Nio, a high-end electric car manufacturer in China, announced on Thursday that it will launch its mass-market brand in May.
Executives said that the new brand will be called “Le Dao” in Chinese. They explained that the name is intended to symbolize happy times spent with family, which is the target market category.
Since its founding in late 2014, Nio has concentrated on the premium end of the market with SUVs and sedans that can cost more than the Model S or Model Y from Tesla. In exchange, these vehicles offer a range of extra services, like access to user clubhouses called Nio Houses.
However, monthly car deliveries have stayed low in comparison to certain competitors’ rapid grow.
Nio announced earlier this month that its mass market brand would make its debut in the second quarter, followed by the introduction of its first product in the third quarter and large-scale deliveries in the following quarter.
Last summer, Xpeng, another Chinese electric car startup, announced the plan to create a new mass market brand with a price point of 150,000 yuan ($20,580). The corporation declared that it would work with Didi in an important partnership to grow the brand.