Nio has reduced the estimated delivery waiting time for its flagship ES8 sport utility vehicle to 17-18 weeks, the third such reduction since the redesigned model launched in late September.
The updated timeline, displayed on Nio‘s Chinese configurator page on Wednesday, represents a decrease from the 20-21 week range shown until earlier this week.
In early December, the company had already shortened the wait from 22-23 weeks to 20-21 weeks.
According to the new timeline, new orders are planned to be delivered in early May.
When orders opened a day after the model’s debut at Nio‘s annual event in late September, new buyers faced a 24-26 week wait — equivalent to up to half a year.
Based on the current monthly production rate of 27,000 units per month, the Shanghai-headquartered EV maker has a backlog of about
Production Ramp-Up
The shortened delivery times appear to reflect production improvements rather than weakening demand.
Nio‘s third factory produced 43,668 units of the third-generation ES8 in 2025, exceeding the company’s target by nearly 3,700 vehicles, according to images shared on Chinese social media on December 31.
The company’s management had said in September it expected to produce 40,000 units of the flagship SUV in 2025.
The company delivered 10,000 ES8 vehicles in the last 11 days of December alone, translating to a monthly run rate of approximately 27,000 units — more than tripling the pace from earlier in the production ramp-up.
In December, Nio achieved its target of delivering over 20,000 ES8 units.
November deliveries reached 10,677 units, a 59.3% sequential increase from October’s 6,703 vehicles.
As of press time, the exact number of ES8 vehicles delivered in December had not yet been shared by the China Passenger Car Association.
By comparison, Nio delivered just 572 ES8 units in November 2024, representing 2.8% of the brand’s total deliveries before the third-generation redesign.
Third Factory and Pricing
The ES8 is produced at Nio‘s third plant, also located in Hefei, Anhui province, alongside the company’s two other manufacturing facilities.
Unlike its predecessor, the third factory had no official opening event.
However, local media visited the site last September and reported that production was already underway ahead of the ES8 launch, with Nio building the first batch of vehicles.
The ES8 six-seat Executive Signature Edition is priced at 446,800 yuan ($64,000), while the Executive Luxury Edition starts at 406,800 yuan ($58,200).
A seven-seat Executive Luxury Edition is also available at the same 406,800 yuan starting price.
