The sales outlook for Nio's new Firefly brand remains uncertain, Deutsche Bank wrote in a recent report.

The Chinese electric car maker is planning to launch a hatchback under the brand next April and has set a pre-sale price of 148,800 yuan (about US$20,400).

That positions the car in the premium small-car segment, where it will compete with BMW's Mini EV, Smart from Geely's joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, Lynk & Co's Z20 and Zeekr's X models.

Due to the Firefly's unique exterior design, Deutsche Bank takes a relatively conservative view of the car's sales performance.

The German brokerage expects Nio to sell 1,500 units of this car per month, which is lower than Nio's forecast of thousands of units per month.