Chinese EV maker Nio has received “about 100,000” non-firm orders for its third-generation ES8 SUV since pre-sales began on August 21, Deutsche Bank said in a research note on Wednesday.
The six and seven-seat model will be officially launched at the company’s annual event scheduled for Hangzhou this Saturday, September 20.
As done with the Onvo L90, the company does not disclose any official pre-order figures.
Nio‘s SUV is expected to follow the L90 model of the Onvo sub-brand which began deliveries about twelve hours after the official launch event and reached over 10,000 units delivered in less than four weeks.
Since the pre-launch event hosted three weeks ago, customers have been able to secure a spot with a refundable deposit of 5,000 yuan — equivalent to about $690.
The ES8 was unveiled on August 21 with a pre-sale starting price of 416,800 yuan ($58,530) including a 100-kWh battery pack, a significantly lower entry point than its predecessor.
As first reported by CnEVPost, Deutsche Bank’s Wang Bin wrote on Wednesday that they expect the final price to be between 7,000 and 17,000 yuan lower than the pre-sale level.
Insurance registration data shows that between September 8 and 14, Nio Group sold 6,170 vehicles in China, including 2,425 under the Nio brand — a 4.2% weekly decline.
Deutsche Bank said nationwide weekly new orders fell about 10% in the second week of September as buyers waited for final ES8 pricing, but forecast a rebound after Saturday’s launch.
The company raised $1 billion through an equity offering announced last week, sending its stock down more than 8.6%.
However, shares rapidly rebounced to pre-offering levels.
US-listed shares jumped on Tuesday to their highest level since October 2 last year, as optimism built ahead of the ES8 launch and a fresh rating upgrade from UBS.
Nio said it would use proceeds from the offering to fund research and development, expand its model lineup across its three brands, grow its charging and battery-swap network, and bolster its balance sheet.
As of September 10, the company had installed 3,494 battery swap stations and 27,142 charging piles in China.
Founder and CEO William Li has acknowledged Nio will fall short of its 2025 target for new swap stations as it shifts investment toward a next-generation system.
