Shanghai-based EV maker Nio sold 72 ET9 vehicles in its domestic market last month, a 10-unit increase from February.
Registrations stood below 100 monthly units for the third consecutive month, as demand for the flagship executive sedan continues to falter.
Compared to the same month a year ago — when the EV maker delivered 89 units, in just the final three days of March 2025 — sales declined by 19.1%, or 17 units.
The ET9 accounted for a fraction of Nio Group‘s total output in the first quarter, contributing 193 units across the 83,465 vehicles delivered by its three brands.
In March, the model accounted for 0.3% of the 22,490 EVs delivered by the Nio brand.
Launch
The ET9 was unveiled at the company’s annual ‘Nio Day’ event in 2023, with the company formally launching the model — revealing its pricing and specifications — at the same event a year later.
The model is priced from 660,000 yuan ($96,100) for customers who lease the battery separately — through Nio‘s Battery as a Service (BaaS) program — or 768,000 yuan ($111,800) when acquired with the battery included.
Upon the model’s launch, the company unveiled a ‘First Edition,’ capped at 999 units, which sold out within 12 hours.
The ‘Signature Edition,’ made available shortly after, is still available — priced 20,000 yuan above the standard trim.
The flagship sedan debuted Nio‘s in-house developed Shenji NX9031 autonomous driving chip, a steer-by-wire system, and an integrated hydraulic fully active suspension.
It was the first model under the most recent NT 3.0 platform, to which the three-row ES8 SUV followed late last year.
Monthly Sales
The EV maker began deliveries of the ET9 in the final three days of March 2025, registering 89 units.
Sales rose sharply to 810 in April — the first full month — before declining to 682 in May.
The figure roughly halved in June, and the third quarter brought no recovery, as monthly deliveries stayed below 100 units throughout July, August, and September.
Sales improved modestly in the final quarter of the year.
The ET9 surpassed 100 units in both October and November and reached 198 in December.
That momentum did not carry into 2026, however, as January registrations fell to 59 — the model’s lowest result since launch.
Until recently, the ET9 was only available in China.
However, data from China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows that two ET9s were registered overseas in February, with another one registered in March.
The first one had been registered outside China in November.
Demand
In an effort to increase demand for the sedan, Nio unveiled the ET9 ‘Horizon Edition’ in mid-July — which adopts a two-tone body scheme and a brand-new wheel design.
The new edition was launched in mid-September, with deliveries beginning in the last week of the month.
Earlier this year, Nio also launched a new limited edition of its flagship executive sedan ET9, as it celebrated the one-millionth vehicle rolling off the production line.
The ‘ET9 One-Millionth Vehicle Commemorative Limited Edition’ was capped at just nine units, with three under each theme — ‘Mirror of the Sky,’ ‘Dawn at Daybreak,’ and ‘Golden Mountains in the Sun.’
To raise the ET9’s profile among China’s business elite, Nio CEO William Li has personally delivered vehicles to several prominent executives since the model’s launch.
These included battery giant CATL founder and CEO Robin Zeng, during last year’s Shanghai Auto Show, and competitor XPeng’s founder and CEO He Xiaopeng.
The hands-on approach has continued into 2026.
On Friday — a day after the ES9 pre-sales event in Hangzhou — Li said on X that he personally handed over keys to nine ET9 Horizon Edition owners in the city.
He added that several of them were already planning to order an ES9 after watching the launch event, calling the pairing of the two flagships “a perfect match.”
Flagship ES9 SUV
As the ET9 continues to navigate a challenging demand environment, Nio is expanding its flagship range with the ES9 — the brand’s largest SUV and the third model built on its NT 3.0 platform.
The company opened pre-sales for the ES9 on April 9 at a technology event in Hangzhou, with prices starting at 528,000 yuan ($77,200) including the battery or 420,000 yuan ($61,400) under the BaaS rental model.
Two higher trims are priced at 588,000 yuan and 658,000 yuan, respectively.
The entry-level price is 31% below the ET9’s starting price of 768,000 yuan, despite sharing much of the sedan’s technology stack, including the in-house Shenji NX9031 driver-assistance chip and the SkyRide fully active suspension system.
The base trim, however, does not include the active suspension.
At 5,365 mm in length with a 3,250 mm wheelbase, the ES9 is the largest pure electric SUV currently on sale in China.
It offers a six-seat layout with a 2+2+2 configuration, a dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain producing 520 kW, and a 102 kWh CATL battery supporting a range of up to 620 km under the CLTC cycle.
The official launch is expected in late May, with deliveries scheduled to begin on June 1.
Nio will also showcase the ES9 at the 2026 Beijing Auto Show, opening on April 24.
