Chinese electric-vehicle maker Nio on Saturday officially launched its new ES8, the brand’s premium flagship SUV, at its annual event, which was moved forward to September from its usual December slot.
Speaking in front of seven thousand people in Hangzhou, the company’s founder and CEO William Li presented the new ‘Horizon’ edition of the ET9 and the third iteration of the ES8.
The three-row SUV was the first production vehicle of the Shanghai-based brand, introduced in December 2017 and launched in 2018.
The second-generation version began deliveries across China in June 2023.
As of late August, cumulative sales of the first- and second-generation ES8 had exceeded 93,000 units.
The new third generation brings a significantly higher level of technology compared with the previous iteration, as competition in the premium large SUV EV segment intensifies.
The refreshed ES8 grows into a large SUV with a length of 5,280 mm and a 3,130 mm wheelbase, making it the biggest electric SUV in China.
It offers both six- and seven-seat layouts, a panoramic glass roof and zero-gravity lounge seating in the second row. Cargo capacity totals 777 liters with six passengers on board.
Performance is driven by dual motors producing 520 kW of power and 700 N·m of torque, enabling 0–100 km/h acceleration in 3.97 seconds.
Range is up to 635 km on China’s CLTC standard while using by Nio’s 900V high-voltage architecture and nationwide charging and battery-swap network.
“198 Premium Features. All standard,” the company wrote in one of the presentation’s slides.
Orders opened immediately after the event and deliveries of the new six- and seven-seat SUV are set for Sunday morning local time, about twelve hours after the launch.
The company had unveiled the model on August 21 and opened pre-orders at that time.
Deutsche Bank said earlier this week Nio has received “about 100,000” non-firm orders for the SUV, according to its dealer checks.
However, the EV maker has not confirmed or denied the figures.
The six-seat third-generation ES8 starts at 406,800 yuan ($57,190) when acquired with the battery and at 298,800 yuan ($42,000) when adopting Nio’s Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) subscription plan.
Prices start at 446,800 yuan for the Signature Edition with the battery and 338,800 for the edition with the battery rental program.
When unveiling the model last month, Nio said the pre-sale price of the Executive Premium Edition was 416,800 yuan ($58,530), including a 100-kWh battery pack, or 308,800 yuan under the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) plan.
The SUV integrates Nio’s NX9031 in-house driving chip, Qualcomm’s SA8295P and the SkyOS operating system, which underpins the company’s latest intelligent driving features.
Its perception suite includes 31 sensors, among them a roof-mounted LiDAR, enabling assisted driving across multiple scenarios.
This is the second three-row SUV launched by the Nio Group in the third quarter, following the debut of the Onvo L90 under its sub-brand in July, with deliveries starting on Aug. 1.
Deutsche Bank noted that nationwide weekly new orders of the Nio brand fell about 10% earlier this month as buyers waited for final pricing of the new model, but forecast a rebound now that the ES8 has entered the market.
The Executive Signature Edition starts from 456,800 yuan, or 348,800 yuan with BaaS. That compares with the pre-sale level announced in August, when the entry price also began at 416,800 yuan with the battery included.
Deutsche Bank said earlier this week it expected final prices to come in between 7,000 and 17,000 yuan lower than the initial pre-sale figures.
Ealier this week, Nio’s sub-brand Onvo unveiled the second iteration of its debut model, the fully electric five-seat L60 SUV.
The model brings several updates while prices remain unchanged as the brand seeks to boost demand in the highly competitive Chinese EV market.
