EV maker Nio started on Sunday deliveries of its newly launched three-row SUV, the ES8.
Pre-launched last month and officially launched on Saturday, the first units of the model were delivered in Beijing by the founder and CEO William Li.
The co-founder and President Lihong Qin handed over the first ES8 vehicles in Hangzhou.
Deliveries began less than 24 hours after the model was launched at the company’s annual event — ‘Nio Day’ — which gathered seven thousand customers in Hangzhou, China.
The model’s rollout follows earlier launches where the brand built over a thousand units to supply roughly 500 showrooms in China, provide test drives, and deliver a solid first batch to customers.
Although the company is not disclosing how many cancelable pre-orders it secured between the pre-launch event on August 21 and September 20, Deutsche Bank says figures stood at about 100,000 units, citing its dealer checks.
Asked about the margin the company gets on the model given the highly competitive price point, Li said the model has “a reasonable gross margin.”
Pricing for the new ES8 starts at 406,800 yuan ($57,100) for the six-seat and seven-seat Executive Luxury trims, and 446,800 yuan ($62,800) for the six-seat Executive Signature.
Customers opting for Nio’s Battery-as-a-Service subscription can lower the upfront purchase price to 298,800 yuan ($42,000) for the Executive Luxury versions and 338,800 yuan ($47,600) for the Executive Signature.
“This pricing was not considered from the perspective of a price war, but it positions the Nio brand, and the three brands’ price ranges [Nio, Onvo and Firefly] have also become clearer.
“Don’t worry that we are not making money — there is still a reasonable gross margin,” Nio‘s chief added.
Li said that with the launch of the flagship sedan ET9 and now the premium SUV ES8, the core brand is moving “more toward [the] ‘business’ segment.
“Of course our product cycle is moving more toward “business” a bit more—starting with ET9, and ES8 is moving further in that direction,” Li said.
Next year, the brand will launch another high end model, the ES9 SUV which is expected to bring Nio’s top-level technology as it will become its flagship SUV.
“This isn’t something new — like yesterday we launched the [Nio ET9] Horizon special edition,” Li added before mentioning the example of German premium brands.
“Mercedes has AMG and the Maybach series; I think those have been very successful,” he said.
“In this respect we actually learn more from traditional companies; they are very mature in these areas and have many highly successful practices worth learning. So this really isn’t anything new,” he said before mentioning the largest automakers in the world by volume.
“Others like Toyota with 10 million units, Volkswagen with 8–9 million—many of their brand practices are worth learning. Those are our thoughts,” Li concluded.
During the event, Nio’s chief said the company has prepared production capacity for more than 40,000 units for the remaining of the year.
“We’ve allocated capacity for more than 40,000 units this year,” Li said at the company’s annual event in Hangzhou, adding that customers who do not receive their vehicles will be compensated.
“If initial order users don’t receive their cars by the end of 2025, we’ll cover the purchase tax for the following year,” Nio‘s chief added.
Earlier this month, Nio management said its fourth-quarter delivery target of 150,000 vehicles would now include its entry-level Firefly brand, broadening a goal that was previously set only for the Nio and Onvo marques.
