Nio will officially launch sub-brand Onvo on May 15, with the new brand's first model to go on sale in the third quarter and deliveries to begin in the fourth quarter, according to local media.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) will officially launch its sub-brand Onvo (Ledao in China) on May 15, with the first model under the new brand set to go on sale in the third quarter and deliveries to begin in the fourth quarter, according to a report in local media Wallstreetcn today.
The date has yet to be announced by the official channels of the Shanghai-based electric vehicle (EV) maker, whose management previously mentioned that the Onvo sub-brand would be launched in mid-May.
Image circulating in WeChat groups today showed that some media outlets have received invitations from Nio to attend the Onvo brand launch event in Shanghai.
Nio confirmed the Onvo name during a media Q&A after the March 14 launch of its long-life battery strategy, after a spy shot leaked information about the name.
The new mass-market-oriented brand's English name, Onvo, is derived from On Voyage, CnEVPost has learned.
Onvo, internally codenamed Alps at Nio, is seen as primarily targeting the market in the price range of RMB 200,000 ($27,700) to RMB 300,000 yuan.
Nio's main brand is aimed at the premium end of the market in the RMB 300,000 to RMB 600,000 price range, with the lowest-priced model to date being the ET5 sedan, which has a starting price of RMB 298,000 including the battery.
Onvo's first model is the L60, and yesterday a picture circulated in several WeChat groups showed the model without camouflage next to a Nio battery swap station.
That's the first time that the side of the Onvo L60 has been revealed in its entirety without camouflage, showing that the model looks somewhat similar to Nio's coupe model, the EC6.
Earlier yesterday, Reuters reported that Nio had reached an agreement with BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) to source batteries for the Onvo brand.
($1 = RMB 7.2247)
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