Chinese EVs Nio, Xpeng turn to mass market for growth [Video]

BEIJING — Chinese electric car start-ups Nio and Xpeng are turning to a lower-priced segment of the market with plans to release newly branded cars this year.

Nio’s first such mass market car will be an SUV cheaper than Tesla‘s Model Y, CEO William Li told CNBC’s Eunice Yoon on Thursday. The Tesla SUV starts at 249,900 yuan ($35,197) in China.

Like many early entrants to China’s electric car market, U.S.-listed Nio targeted the premium market when it launched about a decade ago. Its vehicles can cost around $50,000 or more, offering buyers additional services such as Nio clubhouses and a network of battery charging and swapping stations.

Nio and Xpeng’s plans to launch mass market brands put the companies in more direct competition with local rival BYD and German carmaker Volkswagen.

The new cars come amid an intense price war in China’s new energy car market, which includes battery-only and hybrid-powered vehicles. Such cars now …