Ledaos Comeback Victory: Turning the Tables in a High-Stakes Reversal

On January 6, 2026, at NIO’s Xinqiao plant in Hefei, Anhui, the company celebrated a defining milestone: the rollout of its 1,000,000th mass-produced vehicle. Joining the “million-unit club” is more than a symbolic achievement—it reflects NIO’s years of accumulated strength across R&D, manufacturing, and service operations, and it sends an unmistakable message: a brand once synonymous with the premium segment has now successfully built a broader, multi-brand portfolio with far wider reach.

At the center of that leap is ONVO (Leda), a brand barely over a year old, yet already proving to be a decisive growth engine.

In 2025, ONVO delivered 107,808 vehicles. Fourth-quarter deliveries reached 38,290 units—up 92.1% year over year—while the average transaction price surpassed RMB 250,000, outpacing Cadillac and rapidly closing the gap with Audi. From early skepticism to a year-end surge, ONVO pulled off something few managed in a year defined by “discounts for volume”: it achieved both rising sales and rising pricing power.

ONVO’s comeback wasn’t a lucky break. It was the result of a carefully constructed “turn-the-tables” strategy—one where William Li brought more than a decade of NIO’s system-level capabilities into a market that is harsher, larger, and far more crowded.

1) Competing on experience, not on price

China’s auto market in 2025 was a prolonged price war from start to finish. Tesla’s Model Y went through multiple rounds of cuts, Li Auto’s L6 leaned heavily on price-for-volume tactics, and XPeng’s G6 was priced close to the cost line. In the mainstream price bands, the market became a grinder—and discounting was the simplest lever.

ONVO took the opposite approach.

It held its pricing structure steady and poured resources into building a formidable “experience moat”—one designed to protect user satisfaction and long-term value rather than chase short-term spikes.

In December 2025—traditionally the peak window for brands to cut prices and push year-end volume—ONVO instead announced an investment of RMB 600 million to deploy over 8,000 new swap batteries nationwide, ensuring that Spring Festival travel demand could be met with a simple promise: arrive, swap, and leave with a full charge in about three minutes.

“Price cuts can buy sales quickly, but they damage brand value and user trust,” said one person close to ONVO. “ONVO is building long-term confidence for family users, and confidence starts with stable asset value.”

That strategy is reinforced by ONVO’s battery-as-a-service separation model. In an authoritative report, the ONVO L60 posted a one-year residual value rate of 71.9%—surpassing the benchmark Tesla Model Y and ranking first among mid-size pure-electric SUVs. It wasn’t just a product endorsement; it was the market pricing in ONVO’s stable-value expectations driven by disciplined pricing.

Another source of confidence comes from NIO’s decade-long infrastructure and operational foundation—an ecosystem that is extremely difficult to replicate. While many brands are still wrestling with charging deployment density and operating efficiency, ONVO users can already access a network of more than 2,300 swap stations—continuously expanding to make energy replenishment feel seamless and almost “invisible.”

“NIO has transferred its most critical user operations and service system to ONVO without holding anything back,” an industry observer noted. “That kind of ‘system capability transfer’ gives ONVO service depth from day one that rivals—and often exceeds—its direct competitors.”

And the moat is still widening. By the end of 2025, ONVO pushed pure-vision, end-to-end urban navigation assistance and parking assistance to its full user base—bringing “technology access for everyone” to mainstream family buyers.

Systematically, ONVO is placing users’ long-term interests above short-term delivery volatility. With the same low-key discipline NIO is known for, ONVO is establishing itself in an intensely competitive market through sincerity, practicality, and a clear “family-first” identity—while leveraging shared NIO capabilities to offer a leapfrog experience and value proposition that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with luxury brands.

2) Pure EVs pushing back against range extenders

The breakout success of the ONVO L90 may be one of the most defining sub-segment stories of 2025.

In just five months after launch, the L90 delivered 43,439 units, securing the 2025 sales crown in the large pure-electric SUV category. Even more significant: it disrupted the entrenched belief that “full-size three-row SUVs belong to range extenders.”

The L90 directly addresses the core reality of family travel: it must seat six comfortably and still swallow the luggage for a big trip. Its 240-liter front trunk may sound like a simple added compartment, but it actually signals a deeper advantage of a dedicated EV platform—restructuring the vehicle’s layout to unlock meaningful space gains compared with front trunks typically under 200 liters in many competing products.

