NIO CEO Says New Brand Will Succeed in Europe Despite Tariffs

TapTechNews June 21st, according to media reports such as electrek and CnEVPost, NIO's CEO Li Bin said on Wednesday local time that the new brand will still succeed in Europe even in the face of additional tariffs.

Li Bin directly said that the EU's approach is absolutely wrong: The EU initially imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, and now an additional 21%, raising the tariff rate to 31%, which is definitely not right. He believes that this has caused a logical conflict - because Europe is regarded as a model of global clean energy.

Although the EU has not made a final decision yet, Li Bin is still full of confidence in the cost-effectiveness of its third brand, Firefly electric car in the EU. We certainly don't want so many tariffs to be imposed ultimately, but if it's the final decision, then even with these additional tariffs, Firefly will still be competitive in Europe. However, of course, it will affect some sales and profits.

In terms of layout, Li Bin said that if NIO's (local) sales reach about 100,000 units, it may consider setting up a factory in Europe to produce electric cars. This is what must be done to go global.

According to TapTechNews' previous report, Li Bin said at the NIO's first-quarter earnings call earlier this month that the first product of Firefly is planned to be officially delivered earlier in the first half of next year, but the release time has not been determined. Firefly is currently under smooth research and development, and the brand is positioned as a fine compact car, costing around 100,000 yuan, and currently the direction is to share the same sales network as NIO.