Nio to open its first Nio House in the UAE on November 28 with CEO William Li attending the opening ceremony.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) will open its first Nio House in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) tomorrow -- November 28 -- in Abu Dhabi, the first store of the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market.
William Li, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, mentioned this in a Weibo video today, saying that he is in transit at Qatar airport on his way to Abu Dhabi for the opening of the Nio House.
Nio briefly mentioned during its third-quarter earnings call on November 20 that the Abu Dhabi Nio House will officially open on November 28, and that it's already conducting sales and deliveries there.
Nio House is Nio's flagship showroom, and the facility in China typically has two floors, the first of which is a vehicle display area, and the second of which is an area for Nio owners only.
Nio unveiled its plans to enter the global market in May 2021 and opened its first Nio House in an overseas market in Norway on October 1 of the same year, marking the official start of its international expansion efforts.
In Europe, Nio's vehicles are available in five markets -- Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.
On October 4, Nio announced the formation of Nio MENA with its Middle East backer, Abu Dhabi-based CYVN Holdings, marking its entry into the MENA market.
The UAE has been selected as the initial market for Nio MENA, positioning the region as a key player in the deployment of advanced autonomous driving systems and battery swap technologies.
In addition to Europe and the Middle East, Nio is eyeing entry into more markets.
On November 15, Nio announced that it had appointed Green Car as its national distributor in Azerbaijan, in an unprecedented move to partner with a local dealer rather than the direct sales model the company had previously been using.
Starting next year, Nio would accelerate its entry into more markets globally as it delivers products under its Onvo and Firefly sub-brands, the company's management said in the November 20 earnings call.
Nio still hopes to expand global presence to up to 25 countries and regions by 2025
