r/nio
FIREFLY: this Cutie will be a major landmark of China soon !
Author suggests NIO launch a FIREFLY convertible, predicting 10k monthly sales and strong appeal in China and Europe.
- Potential for 10,000 reliable monthly deliveries for the new FIREFLY brand.
- Strong appeal to the younger Chinese generation seeking customizable cars.
- High suitability for the European market due to narrow roads and budgets.
William Li cannot be not seeing what I am seeing and thinking !
Please NIO , launch that FIREFLY Convertible ASAP! You have a gem in your hands born to be a convertible ...Young generation Chinese would love a convertible which they can color as they like, park it on the street and watch people turn their head in admiration !!
I can see 10,000/month reliable deliveries for firefly brand . And it’s also best fit for poor Europeans who have narrow roads and ever narrower budgets !
convertibles are an extremely minor niche. it’s not the 1989s anymore. making a convertible is pointless in the current market.
A “niche” in a country of 1,5 billion people would result in 1,5 million cars, if only 1 out of 1,000 car buyers prefer a convertible.. it’s “Chinese math” my friend!
no… it’s a niche within a niche within a niche within a niche. it’s many levels deep. they might sell just dozens or hundreds a month, so that’s not worth it.
Quite interestingly , I did an AI search on “what percentage of cars sold in Europe are convertibles”, and the response was 0.6-1.5 %. If we take 1 % for arguments sake, that translates to about 350,000 per year in China where about 35 million cars were sold last year. Not far from my 300,000 guesstimate .
I tried to explain the “Chinese math” above . It seems it didn’t work . Here is what AI says about data on Mini Cooper, which might help for some perspective (
“Mini Cooper sells over 100,000 convertibles annually in the UK. Globally, convertibles make up a smaller, niche percentage of the brand’s total volume, which generally ranges from 250,000 to 300,000 total vehicles annually.”
100,000 per year in a small county with 60 M population where it rains 5 days a week !!!
Won’t sell well in China, and safety standards may need to be re-evaluated with a convertible top. If the regular firefly does will outside of China I’m sure they would consider it.
I think EVs are very mileage conscious.
Aside from dedicating valuable factory space / time /marketing / R&D / etc. I do think tapping into niche markets is can be a very valuable pursuit - things can go from niche to norm very quickly. I also would hope that for right now, Nio would just focus on maintaining a solid footing in the broader market. Expanding to Europe and hopefully other continents and maybe even the US (I can dream alright 😜).
I think it suits the fire fly brand well and is fun and will give options. It's like the modern mini when that was realeased and done really well.
So why not if they sell 1000k per month it will help and keep the brand fresh.
Marketing and business decisions are not about what is fun, but about what is the JTBD - Job to be done , that it addresses.
What would be the benefit for the buyer? Being looked at in the street? How many Chinese will spend x $ to fulfill this need?
I do not have the answer, but for sure NIO is looking at what would be the next differentiating model
I only see a declined stock price
Appreciate the thread OP!
NIO if you’re reading these Reddit requests — I’ll repeat, I’d love to see NIO release an export Firefly that keeps the front camera.
That way global markets can have a Firefly with a 360 camera. It’s such a basic feature even a Geely EX2 has one which is sold for far less.
And optimistically they could even have dashcam or sentry mode available, again just like China already had.
Oh and since overseas markets use it more frequently than China, please bug fix the Apple CarPlay and include Stereo sound instead of Mono.
That way they can enjoy the Dolby Atmos sound which currently seems to only work with Tidal? Can’t find any good reviews of it working properly with Spotify or Apple Music.
Cheers!
NIO (and Chinese companies in general) appreciate feedback from the customers . Can you check on NIO.com (English site) and fire an email to customer relations / investor relations or any email they have provided
Um pedido e uma observação desesperante de tão verdadeira! Concordo plenamente! Como vem para a europa um carro avançado comono firefly sem câmara 360, quando se sabe que nao tendo, abdicamos de varias funções pro futuro...ainda mais sabendo que varios na europa o possuem...é ja algo tao comum que parece quebo catto retrocedeu pros tempos das carroças!!... que raio de ideia foi esta Nio???!!
Facam um retrofit para a europa!!!
True❤️