Reuters reports that Nio has made a deal with BYD to source batteries for an EV brand called “Onvo” in English (“Ledao” in Chinese), which will be priced at a lower range in a bid to compete with Tesla.
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At the start of the week, Nio confirmed the name of its new brand, with the website going online. The Onvo L60, due to be unveiled next year, is expected to compete with Tesla Model Y, with a price of under US$30,000 (around €28,000, or £24,000).
Currently Nio purchases the majority of its batteries from battery giant CATL, though industry sources said BYD will join CATL to supply a smaller battery pack one version of the new Onvo EV, according to Reuters.
Nio said the information was “inaccurate” when contacted by the press agency. CATL and BYD did not respond for requests for comment by Reuters.
Shanghai-headquartered Nio launched ten years ago, but like other Chinese auto firms, has its sights set on Europe, recently opening a Smart Driving Technology Centre outside Berlin, Germany.
This latest centre brings its total number of European R&D hubs to five.
In 2023, BYD produced three million vehicles, “comfortably” exceeding Tesla, which produced nearer to two million units, in terms of annual global sales of vehicles, according to analysis by GlobalData.
