Chinese electric vehicle company Nio launched its low-cost brand Onvo on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 in Shanghai, China.
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng
HEFEI, China—Another Chinese electric car aims to chip away at market share Teslathe discount is even bigger.
Onvo, a low-priced brand launched by a high-end electric vehicle company NiohAnnounced that its first car, the L60 SUV, will start at 149,900 yuan ($21,210), with battery service starting at 599 yuan through a monthly subscription. This equates to a little more than $1,000 per year in “rental” battery costs.
The model with battery and car starts at 206,900 yuan. Deliveries are scheduled to begin on September 28th.
NIO shares briefly rose more than 3.5% in U.S. trading on Thursday following the launch of the Onvo L60.
When NIO launched its Onvo brand in May, the company said the L60 would start at 219,900 yuan. TeslaModel Y is priced at 249,900 yuan.
auspicioussupported Zekel Its first medium-sized electric SUV, Zeekr 7X, will be launched in China on September 20, with a starting price of 239,900 yuan.
Xpeng Motors It announced in late August that its mass-market brand Mona would begin selling its M03 electric coupe in China. The basic version starts at 119,800 yuan, has a driving range of 515 kilometers (320 miles), and has some parking assist features.
The Mona M03 version is equipped with more advanced “Max” driving assistance functions, has a cruising range of 580 kilometers, and is priced at 155,800 yuan.
By comparison, Tesla's cheapest car, the Model 3, sells for 231,900 yuan in China after a price cut in April.
Chinese electric vehicle companies are gradually expanding overseas, often starting in Europe. However, the EU's process is coming to an end and will Increase tariffs on imported pure electric vehicles made in China Starting in early November. The group last year began investigating the use of subsidies by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers.
NIO cooperates with EU investigation However, according to the European Commission's announcement in July, its cars were not sampled, which means that its cars will be subject to a 20.8% tariff. This is better than Geely Auto plans to impose 19.9% tariffBYD is 17.4%.
NIO CEO William Li told investors during an earnings call on September 5 that NIO plans to start deliveries in the United Arab Emirates in the fourth quarter.
“It's become more expensive to sell or export cars from China to Europe because of the tariffs now in Europe,” Li said, according to FactSet records.
“Therefore, we will focus on the existing five European markets that have already been launched. We also know that establishing a high-end brand like Weilai in the European market will also take longer, and we are very patient about this.”
“But at the same time, this doesn't mean we have stopped our activities there,” Li said. “Earlier this year, we just opened the NIO factory in Amsterdam, and we are still installing and deploying battery swap stations in Europe.”
He predicts that the monthly delivery volume of L60 will reach 10,000 units in December and 20,000 units next year. He expects profit margins on new Onvo-branded vehicles to be 15%.
The brand aims to have more than 200 stores in China by the end of this year, and has opened more than 100 as of early September.
Onvo and Firefly, a lower-priced brand that will begin deliveries next year, will look to launch vehicles into international markets, Lee said on the earnings call.
—CNBC’s Sonia Heng contributed to this report.