Chinese EV maker Nio registered 3,108 units of its flagship ES9 SUV in May, according to sales data published by China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Monday.
The figure was achieved in just four days — after customer deliveries began on May 28.
The data offers the first official read on the full-size electric SUV’s commercial launch and a baseline for tracking the model’s ramp through the second half of 2026.
Nio was able to convert orders into same-day handovers because it had pre-built at least 6,000 ES9 units at its factory and delivery centers ahead of the May 27 launch event.
Registration data also shows that Nio shipped a few hundred units to showrooms ahead of the model’s commercial debut, as the company did with the third-generation ES8 in September 2025 — placing display vehicles and test-drive units at stores nationwide so potential buyers could view and drive the vehicle from launch day.
Share of the Nio Brand
The 3,108 ES9 deliveries accounted for 15.5% of the Nio brand’s 20,013-unit total in May.
The ES8 led the lineup with 11,475 deliveries, or 57.3% of the brand’s output, while the remaining 5,430 units — roughly 27.1% — came from the rest of the model range, namely the ‘5566’ entry-level lineup.
Nio has framed the two SUVs as complementary rather than competing products.
Founder and CEO William Li said on the first-quarter earnings call that ES8 order intake rose 30% week-over-week after ES9 test drives opened on May 11, crediting showroom traffic generated by the flagship’s pre-launch campaign.
Li positioned the ES9 as an executive flagship competing with the BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS, while the ES8 serves as an all-around family and business SUV.
At nearly 5.4 meters long, the ES9 is roughly 85 mm longer than the ES8 and stands as the largest SUV in China.
Approaching 10,000 Deliveries
The ES9’s ramp has accelerated sharply since the start of June.
Several Chinese automotive bloggers reported on June 5 that the model is on track to surpass 10,000 cumulative deliveries within the month.
Subtracting the 3,108 units delivered in May, roughly 7,000 ES9s have already been handed over in the first eight days of June alone.
VP of Branding and Communications Ma Lin launched a guessing game on Weibo asking followers to predict the exact date the ES9 would reach its 10,000th delivery, hinting at the pace of the ramp.
Ma separately disclosed that the Nio brand’s average transaction price exceeded 450,000 yuan ($66,500) last week — a 15% jump from the 390,000 yuan ($57,600) average recorded in the first quarter — driven by the ES9’s high-end mix.
Nio‘s configurator showed estimated waits of 16 to 17 weeks for the two most expensive trims shortly after launch, against just three to four weeks for the entry version.
Demand is skewing toward higher-priced configurations equipped with the SkyRide fully active suspension, inverting the usual pattern in which the cheapest trim carries the longest queue.
Pricing and Pre-Launch Demand
Nio launched the ES9 on May 27 with final pricing 30,000 yuan below pre-sale levels across all three trims.
The entry Executive Luxury Edition starts at 498,000 yuan ($73,300) with the battery included, or 390,000 yuan ($57,600) under Nio‘s Battery-as-a-Service leasing program.
The mid-range Executive Signature opens at 558,000 yuan ($82,400), and the range-topping Horizon Special Edition at 628,000 yuan ($92,700).
The model drew more than 50,000 pre-orders ahead of launch, with frontline sales staff projecting a conversion rate above 50%.
Orders from buyers outside the existing Nio community ran at more than 1.5 times the equivalent pace of the ES8’s September 2025 launch, Li said at a media session the day after the April 9 unveiling.
Co-founder and President Lihong Qin has said the ES9 will generate the highest gross profit per unit among all Nio SUVs.
Q2 Outlook
Bank of China International projects the ES9 will stabilize at monthly deliveries of 3,000 to 4,000 units once the initial backlog clears, driving combined ES8 and ES9 sales above 10,000 units per month.
Deutsche Bank forecasts an average of approximately 5,000 units per month once production fully ramps in the second half.
Nio delivered 37,705 vehicles across its three brands in May, a 62.3% year-over-year increase and the company’s best monthly figure of 2026.
Management guided for second-quarter deliveries of 110,000 to 115,000 vehicles.
With 29,356 delivered in April and 37,705 in May, the two-month total stands at 67,061, leaving between 42,939 and 47,939 deliveries required in June to land inside the guidance range.
Both the ES8 and ES9 are built on Nio‘s NT3.0 platform with the same 900-volt architecture, 520 kW powertrain, and 102-kilowatt-hour CATL battery.
The ES9 adds the SkyRide intelligent chassis shared with the ET9 executive sedan, combining ClearMotion’s fully active suspension, ZF steer-by-wire, and rear-wheel steering.
