Nio’s first store in Greece — Nio House Athens — opened on June 11 local time. Credit: Nio
- Greek consumers can purchase models including the Nio ET5, Nio ET5 Touring, and Nio EL6.
- The store was jointly built by Nio and local distributor Motodynamics, as the company continues to adopt an asset-light operating model in Europe.
Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO, HKEX: 9866) has opened its first store in Greece, Nio House Athens, marking a new step for the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker in the European market.
The store officially opened on June 11 local time and became open to the public on June 12, according to a statement on Friday.
Nio House Athens was jointly created by Nio and its exclusive Greek partner, Motodynamics Group. The store is located at Athens 14, a cultural landmark in the northern Athens district of Kifissia.
Greece’s premium smart EV market has shown strong growth momentum in recent years, and Nio will work with Motodynamics to advance its business development, the company said.
Currently, Greek consumers can experience and purchase multiple Nio models at the store, including the Nio ET5, Nio ET5 Touring, and Nio EL6 — known as the Nio ES6 in the Chinese market.
In addition, Nio’s premium compact car brand, Firefly, has also entered Nio House Athens simultaneously. Firefly collaborated with Greek visual artist Gera to display co-created customized works on site.
The opening of the Athens store is the latest result of Nio’s strategic transformation in the European market. Previously, in June 2025, Nio reached a distributor partnership agreement with Motodynamics.
Under the agreement, the latter will sell Nio and Firefly branded vehicles in Greece, Cyprus, and Bulgaria. This partnership model reflects Nio’s continued shift toward a more asset-light operating approach in Europe.
When first entering the European market, Nio invested heavily in building direct-sales flagship showrooms. However, this asset-heavy model was seen as a significant drag on the company’s balance sheet.
Earlier this year, Nio began making major adjustments to its European operations. Except for Norway, which has extremely high EV penetration and retains the direct-sales model, operations in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden are shifting to a distributor model, CnEVPost exclusively reported in March.
Before the Chinese New Year this year, Nio’s global business structure was also adjusted. The new structure is no longer divided by country but reorganized by business function to improve operational efficiency.
This transition to an asset-light model aims to control costs and accelerate the globalization process. Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li said last month that the company will carefully evaluate the return on overseas investments.
This strategic adjustment aligns with the improvement in Nio’s financial situation. In the first quarter of 2026, Nio recorded an adjusted operating profit of 66.8 million yuan ($9.86 million), marking the company’s second consecutive quarter of profitability.
A Firefly EV on display at Nio’s first store in Greece.
At the same time, Nio is shifting its focus back to the massive domestic Chinese market, as the local market still holds tremendous growth potential.
Despite actively expanding into new markets in Europe, Nio also faces some operational challenges.
At the end of May this year, Nio executives held a face-to-face communication event with European users in the Netherlands. During this event, management directly addressed European users’ frustrations regarding delayed software updates.
Nio admitted that there are currently no plans in Europe to release the Banyan 3.0.0 system, which is available in China.
Despite the setbacks of software delays, Nio reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the European market. The company promised to roll out Firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) updates in the fourth quarter of this year.
William Li said Nio will not exit overseas markets but will slow its pace and evaluate return on investment more cautiously.
($1 = 6.7753 yuan)
