Chinese brand Nio will arrive in the UK “probably in 2025”, founder and CEO William Li has told Electrifying.

Speaking at the opening of the latest Nio House in Amsterdam, Li also confirmed that it won’t just be Nio cars coming to the UK – he’s hoping to launch his company’s mainstream brand, Onvo, and its budget brand, codenamed Firefly, in the UK, too.

“On May 15, International Day of Families, we revealed the Onvo L60. It will directly compete with the Tesla Model Y,” said Li.

“We want to introduce Onvo to Europe as soon as possible. We don’t need to spend too much effort adapting it to European markets.” He went on to confirm that right-hand drive versions of new Onvo and Firefly models were already being engineered. And engineering is happening at breakneck speeds, with average new model development times in China of around two years.

“In China, it takes 24 months to develop a car. Any longer than that and you’re behind,” said Li. “And if you’re not producing software updates every quarter, the user may give you up, too.”

Nio, which has a UK base on Oxford for its Performance Engineering Division, had been expected to launch in the UK this year – it had even scoped out its first Nio House at London’s Hyde Park Corner, plans which have since been put on ice. 

However, Electrifying understands that the brand is struggling to find, get planning permission for and develop locations for its Power Swap Stations, where owners will be able to swap depleted batteries for fully-charged units in around three minutes before continuing their journeys. Nio won’t launch cars in any territory until Power Swap Stations are in place, at sites where fast Nio Superchargers are also likely to be available. 

Nio’s VP of design, Kris Tomasson, confirmed to Electrifying at the Beijing Auto Show in April that the Nio brand would be moving upmarket, making way for the mainstream Onvo brand – their version of Volkswagen – to slot in neatly underneath. Firefly – or whatever the budget brand ends up being called – will sit below that, with starting prices expected to be under €30,000 (£25,500).

The first Onvo model unveiled, the L60, is priced from RMB 219,900 in China, the equivalent of £24,000 in the UK, features 900-volt architecture and – with its largest battery – promises a range of around 600 miles. It’ll also benefit from the same battery swap technology as its Nio siblings.

Nio currently has 43 Power Swap Stations in Europe, with Li arriving in Amsterdam following a drive from Frankfurt via swap stations. 

The Chinese brand has already done deals to share its battery swap tech with seven other car makers, including GAC and Geely, forming what Li describes as a ‘power swap alliance’. Discussions with global car brands are ongoing, with Li admitting that it takes longer to deal with legacy car makers than Chinese start-ups. “We’ve had discussions [with a Western brand] for over one year and still no decision. In China that was two months,” he said.

The new Nio House in Amsterdam, which William Li cut the ribbon to officially open, highlights the brand’s focus on community with co-working spaces available free of charge across its seven floors, a café, areas for local artists to display their work, play areas for children and meeting rooms for hire. Plus, of course, Nio models on display on the ground floor. 

Nio Houses – and the brand’s involvement with the community – are core to the company’s offering, with owners able to provide direct feedback to Li and his team via the onboard Nomi digital assistant.

Onvo is Nio's mainstream brand, to rival VW