In 2016, a little-known Chinese company called NextEV relaunched itself at a global party held at the swanky Saatchi gallery in London’s Chelsea. The electric car company would now be called Nio, baby-faced founder William Li told the assembled crowd, competing for attention with its launch model – the 1341bhp EP9 electric hypercar – lurking menacingly on a nearby podium.
Fast forward to 2022 and Nio is now regularly billed as China’s answer to Tesla for its focus on the digital experience, innovative charging (this time battery swaps) and the often mind-bending performance from its otherwise practical range of SUVs and saloons.
Nio is now fairly well established in China, with total sales of just under 250,000 vehicles as of 30 September, and last year it ventured outside to test the waters of the competitive European premium market, first in EV-friendly Norway.
Earlier this October, it expanded its footprint with a launch in the lion’s den of premium markets, Germany, as well Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, with a range that very closely matches the Tesla Model 3, Model Y and Model S.
Founder Li also broke the significant news that the brand will finally start selling cars in the UK from late next year, seven years after the King's Road event.
So what are Nio’s chances of making it big in the UK? Aside from Land Rover and Volvo, the UK is wedded to its German premium cars as strongly as Germany itself, and Tesla is the only upmarket brand to have made any significant dent into their market share in recent years.
Li is banking on a customer shift favouring brands like Tesla with more of a smartphone mindset. “The way that people perceive and define premium has changed,” he said. “The current generation actually perceive premium-ness from smart technologies.” The fact that all models come with lidar sensors as standard, for example, potentially unlocking elements of hands-free driving, could be more of a draw than racing heritage or badge recognition.
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