China's Nio introduces Firefly brand to take on BMW's Mini

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GUANGZHOU, China, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Nio 9866.HK unveiled a lower-cost brand named Firefly on Saturday that it touted as a rival to Mercedes' Smart and BMW's Mini in the Chinese electric vehicle maker's latest bid to broaden its customer base and boost sales.

CEO William Li announced the new brand at an annual company event in Guangzhou and said pre-sales would start immediately with prices starting at 148,800 yuan ($20,394).

He displayed three Firefly cars in lavender, lemon and beige and said the car offered a tight 4.7 metre turning radius and autonomous parking technology.

Customers can place orders on the Firefly app, which said the cars would be officially launched in April.

"We are building the Firefly car to be smarter than Mini and be more Mini than smart cars," Li said.

BMW's BMWG.DE pure electric Mini also sells from 148,800 yuan in China while Mercedes' MBGNn.DE Smart #1 car is priced from 154,900 yuan.

Domestic brands Firefly will compete against include BYD’s 002594.SZ Seal and Xpeng's 9868.HK Mona.

Nio, one of China's largest EV players by sales, has been fighting rising price competition in China by launching cheaper models this year, having earlier in May unveiled another it called "Onvo".

Nio, which has limited European sales numbering in the hundreds of vehicles per year, had originally planned the Firefly brand to boost its share in Europe, its executives said previously.

It would have taken on Renault, Stellantis' Fiat and Peugeot and BMW's Mini in a European small car segment with annual demand for 4 million cars.

But the European Commission in October imposed an additional tariff of more than 20% on Nio's cars including Firefly EVs exported from China to the region for the next five years. Analysts said this will largely undermine the brand's price competitiveness.

Li did not detail plans for where Firefly would be sold during the event.

Nio has targets to double its sales in 2025 and achieve break-even in 2026 but said this month its sales growth was two years behind schedule.

Reuters reported in November that Nio was planning to launch its first extended range hybrid model under the Firefly brand in 2026 for sales in overseas markets only.

($1 = 7.2961 Chinese yuan renminbi)

($1 = 7.2961 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; editing by Hugh Lawson and Jason Neely)

((brenda.goh@thomsonreuters.com; +86 (0) 21 2083 0088; Reuters Messaging: brenda.goh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))