Nio saw deliveries of its flagship ET9 sedan drop to 59 units in January, marking the weakest result since the model’s debut.
Data released on Wednesday by China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed that deliveries of the luxurious sedan plunged 70.2% fall from the 198 vehicles recorded last December.
January is typically a slow month for the world’s largest automotive market, despite the Chinese New Year only impacting the month of February in 2026.
Last month, to mark its milestone of its one-millionth produced vehicle, Nio launched a new limited edition of the model — the ‘ET9 One-Millionth Vehicle Commemorative Limited Edition.’
ET9 Background
Debuted at the ‘Nio Day’ annual event in 2024, the ET9 model is equipped with the company’s in-house developed Shenji NX9031 autonomous driving chip, a steer-by-wire system, and an integrated hydraulic fully active suspension, among others.
The model is currently sold in China for 768,000 yuan — equivalent to $111,300.
The brand also unveiled a ‘First Edition’ at the official launch event. Capped at 999 units, it sold out within 12 hours.
Deliveries of the flagship fully electric sedan started four months after the launch. In the final three days of March, it sold 89 units of the model.
In its first full month of sales, April, the EV reached 810 deliveries — its strongest-ever result.
In May and June, ET9’s registrations started slowing down, achieving 682 and 307 units, respectively.
In mid-July, Nio filed for a new version of the flagship sedan, the ET9 Horizon Edition, launching it in September.
However, sales of the model reached figures below the 100-delivery mark in July (85 vehicles), August (92), and September (90).
In October, the brand saw the registrations of its battery electric (BEV) sedan increase to 127.
In the last two months of last year, the model managed to stay in the 100-unit mark, with 118 vehicles sold in November and 198 in December.
A total of 2,598 units of the ET9 were listed in 2025, representing only 1.5% of the Nio brand’s 178,806 total yearly deliveries.
Last month, to mark the milestone of its one-millionth produced vehicle, Nio launched a new limited edition of the model as the company — the ‘ET9 One-Millionth Vehicle Commemorative Limited Edition.’
The version has since sold out, but its starting price in China was 710,000 yuan ($102.900), if customers opted for the Battery as a Service (BaaS) system, or 818,000 yuan ($118.500), with the battery already included.
Nio Group Sales January 2026
Last month, Nio Group — which includes the Nio, Onvo and Firefly brands — sold 27,182 vehicles worldwide.
The figures represented a 96.1% surge from the 13,863 deliveries in January 2025, before Firefly was introduced in April 2025.
While Onvo and Firefly registered 3,481 and 2,807 EVs globally, respectively, the main brand represented 76.9% of the total group sales, with 20,894 units sold.
Nio brand’s best-selling model last month was the ES8 five-seat SUV, which represented over 80% of the premium brand’s deliveries.
CLTC fully electric range options of 580, 600, and 620 km, depending on the configuration — equivalent to 360, 373, and 385 miles.
Nio’s chief executive announced in January that the company is targeting a 40-50% year-over-year growth in vehicle deliveries this year.
The figures suggest that 2026 deliveries are targeted at between 456,000 and 489,000 units.
