Nio's Firefly ships a styling-led EV: about $19,700, or $13,800 on rental

The Habitat is a standard Firefly in fancier clothes, from about $19,700, or near $13,800 if you rent the battery.

Firefly, the compact-EV brand owned by Nio, launched the first car in a new line called the Halo series on July 20, 2026. The model, named the Habitat, comes in a single variant priced from 133,300 yuan, about $19,680. It is a styling exercise as much as a product: the Halo series is Firefly's first line built around design, and the brand says it will pick a new 'annual light' theme each year and turn it into a car.

Under the paint, the Habitat is the standard Firefly. It shares the regular car's single rear-mounted motor rated at 120 kW (161 hp) and its 42.1-kWh battery, good for a CLTC range of 420 kilometers. What you pay extra for is the look: an exclusive green metallic finish, a green glowing logo lamp, two-tone alloy wheels, and a nature-themed interior drawn from the blue ghost firefly. The premium is 13,500 yuan, about 11.3%, over the regular Firefly's 119,800-yuan starting price. Buyers who rent the battery through Nio's battery-as-a-service scheme can start at 93,300 yuan, roughly $13,780.

A sub-$20,000 EV that falls toward $14,000 once the battery is rented keeps nudging electric mobility into mass-affordable territory. The volume is real: Firefly has passed 70,000 cumulative deliveries since shipping began on April 29, 2025, delivered 6,946 cars in June (up 76.7% year-on-year) and 29,172 in the first half (up 271.9%), and now makes up 15.26% of Nio's total deliveries.

Two caveats. The dollar figures assume a rate of 6.7733 yuan to the dollar, and by the report's own read the launch is partly about keeping the brand visible, a design edition rather than new capability. Whether the styling line widens the buyer base or just refreshes attention is what to watch.

Source: CnEVPost