability. One way the company has kept sales growing is with the new affordable, small-car brand Firefly.
While I don’t see a clear near-term answer for NIO’s bank account, the Firefly brand does seem like a positive foray into a potentially large market. Also, in my humble opinion, NIO has again nailed the design side of things with this brand and has developed a very attractive little car.
In an effort to see that sales growth continue, word is that NIO may bring its Firefly brand to the UK as early as October of this year. With the UK becoming one of the largest EV markets in the world, that could give a bump to NIO/Firefly sales — if the brand can catch on there. The UK is pretty hot market for small EVs in general, and Firefly will be competing with the Volkswagen ID.2, the Renault 5, the Hyundai Inster, the Kia EV3, and others.
The Firefly (which is, somewhat confusingly, the brand as well as the brand’s first model) has a starting price of 119,800 yuan (£12,350/$16,700) in China. We don’t yet know what the price in the UK will be, but shipping and import costs will have to be added on, among other things.
The Firefly is blessed with cool NIO tech, despite being small and affordable. Its dimensions are: 4003 mm long, 1781 mm wide, 1557 mm tall, 2,615 mm wheelbase. It offers 141 hp. It also has a frunk despite its small size, offering 92 liters of storage there. The model’s CLTC range rating is 260 miles (~418 km). “A standout feature is its 4.7-meter turning radius—class-leading in its segment—and the inclusion of full-scenario automated parking,” CarNewsChina adds.
In China, in its first full month of deliveries (May), the brand scored 3,680 deliveries.
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