Asia Tech Wire (May 24) -- Chinese electric car maker Nio Inc. (NIO:NYSE, 9866.HK) will consider building a factory in Europe with a local partner, provided sales are sizable.

Europe's largest NIO House officially opened in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Thursday.

William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, and Lihong Qin, co-founder and president of Nio, along with more than 200 people, including representatives of Nio's European customers and Nio's partners, attended this opening ceremony.

Li said in an interview the day that Nio plans to continue its expansion in Europe despite the uncertainty of whether the European Union will impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

According to Li, EVs are very important for the healthy development of the environment and should not serve as a political target.

He said Nio would make the most commercially sensible decision in the event that the EU imposes significant tariffs, which could include delaying or canceling the European launch of its new mid-range and future entry-level models.

Li also said that if Nio could increase its annual sales in Europe to around 100,000 units, it would consider partnering with a local manufacturer to build a plant in the region.

"In Europe, establishing a manufacturing facility will be a natural result," Li said. "For us, the baseline is 100,000 units a year."

He said, "We are very confident, although we also know that in Europe we do have a long way to go."