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We are just days away from Chinese EV automaker NIO’s annual NIO Day event, which has already promised some big reveals, including the long-teased ET9 and the first model under its new FireFly sub-brand. As an appetizer, NIO has shared the first un-camouflaged images of the ET9 and its official FireFly logo.

NIO remains a mainstay on Electrek‘s homepage because it always seems to be announcing something new and interesting. With its main marque well established and expanding globally, we’ve been following NIO’s rollout of two new sub-brands called Onvo and FireFly, the last twelve months especially.

While we get plenty of exciting news from the Chinese automaker throughout the annual calendar, no event is more likely to include landmark announcements than its annual NIO Day event, held every December. In the past, we’ve seen NIO unveil flagship sedans like the ET7, followed by the debut of the ET5 sedan a year later. NIO also shared plans to expand to new global markets by 2025.

The 2022 event included unveiling NIO’s ES8 and EC7 SUVs, pushing the automaker’s lineup to eight available EVs. For 2023, we learned NIO would unveil a new flagship model we speculated would be the ultra-luxe ET9.

That would be true. The ET9 debuted at a pre-sale price of RMB 800,000 ($109,810) – NIO’s most expensive model to date. It sits atop a 900V platform complete with an upgradeable wire-controlled chassis. It’s been nearly a year, however, and since then, we’ve only gotten camouflaged peeks at the NIO ET9 and its capabilities.

With a promise to officially launch the new ET9 at NIO Day later this week, the automaker has posted several images for the public as well as an official look at the logo that will be donned by its new line of affordable FireFly EVs.

NIO offers a clear look at ET9 before unveiling this week

Before we get all the juicy details about the ET9 and NIO’s plans for 2025 and beyond, the automaker offered its best look at its next flagship model yet. NIO posted several images (seen above) to its Weibo page with the following caption:

The high-tech executive flagship NIO ET9 will be officially launched on December 21st, NIO Day 2024. The original ‘flying body design’ creates a powerful aura of an epoch-making executive flagship with the flagship size. Elegant posture, presented with exquisite details. The debut is to lead innovation. 

Following the upcoming launch, NIO expects ET9 deliveries to begin in China in Q1 of 2025. In addition to the sedan’s unique intelligent chassis system, the ET9 will be the first model equipped with NIO’s own 5 NM process-based “Shenji” autonomous driving chip, evolving from its current NT 2.0 platform that utilizes four NVIDIA Orin chips.

We will have to wait until this weekend to learn where ET9 pricing officially lands and how close that figure is to the presale price. In addition to the launch of the ET9, NIO has also promised to launch its new FireFly sub-brand and unveil its first model.

To date, we’ve only seen a camo’d image of the EV’s side profile, which appears to be a family-friendly compact, but we are certain to get a full look in a couple of days. Previously, NIO co-founder and president Qin Lihong has said that Firefly EV models will be priced between RMB 100,000 ($13,800) and RMB 200,000 ($27,500).

Furthermore, FireFly will join NIO’s Onvo brand on sale in China before expanding to Europe in 2025. During a recent interview with local media outlet 36kr, Firefly president Daniel Jinsaid the brand’s first model will be launched in China in the first half of 2025, followed by a launch in Europe likely a quarter later. We know the flagship model will share the same name as the FireFly brand itself, but not much else at this point.

Ahead of FireFly’s debut at NIO Day 2024, the automaker launched the sub-brand’s official app, which showcased its brand logo you can see below.:

Source: FireFly App

NIO Day 2024 is scheduled for this Saturday, December 21, in Guangzhou, in the Guangdong province of China. Trust we will follow up with a full recap as we learn more.

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These cars are losing value fast — that’s GREAT news for used EV buyers!

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These cars are losing value fast — that's GREAT news for used EV buyers!

New car buyers like to talk about the latest tech and resale value, but most people don’t buy new cars. The used car market is 3x bigger than new, and if you’re content to let the last guy take that big depreciation hit by scoring a great deal on a reliable, low-mile used car you could save thousands on your next EV.

I know what you’re thinking: these posts are always weird because they’re disproportionally impacted by the COVID-era supply chain disruptions, and the obscene dealer mark-ups that came along with them.

But looking into the data shows trends that are much closer to the kind of think you’d expect to see before COVID, with high-end luxury models like S-Class Mercedes that trade on being new and shiny taking massive depreciation hits and more mainstream offerings from brands like Toyota and Honda that trade on economy and reliability holding strong.

