*

New lower cost brand is latest attempt to broaden customer

base

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Nio CEO compares Firefly to Mercedes' smart car, BMW's

Mini

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Starts pre-sales priced from 148,000 yuan

(Adds quote, background)

GUANGZHOU, China, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Nio

unveiled a lower-cost brand named Firefly on Saturday that it

touted as a rival to Mercedes' Smart and BMW's Mini in the

Chinese electric vehicle maker's latest bid to broaden its

customer base and boost sales.

CEO William Li announced the new brand at an annual company

event in Guangzhou and said pre-sales would start immediately

with prices starting at 148,800 yuan ($20,394).

He displayed three Firefly cars in lavender, lemon and

beige and said the car offered a tight 4.7 metre turning radius

and autonomous parking technology.

Customers can place orders on the Firefly app, which

said the cars would be officially launched in April.

"We are building the Firefly car to be smarter than Mini and

be more Mini than smart cars," Li said.

BMW's pure electric Mini also sells from 148,800

yuan in China while Mercedes' Smart #1 car is priced

from 154,900 yuan.

Domestic brands Firefly will compete against include BYD's

Seal and Xpeng's ( XPEV ) Mona.

Nio, one of China's largest EV players by sales, has been

fighting rising price competition in China by launching cheaper

models this year, having earlier in May unveiled another it

called "Onvo".

Nio, which has limited European sales numbering in the

hundreds of vehicles per year, had originally planned the

Firefly brand to boost its share in Europe, its executives said

previously.

It would have taken on Renault, Stellantis' Fiat and Peugeot

and BMW's Mini in a European small car segment with annual

demand for 4 million cars.

But the European Commission in October imposed an additional

tariff of more than 20% on Nio's cars including Firefly EVs

exported from China to the region for the next five years.

Analysts said this will largely undermine the brand's price

competitiveness.

Li did not detail plans for where Firefly would be sold

during the event.

Nio has targets to double its sales in 2025 and achieve

break-even in 2026 but said this month its sales growth was two

years behind schedule.

Reuters reported in November that Nio was planning to launch

its first extended range hybrid model under the Firefly brand in

2026 for sales in overseas markets only.

($1 = 7.2961 Chinese yuan renminbi)

($1 = 7.2961 Chinese yuan renminbi)