Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Over the past three weeks, Nio has been granted several design patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The patents cover the EC6 and EC7 coupe SUVs and the ES7, a five-seater SUV marketed as the EL7 in Europe due to an ongoing trademark dispute with Audi.
Other patents cover specific design elements of the vehicles, including the body structure and a key fob. Earlier this year, Nio was also awarded design patents for vehicle wheel rims.
The patents credit Kris Tomasson, Nio’s senior vice president of design, as the primary inventor. Other contributors include Andreas Nilsson, Studio Director of Nio Design Shanghai, and Collins Phillips, Senior Director at the studio.
The design patents for the EC6 and EC7 coupe SUVs were submitted in 2022, while those for the ES7, Nio’s flagship SUV, were submitted in January and granted on November 26.
Nio introduced the ES7, a five-seat electric SUV, in June 2022. At the time, the model was priced starting at 468,000 yuan (approximately $64,450) before subsidies for a version with a 485-kilometer range. The variant with the longest range was priced at 526,000 yuan before subsidies.
Here’s one of patents granted to Nio on November 26.
Currently, Nio does not sell its vehicles in the United States and only operates an R&D center in San Jose, California, which was established in the company’s early days.
Nearly three years ago, Nio’s founder and chief executive William Li announced plans to expand the electric vehicle maker’s operations to more than 25 countries and regions. While the pace of expansion has slowed, the company plans to enter over ten additional markets in the next year, supported by a dealership model aimed at facilitating entry.
Amid one of his last visits to Europe last May, William Li said the brand would “probably” expand to the UK in 2025. However, in second-quarter earnings call held in early September, Nio’s chief executive said the current European plan is now to “focus on the existing” markets.
Speaking last month to the Chinese media outlet CGTN in Azerbaijan, Nio’s co-founder and president Lihong Qin reiterated the goal. “I hope that we can expand to up to 25 different countries or regions by the end of next year. And we want to enter more than 90% of the market presence in the next five to 10 years. That’s our plan.”
However, the executive did not specify whether the United States would be included in the list of 25 countries. As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House in January next year, Chinese EV makers might face further challenges as the president-elected aims to protect the U.S. auto industry.
The company has recently its first showroom in UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi following its arrival in Israel now with a local partner.
In October, Nio announced the formation of a joint venture with its major investor CYVN Holdings, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, to expand to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region under the name Nio MENA.
As of the time of writing, Nio shares are trading 15.2% higher at $5.31.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