That usual luxury brand hit seems like it’s being compounded over at Tesla, where Elon Musk’s highly publicized political leanings have polarized support for the brand, and alienated a huge portion of the market. Demand for new and used Tesla vehicles has plummeted, and iSeeCars reports that the Tesla Model S suffered the biggest percentage price drop of all makes and models over the last twelve months, showing the pioneering electric sedan’s average price in June 2025 at $46,700, nearly 16%, or $8,800 lower than it was 12 just months earlier.

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This isn’t a post about Tesla, though (not intentionally, at least). Instead, it’s about those EVs that have lost the most value since they were first sold new five-ish years ago. So, if you’re looking for a great deal on a pre-loved EV, you could do a lot worse than the list, below, presented in order from biggest “loss” of value.

Top 10 fastest-depreciating EVs


Tesla Model S X Lunar Grey

  Make & Model MSRP Avg. 5 yrs >Difference % Change
1 Audi Q8 e-tron $74,400 $20,958 -$53,442 -71.9%
2 Jaguar I-Pace $72,000 $20,047 -$51,953 -72.2%
3 Tesla Model S $74,990 $27,835 -$47,155 -62.9%
4 Nissan Leaf (SV Plus) $36,190 $13,000 -$23,190 -64.1%
5 Tesla Model X $79,990 $32,940 -$47,050 -58.8%
6 Mercedes EQS $104,400 $41,121 -$63,279 -60.6%
7 Tesla Model Y $44,990 $23,775 -$21,215 -47.2%
8 Hyundai Kona Electric $32,675 $13,860 -$18,815 -57.6%
9 Tesla Model 3 $38,990 $20,950 -$18,040 -46.3%
10 Porsche Taycan $99,400 $48,445 -$50,955 -51.3%
11 Ford Mustang Mach-E $39,995 $21,600 -$18,395 -46.0%

Disclaimer: the models and pricing shown, above, were sourced from CarsDirect, Carscoops, iSeeCars, USNews, and Yahoo!Finance. These deals may not be available in every market, and the standard “with approved credit” fine print should be considered implied. Check with your local dealer(s) for more information.


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Fiat launches beachy Topolino Vilebrequin as Stellantis ramps up EV production

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Fiat launches beachy Topolino Vilebrequin as Stellantis ramps up EV production

The Fiat Topolino Vilebrequin is a new beach town cruiser that captures the elegance, glamour, and relaxed vibe of the French Riviera. More significantly, the updated EV also heralds Stellantis’ plans to double EV production at its Kenitra Assembly Plant in Morocco.

Closer to a Mercury Villager Nautica or Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson than a new model on its own, the new Topolino Vilebrequin features colors and fabrics inspired by the French surfwear brand, and is based on the Dolcevita version of Stellantis’ electric microcar. With its open sides, a soft rollback roof, and turtle-tastic fabric prints, it’s ready to whisk you off on a carefree summer adventure in France or Italy – which are, coincidentally, the only two markets the “collector’s edition” Vilebrequin Topolino is currently available in.

“This encounter between the Fiat Topolino and our iconic sea turtle gave rise to a high-quality, lower-impact, and perfectly whimsical design,” says Roland Herlory, CEO of Vilebrequin. “(It is) the definitive summer toy, and the perfect witness to sun-soaked memories still to come.”

Like the standard Topolino, the new Vilebrequin model remains electronically limited to a top speed of 45 kph (just under 30 mph), and is equipped with a 5.5 kWh battery pack that ensures up to 75 km (about 45 miles) of electric range. Prices start at €13,490 ($15,810), and if you don’t want one you’re dead inside.

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Fiat Topolino Vilebrequin


The Vilebrequin Topolino is just the latest version of Stellantis’ electric microcar platform that underpins the Citroën Ami, Opel Rocks-e, and Fiat Topolino. Annual production of the little EVs has grown from 20,000 units and is reportedly on track for 70,000 in 2025.

Now, Mopar Insiders is reporting that number is about to get even bigger. Stellantis’ Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Middle East & Africa (MEA) region, Samir Cherfan, announced plans to more than double the production capacity at the company’s Kenitra Assembly Plant in Morocco, from some 230,000 vehicles per year to more than 530,000.

The factory was opened in 2019, and the planned €1.2 billion ($1.4B) expansion is expected to add around 3,100 new jobs to the factory’s employee roster.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Stellantis.


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If you think electric bikes are bad, there’s a much bigger menace hitting our roads

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If you think electric bikes are bad, there’s a much bigger menace hitting our roads

Electric bikes are a menace. They go almost as fast as a car (if the car is parking), they’re whisper quiet (which makes them impossible to hear over the podcast playing in your headphones), and worst of all, they’re increasingly ridden by teenagers.

By now, we’ve all seen the headlines. Cities are cracking down. Lawmakers are holding emergency hearings. Parents are demanding bans. “Something must be done,” they cry at local city council meetings before driving back home in 5,000 lb SUVs.

