PARIS, May 6 (Reuters) - China's premium electric

vehicle maker Nio is on track to unveil a new model under a

mass-market brand by the end of this month and a second smaller

EV to be sold in Europe next year for less than $30,000, a

senior executive told Reuters on Monday.

Nio has created the sub-brand Onvo to launch a new EV that

Chief Executive William Li has said will take aim at the Tesla

Model Y, the world's best-selling EV.

"Nio is currently working on the launch of new car brands,

that would be less premium, still obviously 100% electric, and

more suited for the European market needs," Nicolas Vincelot,

general manager for France, said during a France-China business

forum in Paris.

On Monday, the new website for the Onvo brand went live in

China with a message to "stay tuned" for details on the new

model, the L60.

Vincelot said more details on the brand, until now code

named "Alps", were expected by the end of the month.

Onvo is one of two sub-brands the loss-making EV maker is

launching. The second, developed under the code name Firefly, is

developing smaller EVs intended for city driving that are

expected to be priced under $30,000, he said.

Both brands are targeting sales in Europe. The first Onvo

L60 are expected to arrive in Europe by year-end. The Firefly

brand should be unveiled in 2025, Vincelot said.

Both are also designed to work with the fast battery

swapping stations Nio has pioneered in China, allowing to swap

an empty battery against a full one in a few minutes.

Pictures of the Firefly prototype carried by Chinese auto

media show a compact four-door hatchback.

Rival Xpeng ( XPEV ) also plans a new mass-market brand

called Mona that will include self-driving features on cars

priced below $21,000.

Vincelot said that Nio was no longer relying mainly on the

subscription model it used at its beginning, but turning to a

wider distribution model, selling and leasing cars on the

internet or in showrooms located in big cities.

In Europe, the company has started selling cars in Norway,

Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

Nio has been looking to cut costs in response to a slowdown

in EV sales and fierce competition on pricing in China. The

company announced plans to cut 10% of its staff last year, and

Reuters reported that the Hong Kong-listed automaker was looking

to spin off its battery manufacturing.

With sales slowing at home, Several Chinese EV makers are

expanding in Europe and they look to capitalise on their cost

advantage against European rivals. The European Union is

investigating Chinese EV imports to see if they breach

competition rules. On Monday,

Vincelot's comments coincide with Chinese President Xi

Jinping's vist to France, where the EU investigation was

expected to be a focus in talks with French President Emmanuel

Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.