NIO plans to enter the U.S. by 2025

NIO has announced it plans to expand into the U.S. market by 2025.

According toElectric-Vehicles.com, NIO plans to enter the U.S. market alongside other western markets by the end of 2025. The company has already established a U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California, wherethey started hiring last month, and has even opened showing rooms of its lineup in California. The company also plans to build one of its signature battery swap stations at its U.S. headquarters for testing purposes.

In an announcement from December of last year, the company stated that it would be expanding to 25 new countries and regions by 2025, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. At the same time, the company has already madesignificant strides in expanding to European countriessuch as France and the UK.

Ontheir U.S. website, NIO lists six current models, mainly consisting of crossovers and SUVs. The company has many specifications for the models shown. However, the site remains relatively barebones; all units are in metric, range estimates use China’s CLTC estimate, and there is no information about when these vehicles will be available for purchase/order.

The NIO lineup includes two sedans; the ET5, a five-door sedan resembling a Tesla Model 3, and the ET7, a full-size sedan. NIO also lists four crossovers/SUVs: the EC6, a crossover SUV/coupe that resembles a BMW X4 or Volvo C40 Recharge, the ES8, a full-size three-row SUV, the ES6, a smaller two-row version of the ES8, and theES7, another two-row SUV.

It remains unclear if NIO will employ the same strategy ofbattery swap technology in new marketsas they have in China or if they plan to rely on charging infrastructure instead. Further, while NIO’s vehicles may look well designed, U.S. consumers will have a hard time comparing to competitors without pricing and accurate range information.$NIO Inc.(NIO.SI)$