Chinese electric vehicle maker, Nio, is considering building a dealer network in Europe to speed up sales growth.
Nio launched in Norway in 2021 and then entered Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark in October 2022. So far, the customers have been able to buy directly from its stores or online, or to lease the cars for as short as a month. But now the company has started assessing dealers in key European markets. This is after the company’s president last month said that sales in Europe were not meeting expectations.
In September, Nio President, Qin Lihong, told Chinese media that reports showing that Nio had sold 832 vehicles in Europe in the first half of 2023 were incorrect. According to Lihong the real operating figures were three to four times that number. He then added, that he was still not satisfied with the outcome.
The move to start assessing dealers comes as Chinese EV makers, including Xpeng, Zeekr and BYD, have been aggressively seeking to expand in Europe. In Europe the Chinese EV makers can sell their cars at higher prices than they can in the Chinese market.
Source: Reuters
