Nio's Mass-Market EV Brand Will Be Led By Former Disney Exec Whose Name Literally Means 'Will Surely Succeed'

Chinese EV maker Nio Inc‘s (NYSE:NIO) new sub-brand Onvo will be headed by former Vice President of Marketing at Disney, Ai Tiecheng. Interestingly, the name of the new brand’s head means “will surely succeed.”

What Happened: Ai Tiecheng, who also goes by his English name Alan Ai, is the 107th owner of the Nio ES8 Founding Edition, CnEVPost reported, citing a post by Nio President Qin Lihong on Nio App.

“We feel confident putting the Onvo brand in his hands,” Qin wrote.

Back in 2015, Nio was working on putting together a user experience team and Ai was preparing for the opening of Disneyland in Shanghai. Ai subsequently joined Nio in January 2021 and began creating the team for Onvo, the report said.

Why It Matters: Nio held the Onvo brand launch on May 15, on the occasion of International Family Day. Onvo, unlike Nio, is expected to sell cheaper EVs aimed at the family market.

Nio, on the other hand, is focused on more luxury vehicles with an average transaction price of over 300,000 yuan.

Onvo’s first EV will be the L60 SUV designed by veteran automotive designer Raul Pires with experience designing several Bentley models.

The vehicle is expected to compete against the Tesla Model Y which starts at 249,900 yuan ($34606.91) in the Chinese market, CnEVPost said. It is expected to be launched globally by the year-end.

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Photo courtesy: Nio