01
Origins
Onvo launched in 2024 with the L60: Nio's long-planned mainstream brand delivering a family electric crossover priced directly beneath Tesla's Model Y — the market's reigning benchmark — with battery-swap capability inherited from the parent's network as its structural differentiator. William Li's bet was scale: Nio's premium refinement productionised at volume prices, swap stations amortised across a second brand's demand. Early deliveries scaled through Nio's expanding factories amid the price war's fiercest phase. The L60 carried existential weight — Nio's economics required a mass-market success — making it less a product launch than the company's second founding, conducted in public against the industry's hardest target. Second foundings are harder than first ones; the L60 carried Nio's without flinching.
Showcar Onvo L60 No-plate rear - 1 · S5A-0043 · CC BY 4.0
