(Yicai) April 2 -- Alan Ai, the head of Chinese automaker Nio's Onvo marque, has resigned after failing to meet the brand’s vehicle sales target.

Ai announced on Onvo's mobile app today that he has stepped down as Onvo’s president and Nio’s senior vice president because sales of the L60, the marque's only model on the market, had failed to match its product competitiveness.

Onvo, unveiled last May with Ai at the helm, was the second brand launched by Shanghai-based Nio. The L60, a mid-sized all-electric sport utility vehicle, went on sale last September, priced from CNY219,900 (USD30,250). Sales have fallen since topping 10,000 in December, falling to 4,820 last month, far below the monthly target of 20,000 set by Ai.

Before joining Nio, Ai was marketing VP at Shanghai Disney Resort and held management positions at Intercontinental Hotels Group and Procter & Gamble.

Shen Fei, Nio's senior VP and head of its energy business Nio Power, takes over as president, putting him in charge of operations and sales, the carmaker said. Shen will report directly to Nio co-founder and President Qin Lihong.

The leadership change signals Nio’s increased commitment to Onvo, aiming to revive sales by allocating more management resources to the brand, an insider told Yicai. Nio also plans to strengthen collaboration and resource-sharing across business units to help the firm achieve its profitability goal in the fourth quarter, the person added.

Shen, who joined Nio in 2015, is the most senior of the company's senior VPs. During his tenure at Nio Power, he helped build the firm's charging and battery-swapping infrastructure.

Nio has 3,239 battery-swapping stations and 2,757 supercharging stations, making it the carmaker with the largest battery-swapping and charging network in China.

Editor: Futura Costaglione