Nio‘s co-founder and President Lihong Qin said on Tuesday that the EV maker will “break through 10,000” ES8 vehicles in November while hinting that December’s delivery figures of the three-row SUV can surpass 15,000 units.
At an event celebrating the 300,000th ES6 delivery, the executive reassured customers that the long delivery wait times were not caused by slow production, but by an “explosive order demand.”
Delivery Waiting Time
“If you lock in your order at this moment, the displayed delivery time should be around April next year,” Lihong noted, adding that “beyond the launch phase, we’ve had sustained strong orders for nearly two months afterward.”
Two days after its launch at the ‘Nio Day’ event in mid-September, the company announced that new orders would face a six-month waiting period.
Nio sold out its 2025 production of 40,000 ES8 vehicles minutes after the founder and CEO William Li opened orders as the final pricing details were announced on stage.
While the company hasn’t released specific numbers, orders are estimated to have gone beyond 100,000 units, given the timeline for deliveries.
That timeline has recently slightly narrowed to 22-23 weeks as production ramps up.
Last month, Nio‘s Assistant VP of Brand and Communications Ma Lin said that the brand would be ramping up production capacity for the SUV by 70% in November.
The EV maker announced the delivery of the 10,000th ES8, just 41 days after its launch.
Production Capacity
Lihong stated on Tuesday that Nio‘s ES8 capacity “will approach nearly 10,000 units,” citing “some pleasant surprises” from the factory and the supply chain.
Additionally, the company’s President thinks the brand will be able to manufacture beyond the 15,000-unit target set by founder and CEO William Li for December.
“Today, I think there’s more than 50% hope that we can exceed 15,000 slightly,” the executive confidently said.
“Going forward, [the] normal monthly production capacity” for the ES8 SUV is expected to “reach 15,000 or slightly more,” Lihong said, noting that February will be an exception with the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, which typically leads to a slowdown in the industry.
Lihonq was clear regarding the model’s delivery time: “everyone can calculate. Our ES8 truly isn’t suffering from poor production capacity, it’s genuinely due to explosive order demand.”
Incentives Ending in 2026
China’s plan to reinstate the electric vehicle purchase tax in 2026 may cause consumers to rush to buy electric vehicles before the year end, followed by a sharp decline in January.
Upon the launch of the ES8, Nio said that customers who hadn’t received their vehicle by the end of the year wouldn’t be affected by the purchase tax incentive phase-out, as the company would cover that value.
The message was reaffirmed by Lihong Qin on Tuesday.
“For the ES8 price range, if you order next year, individuals will need to pay approximately 15,000 yuan more in taxes per vehicle,” he explained, adding that “Nio will pay that 15,000 yuan, and you can wait for delivery with peace of mind.”
For customers who are in a “particularly urgent” hurry, the company will be selling its in-store display vehicles, with a discounted value, which will allow users to get their vehicle earlier without interfering with the normal delivery sequence for ordered vehicles.
Nio targets 150,000 total deliveries across its three brands — Nio, Onvo, and Firefly — in the fourth quarter.
Considering the record 40,397 vehicles delivered in October, the company needs to have delivered nearly 110,000 units within the next two months — and an average of 55,000 per month — to reach the guidance.
