Nio‘s top leadership is making a rare joint visit to Europe over the next few days as the Chinese electric vehicle maker enters new countries under mounting pressure to salvage its faltering expansion on the continent.
William Li, founder and chief executive officer, and Lihong Qin, co-founder and president, will visit the Old Continent early next week, marking their first simultaneous European trip in over half a year.
Strategic Shift to Dual-Track Expansion
The visit comes as Nio adjusts its European expansion, adopting a two-track approach that preserves its premium direct-sales model in established markets while adopting cost-saving dealership networks for new territories.
In all new European markets announced since June — initially five countries and followed by additional markets in recent months — the Shanghai-based EV maker will rely on local distributors to handle sales, service, and marketing.
The shift marks a departure from the capital-intensive flagship showroom strategy that defined its initial westward push, allowing Nio to conserve cash by avoiding the substantial costs of building local teams and securing premium retail locations.
However, Nio is maintaining its direct-to-consumer model in four of the five markets where it has operated since 2021-2022 — Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden — where it has already invested in large-format Nio House showrooms.
Denmark, where the company never established a sales network, will transition to the distributor model alongside the newer markets.
The last time one of the founders visited Europe was in June, when Nio‘s president Lihong Qin hosted an internal town hall meeting in Munich with the European team, with Li joining remotely, just days before the company publicly announced the new distribution approach.
The change aligns Nio with other Chinese EV makers entering Europe, offloading retail operations, marketing, delivery, and service obligations to third-party dealers as the company burns through resources amid intensifying competition in both its home market and abroad.
Sales Performance Remain Low
The executives are scheduled to appear at Nio House in Oslo, the company’s first European showroom that opened exactly four years ago.
Nio‘s performance in Norway — its earliest European market — has been disappointing so far in 2025.
Sales of the company’s premium EVs reached a 2025 high of 60 units in September, according to data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV).
The newly launched Firefly sub-brand, positioned as an affordable urban vehicle priced below $30,000, contributed just three deliveries in its first full month of sales.
Combined September registrations totaled 63 vehicles, bringing Nio‘s year-to-date performance in Norway to 297 units through the first nine months of 2025 — just 20% of the 1,500-vehicle annual target set by country manager An Ho in January.
To achieve that goal, Nio must deliver approximately 1,200 vehicles in the fourth quarter alone — a nearly twentyfold acceleration from its recent monthly run rate.
October registration data is expected in early November.