Nio announced on Friday that it delivered its 70,000th ES8 SUV in China, with slower milestone growth and shorter wait times suggesting demand for the three-row model may have plateaued.
Production was highly disrupted in February by the Chinese New Year — the longest on record, according to the China Passenger Car Association — leaving just 16 working days, down from 19 in February last year.
Additionally, the company announced earlier this week that it is facing supply chain shortages on audio signal processing chips.
Customers can choose to receive their vehicles with a temporary solution starting March 2, upgrading the hardware later once the supply chain stabilizes, or wait for between four and six weeks to take delivery with the original chip.
Previous Milestones
Nio began deliveries of the ES8 on September 21, with a backlog of over 100,000 orders as the model debuted with a lower-than-expected price.
After the initial ramp-up, the company reached 10,000 deliveries in 41 days and 20,000 deliveries a month after.
The 30,000th ES8 was delivered on December 17, indicating that the interval between milestones has narrowed to 19 days.
Nio‘s third factory manufactured 43,668 ES8 units in 2025, exceeding the company’s production guidance for the model by nearly 3,700 vehicles.
In January alone, 17,646 units of the model were registered in China.
It represented 84.5% of the total 20,894 units delivered by the brand in the first month of the year.
The company delivered its 50,000th ES8 on January 17 and reached 60,000 total deliveries just 14 days later, on January 31.
However, contrary to prior milestones being achieved in shorter timeframes, it took Nio 30 days to deliver its most recent 10,000 vehicles.
The gap between milestones doubled, extending 18 days beyond the previous 10,000 units delivered.
Delivery Times
The estimated delivery waiting time for the third-generation Nio ES8 has been shortened for the fourth time in six weeks, more than halving since mid-January.
As of Friday, customers who placed an order for the SUV can expect delivery in approximately 6 to 7 weeks, according to the company’s configurator page.
Exactly two weeks ago, the page listed an estimated 8 to 9 weeks.
Upon the new ES8’s launch in late September, the wait time stood at 24-26 weeks — equivalent to half a year.
The continued compression of delivery times suggests production is no longer constrained by demand, after an initial launch frenzy.
The pattern would mirror what happened with other models — such as the flagship sedan ET9 or the Onvo L90.
The brand’s upcoming ES9 SUV — which will be unveiled on April 10 and launched in late May — may also be drawing potential ES8 buyers away.
The ES9 will take over as Nio’s flagship SUV from the ES8, which has held that position since becoming the brand’s first mass-produced vehicle in May 2018.
Competitors
After delivering 22,258 units in December, the Nio ES8 became China’s best-selling SUV in the 400,000 yuan ($58,200) segment by single-month volume.
In a Weibo post this Friday, the Shanghai-based EV maker highlighted the model’s “no. 1 spot in the large SUV segment for two consecutive months,” in both December and January.
“Market data clearly shows that the golden era of pure electric three-row large SUVs has arrived,” Nio stated, thanking “every user for your choice and trust.”
However, the ES8 is facing competitive pressure in China.
Geely-backed premium EV maker Zeekr launched its 9X SUV just days after the Nio model debuted.
Additionally, Guangzhou-based XPeng is preparing to debut the GX premium six-seat SUV, which will be available in both fully electric and extended-range versions.
