(Yicai) Dec. 23 -- Nio has introduced its third brand, Firefly, a small and smart electric vehicle marque, aiming to accelerate the Chinese carmaker’s overseas expansion through a multi-brand strategy.

Nio began taking pre-orders for the first Firefly model, priced at CNY148,800 (USD20,395), on Dec. 21, the Shanghai-based company announced the same day. It will launch China sales in April before expanding into global markets, the firm added.

“Firefly’s positioning within Nio is equivalent to BMW’s Mini brand,” founder William Li said at the launch event. Firefly and Onvo, Nio’s family-orientated second EV brand, will serve as the company’s main vehicles for expanding abroad, with the goal of entering 25 overseas markets next year, he added.

Firefly will be sold at Nio showrooms while sharing hardware and software development and charging infrastructure resources with the main brand, the company told Yicai.

Nio launched Onvo in May. It released the first model, the mid-size smart electric sport utility vehicle L60, priced from CNY206,900 (USD28,355), in September. That is nearly 40 percent cheaper than the ES6, a similar model under the carmaker’s main brand.

Nio expects to break even in 2026 after doubling sales next year, Li, who is also chairman and chief executive, said on its third-quarter earnings conference call on Nov. 20. Onvo will enter its first full year and launch two new models, while thousands of Firefly autos are expected to be sold each month, he added.

Deliveries rose 29 percent to 20,575 units last month from a year earlier, of which 5,082 were Onvo models, Nio said on Dec. 1. That climbed 34 percent to 190,832 in the 11 months ended Nov. 30 from a year ago, but Nio still lagged behind its main rival Li Auto, which delivered 441,995 cars in the period.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev