Tag Archives: BYD

EV

2026 Nio Firefly EV

Chinese multinational automobile manufacturer Nio has unveiled its new car, the Firefly. It is an all-electric city hatchback designed by former BMW and Ford designer Kris Tomasson.

Nio’s plan is to produce small electric cars that are affordable to a wider range of users, as shown by its price of $20,400. It will officially hit the market in April 2025, and the order book is open. It will also arrive in Europe at the beginning of next year and is expected to cost around 30,000 euros.

At first glance, the three-piece round LED headlights, as well as the taillights, attract the most attention, while some parts such as the glass, black roof and pillars are reminiscent of Honda cars. The size of the car is not known, but everything indicates that its main rivals could be models like Fiat Grande Panda, BYD Dolphin or Renault 5.

Firefly is designed to achieve five stars in C-NCAP and Euro-NCAP tests, which is made possible by the use of high-strength steel and aluminum, which make up 83.4 percent of the body structure, as well as double anti-collision beams in the front doors. The car has nine airbags as standard, as well as the best torsional stiffness in its segment (37,700 Nm).

Photos of the interior have not yet been released, but spy photos reveal a minimalistic dashboard, digital instrument panel and a touchscreen infotainment system, similar to that found in Tesla cars. What is known for now is that the car offers a lot of luggage space, which could please families as well as singles who travel with a lot of bags. The front luggage compartment has a volume of 92 litres, which is more than most electric models offer, while the rear luggage compartment offers an additional 1250 litres, when the rear seats are folded down.

When it comes to the powertrain, Nio has yet to release technical details, so more will be known after the car hits the market next year.

Source: Nio

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2026 Nio Firefly EV
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BYD will produce larger and more expensive cars in Hungary

BYD aims to be among the top five best-selling brands in Europe by the end of the decade, and the construction of a factory in Hungary with an initial capacity of 200,000 units per year should help them achieve this. The plan is to produce cheap cars, but the latest information suggests that BYD has bigger plans.

In an interview with the German business magazine Capital, BYD’s European head, Stella Li, stated that the initial plan was to start with the cheap model Seagull, but it is estimated that larger and more expensive models will have better sales, such as the Dolphin and Atto 3.

In the next three years, production capacity is expected to increase, and Li also announced the arrival of a new model, the Atto 2. Some already assume that this is a rebranded Yuan Up model, which hit the market at the beginning of the year. The Seagull will be the fourth model in the fleet of cars to be produced in Hungary, and BYD plans to increase the fleet to 12 models.

The introduction of additional tariffs on electric cars imported from China has forced Chinese companies to shift production of some models to European soil. However, the decline in demand for electric cars in Europe is what is forcing all manufacturers to put more focus on hybrids. The reason for this is the high prices of electric cars caused by additional tariffs that came into force in the EU in November. The new tariffs will be in force for the next five years and apply in addition to the already existing 10 percent tariff on imports of cars from outside the European Union.

How important Europe is to Chinese manufacturers is shown by the data that 65,800 hybrid cars were exported to Europe from July to October. That’s three times more than the same period in 2023. Also, hybrids and plug-in hybrids accounted for 18 percent of Chinese cars sold in Europe, in the third quarter of this year. That’s more than double compared to the first three months of this year, when Chinese hybrid car sales in Europe accounted for just 9 percent of total sales.

Source: Capital

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BYD sent a ship with 5,000 EVs to Europe

In March 2024, Chinese carmaker BYD ordered seven new transport ships to meet the goals and the increasing demand for electric cars in Europe. The first of the new ships (BYD Changzhou) set sail from the port of Yantai in late November with 5,000 new EVs.

The 200-meter-long ship, with a capacity of 7,000 vehicles, headed for the ports of Bristol (UK) and Rotterdam (Netherlands) with vehicles produced in several plants. It was built to high international standards and uses a dual-fuel LNG drive, which reduces carbon emissions during the journey.

These seven ships will help BYD to transport its cars around the world faster. Currently, Chinese companies own fewer than 50 car cargo ships, and their combined capacity is less than 150,000 vehicles. In comparison, Japanese companies have ships that can transport 1.6 million vehicles.

“Having our own ships helps us better control our exports. We can now deliver our environmentally friendly vehicles to customers around the world in an even more efficient manner,” the company said.

Since the beginning of the year, Chinese manufacturers have exported 5.28 million vehicles, up 25 percent from 2023. BYD currently operates in 99 countries and regions around the world, and plans to acquire more ships to enhance its global supply of quality and environmentally friendly vehicles.

Source: BYD