And it’s true – some e-bike riders don’t follow the rules. Some ride too fast. Some are inexperienced. These are real problems that deserve real solutions. But if you think electric bikes are the biggest threat on our roads, just wait until you hear about the slightly more common, slightly more deadly vehicle we’ve been quietly tolerating for the last hundred years.

They’re called cars. And unlike e-bikes, they actually kill people. A lot of people. Over 40,000 people die in car crashes in the US every year. Thousands more are permanently injured. Entire neighborhoods are carved up by high-speed traffic. Kids can’t walk to school safely. But don’t worry – someone saw a teenager run a stop sign on an e-bike, so the real crisis must be those darn batteries on two wheels.

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It’s amazing how worked up people get over a few dozen e-bike crashes when many of us step over a sidewalk memorial for a car crash victim on the way to the grocery store. We’ve been so thoroughly conditioned to accept car violence as part of modern life that the idea of regulating them sounds unthinkable. But regulating e-bikes? Now that’s urgent.

To be clear, this isn’t about ignoring the risks that come with new technology. E-bikes are faster than regular bikes. They’re heavier, too. And they require education and enforcement like any other mode of transport capable of injuring someone, be it the rider or a pedestrian bystander. But the scale of the problem is what matters – and the scale here is completely lopsided. Let’s take New York City, for example. It’s got more e-bike usage than anywhere else in the US, and there are still only an average of two pedestrians per year killed by an e-bike accident. That number for cars? Around 100 per year in NYC. It’s not complicated math – cars are 50x more lethal in the city.

And yet, the person on the e-bike is the one getting the stink eye.

We’ve become so numb to the everyday destruction caused by automobiles that it barely registers anymore. Drunk driving? Distracted driving? Speeding through neighborhoods? It’s just background noise. But the moment someone on an e-bike blows through a stop sign at 16 mph, it’s front-page news and a city council emergency.

Here’s an idea: If we want safer streets, how about we start by addressing the machines that weigh two and a half tons and can hit 100 mph, not the ones that top out at 20 or 28 and are powered by a one-horsepower motor the size of an orange.

But we don’t. Because cars are familiar. Cars are “normal.” Cars are how we built our entire country. And so we turn our attention to the easy target – the new kid on the block. The same old playbook: panic, overreact, and legislate the hell out of it.

Sure, an e-bike might startle you on a sidewalk. But a car can climb that sidewalk and end your life. Which one do we really need to be afraid of?

This isn’t a strawman argument, either. Cars are literally used as mass casualty weapons. It happens all the time. It happened last night in Los Angeles when a disgruntled car driver deliberately plowed into a crowd outside a nightclub, injuring over 30 people. And that wasn’t the only car attack yesterday. Another car rammed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in NYC yesterday morning, leaving multiple pedestrians dead. These aren’t exceptions. This is the normal daily news in the US. It’s depressing, but it bears repeating. This is normal. These are everyday occurrences. Twice a day, yesterday.

While we’re busy debating throttle limits and helmet rules for e-bikes, maybe we should also talk about how tens of millions of drivers still routinely speed, blow stop signs, or scroll Instagram at 45 mph in a school zone. Or how car crashes are the number one killer of teenagers in America. Or we can continue to focus on the kid who forgot to put his foot down at a red light while riding an e-bike to school.

This isn’t satire anymore – it’s just sad. It’s a collective willingness to avoid a real, genuine threat to Americans while simultaneously scapegoating what is, by comparison, a non-threat.

The truth is, electric bikes aren’t the menace. They’re a solution. They’re one of the few glimmers of hope in a transportation system drowning in pollution, congestion, and daily tragedy. They make mobility cheaper, cleaner, and more accessible. And yet we treat them like an invasive species because they disrupt the dominance of the automobile.

It’s time to stop pretending we’re protecting the public from some great e-bike emergency. The real emergency is that we’ve accepted cars killing people as a fair trade for getting to Target five minutes faster.

So yes, let’s make e-biking safer. Let’s educate riders, build better bike infrastructure, and enforce traffic rules fairly. Those are all important things. We absolutely SHOULD invest in training programs to educate teens on safe riding. We absolutely SHOULD cite and fine dangerous riders who could threaten the lives of pedestrians. But let’s stop pretending that e-bikes are the problem when they’re clearly a symptom of a much bigger one.

If you’re really worried about the dangers on our streets, don’t look for the kid on the e-bike. Look for the driver behind them, sipping a latte and going 20 over the speed limit.

Now that’s the menace.

Image note: The first and last images in this article were both AI-generated, and represent everyday car/bike interactions

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