Nio‘s founder and CEO William Li has given the first hints at demand for the ES9 on Thursday — saying orders from first-time buyers already exceed the early pace set by the third-generation ES8 launch last year.
Speaking at a media event following Wednesday’s pre-launch, Li said that “from yesterday’s launch until now, orders from users outside our existing community were more than 1.5 times the figure from the equivalent period after last year’s ES8 product and technology launch event.”
Last September, ES8 sold out its entire 2025 production capacity within 36 hours of its launch and went on to accumulate over 100,000 orders within 48 hours.
“I think that’s quite interesting,” he added.
Li expressed confidence that current Nio owners would also convert.
“Our existing users — I believe that as long as they have a genuine need, the vast majority will still come to the ES9,” the CEO said.
He did not disclose absolute order figures.
The company held a product and technology event for the ES9 on Wednesday, formally unveiling the largest fully electric SUV it has ever produced — and now the largest in China.
Founder and CEO William Li presented the full-size six-seat model, which replaces the ES8 as Nio‘s flagship SUV — a position the ES8 has held since becoming the brand’s first mass-produced vehicle in May 2018.
Li described the ES9 as “the most important product of the year” for the brand.
Hours before the event, he wrote on social media that the model should represent “breakthrough technology and a truly original design language.”
Pre-Order Price
The ES9 opens pre-sales in three trims, all sharing a 520 kW dual-motor powertrain and a 102 kWh CATL nickel-cobalt-manganese battery with up to 620 km of CLTC range.
The ‘Executive Luxury Edition’ starts at 528,000 yuan ($77,200) with the battery included, or 420,000 yuan ($61,400) under Nio‘s Battery as a Service scheme, with the 102 kWh pack leased separately for 1,128 yuan ($155) per month.
The ‘Executive Signature Edition’ starts at 588,000 yuan ($86,000), or 480,000 yuan ($70,200) with BaaS.
A range-topping ‘Horizon Special Edition’ — offered exclusively in the centre island layout — starts at 658,000 yuan ($96,200), or 550,000 yuan ($80,400) with BaaS.
The official launch price — due at the formal debut next month — is expected to be slightly lower, in line with previous Nio launches.
According to Sina Technology, co-founder and President Qin Lihong stated at the same media event that the pre-sale pricing reflects what the company considers a reasonable profit margin, factoring in raw material cost fluctuations and rising oil prices.
The executive noted these factors are pushing up costs across the automotive supply chain through their impact on chemical-derived components.
Specs
The ES9 is built on Nio‘s 900-volt architecture and shares the SkyRide intelligent chassis — combining ClearMotion’s fully active suspension, steer-by-wire, and rear-wheel steering — with the ET9 executive sedan.
It runs on two in-house Shenji NX9031 intelligent driving chips and carries three LiDAR sensors, including a roof-mounted unit.
The SUV measures 5,365 mm long, 2,029 mm wide and 1,870 mm tall, with a 3,250 mm wheelbase.
Those dimensions were first disclosed in a January MIIT regulatory filing.
The ES9 also debuted what Nio described as the industry’s first headlight system that projects the vehicle’s planned driving path onto the road surface in real time, synchronising pixel-level lighting with the ADAS system’s lane-level navigation data.
Launch Timeline
A timeline that surfaced on the Chinese automotive platform XChuXing in late March — reportedly shared by a Nio sales representative — outlined the remaining schedule. The first official images of the ES9 were released on April 7, matching that leaked timeline.
The in-app configurator is set to open on May 11. The official launch event, where the final price will be confirmed and orders locked in, is scheduled for May 28.
Deliveries are expected to begin on June 1.
Co-founder and President Qin Lihong first confirmed the June 1 target in late February, adding that the company planned to build up inventory before the official launch to ensure strong momentum during the initial delivery phase.
The EV maker completed winter testing of the ES9 in Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia, at temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius earlier this year, and Li confirmed in January that the vehicle had entered pre-production.
Beijing Auto Show
The ES9 is expected to make its first public appearance at the 19th Beijing International Automotive Exhibition — Auto China 2026 — which runs from April 24 to May 3. GlobalChinaEV
Nio‘s head of user operations Yang Bo said the April 9 event was designed to build market momentum ahead of the Beijing show.
The biennial exhibition is one of the automotive industry’s most closely watched global events.
The first batch of ES9 display cars arrived at Nio stores across China on the day of the technology event, ahead of the formal unveiling later that evening.
The early showroom placement follows a pattern Nio has used with recent launches, including the third-generation ES8, for which around 300 showrooms received display units ahead of the pre-launch event.
Test drives are expected to become available before the official launch in late May.
Outlook
The ES9 arrives as Nio increasingly shifts its focus toward large SUVs.
The third-generation ES8 has accounted for the vast majority of the brand’s deliveries in recent months and was the key driver behind Nio’s first-ever profitable quarter in the final three months of 2025.
On Thursday, William Li stated that the ES9 is expected to contribute meaningfully to Nio‘s operating profits starting this quarter.
Earlier this month, the company released facelifts of its entry-level models — the ET5 sedan, the ET5 Touring station wagon, and the ES6 and EC6 SUVs.
The refreshed Firefly EV — from Nio Group‘s second sub-brand — was also launched this week.
The company is now scheduled to debut the Onvo L80 next month.
The first public mention of the ES9 came in late 2025, when Li confirmed the model would be unveiled in the second quarter of 2026.
