Nio Firefly.
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These are the first official photos of the all-new Firefly compact EV from Chinese manufacturer Nio. The new firefly is both wonderful and very scary…
Nio has been making very interesting EVs for the past few years. They’ve even been selling them in a few European countries. However, they are pretty expensive and as usual with Chinese car makers, the answer always seems to be “create a new sub-brand”.
“Firefly” is that new Nio sub-brand. The new compact above is their first model. Which is actually named after the brand. And yes, it is quite confusing. This is basically a “Firefly Firefly” I guess…
One of Nio’s originality is the ability to swap the batteries of the car in just a few minutes at special locations. And the Firefly will be available with that unique feature as well.
The new Firefly is not one of these super cheap Chinese compact cars. It is the Mini Cooper EV equivalent to BMW. At around $20,500 in China.
The design seems really nice and original. It has such a fun personality. It is really what a small VW EV should be. VW has been mentioning new cheaper EVs for years now. We first saw their ID. Life Concept back in 2021. The ID. 2All Concept in 2023, as well as the ID.GTI. This is almost 2025 and nothing. Nothing except rumors of impending doom for the whole company.
Meanwhile, great-looking EVs from Nio and many others are coming out from China every single week.
The Firefly was designed mainly for the European market where it is scheduled to go on sale in 2025. It has of course been delayed due to tariffs on Chinese imports. But that will only be for a while since these manufacturers are almost all looking for new factories in Europe.
Once they actually produce their cars locally, I really think the European car industry will be in for real trouble. Cars like the Firefly and the Xiaomi I posted yesterday are really all that most people really need. And they do it while looking great.
Protectionism only works for a little while. Until your own car industry gets so far behind the foreign competition that it becomes irrelevant.
Like many, I predict a very tough wake-up call for many. Sooner than later…
Literally a Honda E with mutated lights but go nuts with the praise
As partes bonitas não parecem originais. E as originais não parecem bonitas.
Looks like a Honda e.
It looks very nice to me first time i seen it