The numbers highlight how quickly that design choice became behavior-changing. Front trunk usage reportedly surpassed 3.2 million instances, with average daily usage approaching two times. About 96% of L90 owners used the front trunk at least once per week—outpacing even the rear cargo area usage rate over the same period.

“When front trunk usage exceeds rear trunk usage, it means the brand has reshaped user habits,” the same observer explained. “Once people discover the front trunk is simply more convenient, they don’t go back.”

That kind of experience innovation creates a structural advantage over range-extended vehicles. Range extenders must accommodate an engine and fuel tank, which compresses front-compartment space. Pure EV platforms can maximize packaging efficiency—and create use cases range extenders physically can’t replicate.

Data also suggests the broader category has begun to tilt. Since September 2025, sales of pure-electric three-row SUVs have consistently exceeded range-extender, ICE, and plug-in hybrid alternatives, with the gap widening month by month. By November, the new-force split between pure EVs and range extenders had reportedly reached 73% versus 27%. The “twin stars” combination of ONVO L90 and NIO ES8 is increasingly reshaping this sub-segment’s competitive landscape.

Policy is also adding momentum. A new vehicle purchase tax policy in 2026 strengthened the economic appeal of battery swapping. Starting January 1, China’s full purchase-tax exemption shifted to a new reduced-tax structure. Under ONVO’s battery rental purchase option, the vehicle price could drop by up to RMB 86,000, with vehicle-and-battery separated for tax calculation. Because the battery is leased rather than purchased, it is excluded from the taxable base—reducing purchase tax by up to RMB 3,805.

This policy change lowers the entry barrier for swap-enabled models and converts ONVO’s structural advantage into an immediate, visible cost advantage at the point of purchase.

Behind it is a clearer signal of support for the swapping model. From 2023 to 2025, China’s industrial authorities—including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology—issued multiple documents encouraging battery swapping. In November 2025, MIIT Vice Minister Xin Guobin explicitly stated support for swapping-model transition and vehicle-to-grid interaction pilots.

The impact is starting to surface. Beyond lowering upfront cost, vehicle-battery separation also targets the ultimate anxiety: long-term battery degradation. For family users, that translates into far more predictable total cost of ownership across the vehicle lifecycle.

ONVO’s swap network did not start from scratch—it inherited the results of NIO’s decade-long buildout. While others are still planning charging corridors, ONVO users already benefit from the convenience of roughly one highway swap station every 180 kilometers on average. The completion of routes such as the Yunnan–Tibet line and the Western Sichuan loop has also helped turn “long-distance pure EV travel” from a slogan into something genuinely achievable.

3) The pivotal move in NIO’s multi-brand strategy

With the rollout of NIO’s millionth vehicle, the company’s multi-brand strategy is taking clearer shape—and ONVO occupies a critical position within that matrix.

It is the channel through which NIO’s technology and infrastructure investments can be scaled, and it is also the key proving ground for whether NIO’s broader business model can truly run at mass-market levels.

“NIO needs ONVO to succeed to prove that its system-level capabilities are replicable,” an investment analyst said bluntly. “If ONVO can stabilize in the RMB 200,000–300,000 segment, the market will be forced to reprice the value of NIO’s entire model.”

Early signs are already pointing in that direction. ONVO shares NIO’s R&D system and energy replenishment network, while executing with sharper positioning and more precise pricing. The result is a distinct competitive approach that many rivals cannot easily match.

More importantly, ONVO is helping NIO break through a growth ceiling. ONVO owners are reportedly concentrated among enterprise and public-sector users, with a notable share of teachers and small business owners—expanding the customer base and strengthening the overall user foundation alongside NIO.

As ONVO passed its first anniversary, China’s auto market was still deep in transition. The smoke of price wars had not fully cleared—but some players were already carving out a different path. Through ONVO, William Li effectively “revalued” a decade of NIO’s investments—swap stations, technology, and service systems—that once seemed too far ahead of their time. On ONVO, those inputs are beginning to show unmistakable scale effects.

ONVO’s story is far from over. Competition in the RMB 200,000–300,000 segment will only intensify, with pressure mounting from both legacy automakers and new entrants. But ONVO has already proven one thing: in China’s car market, there is still a viable route beyond price wars.

It demands patience and strategic discipline—but once it works, the moat becomes deeper, wider, and far more durable.

And increasingly, family buyers are casting their votes for that answer—with real money.