Zoe Chan, Miyoung Kim
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese electric car maker Nio on Wednesday launched the first vehicle of its new low-cost brand Ombo, which aims to compete with Tesla’s Model Y, the world’s best-selling electric car.
Nio announced the Onvo L60 SUV with a list price starting at 219,900 yuan ($30,476), 12% lower than the 249,900 yuan price of Tesla’s Model Y in China. Nio plans to begin deliveries of his Onvo L60 in September.
CEO William Li introduced the Ombo L60 SUV in Shanghai, and the company also aims to compete with Toyota Motor Corporation’s RAV4 by offering a family car that balances customer experience and cost of ownership. He said there was.
“At the time, the benchmark for family cars was the RAV4 and Model Y. Now that technology has evolved and people have a deeper understanding of smart EVs, it’s time to redefine a new standard for family cars,” Lee said at the event. ” he said.
He added that the vehicle is wider than Tesla’s Model Y.
The lower-priced Onvo brand could also help Nio expand outside of China, but its move into Europe comes amid ongoing anti-subsidy investigations launched by the EU into EV imports from China. Hiding in the shadows.
According to Onvo President Ai Tie-chen, the Onvo L60 is equipped with a 900-volt fast charging system developed in-house by Nio and has an average energy consumption of 12.1 kilowatt-hours (kwh) per 100 kilometers, compared to Tesla’s Model Y It is said to be slightly lower. brand.
Onvo vehicles will have access to more than 1,000 battery swap stations and 25,000 public chargers owned by Nio, Ai added.
According to Chinese media, Li previously said the onboard vehicle’s bill of materials would be 10% lower than Tesla’s Model Y. The combination of low costs and his Nio’s EV battery rental program allows him to compete at lower prices.
Reuters reported last week that Nio has abandoned plans to produce batteries in-house as part of cost-cutting efforts amid a fierce price war in China’s ultra-competitive EV market, and has signed a deal to source batteries from BYD for its Ombo lineup. It was reported that they had tied the knot. .
Prices for the eponymous Nio lineup start at 298,900 yuan ($41,200) in China, about 30% more than the Model 3, and the company sold 45,673 EVs in the first four months of this year. It accounted for 3% of total EV sales in China.
In contrast, Tesla delivered 163,841 vehicles in China, giving it an 11.4% market share, according to data from the China Passenger Vehicle Association.
(1 dollar = 7.2155 Chinese Yuan)
(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Miyoung Kim; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree, Louise Heavens, Toby Chopra, Michael Erman)
