Nio Inc.‘s management announced on Thursday that a new station wagon model for the main marque is currently under development.
The comments were made during a media briefing held after the launch of its flagship ES9 SUV, where both founder and CEO William Li and co-founder and President Qin Lihong were present.
During a brief exchange, Lihong said said that, “regarding the new wagon product — Tianshu, please arrange it.”
According to Chinese media outlet Shenzhen Xinchuxing Technology, a member of the team replied that “it’s been arranged.”
Thursday’s session marked the first time Nio‘s leadership has publicly acknowledged that a wagon model is in the pipeline.
It remains unclear whether the station wagon is a new version of the existing ET5 Touring or an entirely new model.
ET5 Touring’s Success
The confirmation follows an unexpected sales run for Nio‘s existing wagon.
When the ET5 Touring launched in China in June 2023, the battery-electric (BEV) station wagon segment in the country was minimal, as the body style is traditionally European.
The perception shifted in 2025, however, as the ET5 Touring became the Nio brand’s best-selling model for part of the year — surpassing the entry-level ES6 SUV in June and holding the top spot until the launch of the new ES8 late last year.
The wagon delivered 5,103 units in June, ahead of the ES6’s 4,415 — the first time since deliveries began in June 2023 that its monthly volume had overtaken the ES6.
It went on to deliver 4,418 units in July, 4,315 in August and 5,048 in September, leading the Nio brand each month through that stretch.
From October onwards, however, sales sharply declined.
The ET5 Touring contributed 50,869 units in 2024. Despite its several successful months in 2025, the delivery total for the year reached only 44,877 units.
The wagon’s volumes have run well below year-earlier levels, reflecting the broader decline in the older ‘5566’ series as the third-generation ES8 absorbed demand.
The brand delivered 1,334 ET5 Touring vehicles in January (down 32% year-on-year), 1,667 in February (down 34%), and 2,611 in March (down 12%).
The model saw registrations decline by 60% in April to just 2,403 units.
In China, the ET5 Touring sits within Nio‘s entry-level ‘5566‘ series, the group of four models — the ET5 sedan, ET5 Touring wagon, ES6 SUV and EC6 coupe SUV — that once formed the backbone of the premium brand’s sales before the third-generation ES8 took over.
Nio unveiled the 2026 model-year versions of all four in April, keeping prices unchanged.
The ET5 and ET5 Touring share an entry point of 298,000 yuan ($44,000), or 190,000 yuan ($28,000) under Nio‘s Battery as a Service scheme.
European Freeze
The ET5 Touring was designed in Munich, near BMW’s headquarters, by the team led by Kris Tomasson.
The wagon is a European-focused body style and forms part of Nio‘s lineup in the region.
European buyers, however, face an extended wait for model updates.
As exclusively reported by EV on Wednesday, Nio has told its European operations that there will be no model updates until late 2027, leaving the existing European range static while the company concentrates resources on its home market.
The European lineup consists entirely of 2023 and 2024 model-year stock built on the NT 2.0 platform, and Nio has been running clearance promotions on the ET5, ET5 Touring and EL6, the European name for the ES6.
The freeze indicates that the refreshed ET5 Touring — currently sold in China — is not slated to reach European customers on the same timeline.
Focus on Larger Models
The wagon comments came alongside the rollout of the ES9, the flagship SUV at the center of Nio‘s second-quarter product offensive.
Nio launched the ES9 in China on Wednesday, with prices starting from 498,000 yuan.
The pricing strategy drew an immediate market reaction.
Nio stock soared as the aggressive ES9 pricing was read by investors as an attempt to replicate the order backlog Nio built with the third-generation ES8.
The ES9 and the Onvo L80 anchor the company’s launch cadence through the second quarter.
The ES9 session also produced extended remarks from founder William Li on why automakers across the industry are building larger vehicles and how Nio approaches the trade-offs involved.
“Right now, from a business and market perspective, everyone understands that larger vehicles generally have higher profit margins, so naturally many companies are making bigger cars,” Li stated. “From a commercial standpoint, making cars larger is a reasonable choice.”
He placed Nio‘s own large models within that trend while stressing a focus on weight.
“At Nio, our models such as the ES9 and L80 are also considered large vehicles within their segments. But even when we make large cars, we try to stay restrained. For example: for a vehicle of a given size, can we make it the lightest one?”
According to the CEO, weight increases are tightly controlled internally.
“At our company, any increase in vehicle weight requires approval all the way up to me. Every kilogram matters. When we start a vehicle program, we set extremely strict weight targets,” he noted. “The product definition team has to make trade-offs. It’s not only about financial ROI — you also have to calculate the ‘ROI of weight.'”
He illustrated the point with a battery example.
“For example, compare a 102 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery with a 102 kWh ternary lithium battery. The price difference is huge,” he stated. “That difference could buy you another 100 kilograms of weight savings. Would you do it? These are exactly the kinds of trade-offs we make.”
