Nio handed over its 30,000th ES9 on Wednesday, a milestone that implies about 5,500 deliveries of the flagship SUV in the first 23 days of September.
The Shanghai-based EV maker announced the milestone on Weibo, 119 days after deliveries of the ES9 began on May 28.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li handed over the 30,000th unit in person to He Yinjun, chairman of Insnex, a machine-vision company working on industrial defect inspection, mainly for lithium-battery manufacturing.
Nio said the ES9 continues to set delivery records for premium battery-electric vehicles priced above 500,000 yuan ($74,600) in China.
Yang Bo, Nio’s Assistant VP of User Operations, wrote on Monday that the 30,000th unit would arrive ‘this week’, without specifying a date.
Cumulative ES9 deliveries stood at 24,497 at the end of August, nine of them exports, according to data published earlier this month by the China Passenger Car Association.
The implied September figure combines two different records, the association’s monthly retail count and Nio’s handover counter. The milestone date may also have been set for the ceremony, so the figure is an approximation, not a count.
On that basis, September’s tally already equals about 84.9% of August’s full-month total of 6,479 and 87.1% of July’s 6,315.
Deliveries averaged about 239 a day through September 23, up from about 209 a day in August and about 204 in July.
September in Context
Nio does not break out the ES9 in its monthly delivery release.
The association’s model-level figures are the only monthly series for the car.
The ES9 recorded 3,108 deliveries in the last four days of May and 8,595 in June, when Nio worked through its launch backlog. July deliveries fell 26.5% to 6,315, and August rose 2.6% to 6,479, still below June’s level.
Li told analysts on the second-quarter earnings call on September 1 that July was still absorbing pre-orders and that incremental orders grew from July to August.
Before the launch backlog cleared, Bank of China International forecast monthly ES9 deliveries of 3,000 to 4,000 once the launch backlog cleared.
Deutsche Bank estimated in June that the ES9 had secured more than 25,000 non-cancellable orders and raised its full-year 2026 forecast for the model to 56,000 units.
Three Milestones
Deliveries of the ES9 began on May 28, a day after the launch event.
Nio handed over the 10,000th unit on June 26, which Li described as 30 days after the first delivery.
The 20,000th followed on August 8, 43 days later, when Li delivered the car to Xiao Wenhua, chairman of Huaxiangyuan Tea.
The third batch of 10,000 took 46 days, from August 8 to September 23.
Nio counts the first delivery day in its tally, and the three intervals add up to the 119 days the company cited on Wednesday.
Shorter Waits
The September pickup coincides with shorter lead times for the SUV’s most expensive versions.
On September 17, Nio’s Chinese configurator quoted 11 to 12 weeks for the two top trims, the shortest since launch. The quote was 12 to 13 weeks on September 8.
The Executive Signature costs 558,000 yuan ($83,300) and the Horizon Special Edition 628,000 yuan ($93,800). Their wait stood at 16 to 17 weeks on June 1.
Buyers of the entry Executive Luxury, priced at 498,000 yuan ($74,300) with the battery or 390,000 yuan ($58,200) under Nio’s battery leasing plan, have seen waits of 3 to 4 weeks at every check since June.
Both top trims carry fully active suspension and 22-inch wheels. The Executive Luxury uses dual-chamber air suspension with continuous damping control.
Li said on the call that demand was strongest for the Horizon and Signature editions, with new customers facing waits of three to nearly four months.
Deadline for Launch Benefits
Nio extended the ES9 launch package once, from July 31 to September 30, for orders locked by that date.
The package includes a zero-deposit finance plan with two of its five years interest-free, the Feihang executive seat package, a delivery gift box and five years of NOP+ assisted driving at no charge.
Sticker prices remain unchanged.
Market Position and Buyers
Nio’s milestone poster says the ES9 was the best-selling battery-electric model above 500,000 yuan for three consecutive months, citing the passenger car association.
Li said on the earnings call that the ES9 led all passenger vehicles with transaction prices above 500,000 yuan nationwide in June and July, across all powertrains.
The founder also revealed that about three quarters of ES9 orders came from users of brands other than Nio.
Nio said in late June that 70% of the first 10,000 buyers were new to the brand.
Nio’s company-wide vehicle margin reached 18.5% in the second quarter. Management has said the ES8 and ES9 both carry margins above 20%.
The ES9 milestone followed the third-generation ES8 reaching 150,000 deliveries on September 20, the first anniversary of its launch.
