Nio‘s management said the new ES9 will generate the highest gross profit among SUVs in the company’s lineup, as the EV maker bets on larger sport utility vehicles.
The executives made the comments in several media briefings and interviews in Hangzhou over the past two days.
“The ES9’s gross profit amount is definitely the best among all of Nio‘s SUV models, and the gross margin is also OK,” the founder and CEO William Li said in a media briefing with Chinese outlets.
Li added that he expects the ES9 to have a meaningful impact on the company’s operating profit starting in the second quarter, when customer deliveries begin on June 1.
“I believe that starting from Q2, the ES9’s deliveries will bring a more visible and positive contribution to our overall operating profit,” he said, according to Tencent News.
Separately, the company’s presdiente said that the pre-sale pricing “meets Nio‘s expectations for a reasonable profit margin, takes into account the impact of raw material price fluctuations, and will fully balance the value users receive with reasonable corporate profit.”
In a video interview with automotive content creator 老霍-鑫能源 after the event, Lihong Qin said “the ES9 definitely has very reasonable gross margin.”
“Last year, the strong sales of the ES8 helped us achieve profitability in Q4, and the ES8’s gross margin was the single biggest contributor to that,” Nio‘s co-founder added.
“The ES9 has higher-spec equipment, but it’s priced more than 100,000 yuan ($14,600) above the ES8,” Qin added. “So it will certainly also have reasonable gross margin. At the same time, users are also getting more value. We think this is a particularly good win-win outcome.”
Why It Matters
The management’s statement that the ES9 will produce the highest gross profit amount of any Nio SUV is significant because the ES8 was already the key vehicle behind Nio‘s breakthrough Q4 2025 result, when the company posted its first-ever GAAP net profit of 282.7 million yuan.
Vehicle margin for the full year reached 14.6%, up from 12.3% in 2024, with the ES8 driving much of the improvement.
The ES9 is priced at a significant premium — more than 100,000 yuan above the ES8’s starting price — while sharing the 900-volt architecture and SkyRide intelligent chassis with the ET9 executive sedan.
Demand Signal
Separately, founder and CEO William Li said at a media event on Thursday that orders from first-time Nio buyers — users outside the existing owner community — were running at more than 1.5 times the pace recorded during the equivalent period after last year’s ES8 product and technology launch.
“From yesterday’s launch until now, orders from users outside our existing community were more than 1.5 times the figure from the equivalent period after last year’s ES8 product and technology launch event,” Li said.
He did not disclose absolute order figures.
Last September, the third-generation ES8 sold out its entire 2025 production capacity within 36 hours of its launch and went on to accumulate over 100,000 orders within 48 hours.
Li expressed confidence that existing Nio owners would also convert.
“Our existing users — I believe that as long as they have a genuine need, the vast majority will still come to the ES9,” the CEO said.
ES9 Pricing
The ES9 opens pre-sales in three trims, all sharing a 520 kW dual-motor powertrain and a 102 kWh CATL battery with up to 620 km of CLTC range.
The Executive Luxury Edition starts at 528,000 yuan with the battery included or 420,000 yuan under BaaS.
The Executive Signature Edition starts at 588,000 yuan, or 480,000 yuan with BaaS. The range-topping Horizon Special Edition starts at 658,000 yuan, or 550,000 yuan with BaaS.
The official launch price — due at the formal debut on May 28 — is expected to be slightly lower, in line with previous Nio launches. Customer deliveries are scheduled to begin on June 1.
