Nio‘s all-new ES8 large SUV delivered 10,542 vehicles in September, down 4.2% from August but above 10,000 for a third consecutive month, the company said on Thursday.
The model accounted for 49.5% of the Nio brand’s 21,318 deliveries in the month and 28.2% of the 37,408 vehicles delivered by Nio Inc.
ES8 deliveries totaled 31,829 in the third quarter, down 4.9% from the second quarter, and 110,485 in the first nine months of the year.
Deliveries of the third-generation model only began on September 21, 2025. The ES8 has delivered more than 10,000 vehicles in 10 of the 11 months since November 2025, with June, at 8,969, the only exception.
Its best month remains December 2025, when it delivered 22,258.
A Year on Sale
The ES8 reached its 150,000th delivery on September 20, the first anniversary of its launch, with Co-founder and President Qin Lihong handing over the car to an owner in Beijing.
It was the fifth straight batch of 10,000 deliveries to take 30 days, after the 100,000th on April 23.
Nio said the ES8 ranked first by cumulative retail sales among large SUVs and among vehicles priced around 400,000 yuan ($59,700) between September 2025 and August 2026, citing China Passenger Car Association data (CPCA).
The company also said the ES8 had the highest net promoter score among fully electric models, citing studies by the Chinese research firm LandRoads.
Founder and CEO William Li argued on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on September 1 that the ES8 had avoided the quick fade typical of new models in China.
“But for the ES8, it may be the first model that is breaking away from this market trend,” Li said, through an interpreter.
5-Seat and New Wheels
Nio added a five-seat version on July 9, priced from 382,800 yuan ($57,100), or 274,800 yuan ($41,000) under its battery-rental plan.
That is 24,000 yuan ($3,600), or 5.9%, below the starting price of the six- and seven-seat versions, which cost 406,800 to 446,800 yuan ($60,700 to $66,600).
“Many ES8 Large Five-Seat buyers may come from the 400,000–500,000 yuan luxury sedan segment,” Li said the day after the launch.
Geely‘s Zeekr followed a week later with a five-seat version of its 9X SUV.
On September 21, Nio added the Lanyue package of 22-inch forged wheels and gold brake calipers, priced at 25,800 yuan ($3,800) on the Executive Luxury and 10,800 yuan ($1,600) on the Executive Signature.
Buyers who ordered an ES8 by September 30 received a 10,000-yuan ($1,500) allowance toward optional equipment and 24 months of interest-free financing, Nio said.
Nio has not said whether the offer will continue in October as potential customers face a short wait.
Nio’s online configurator showed on Thursday morning that the five-seat Executive Luxury and Executive Signature, the latter priced from 422,800 yuan ($63,100), and the seven-seat Executive Luxury could be collected 2 to 3 weeks after an order is locked.
The wait for the top versions of the ES9 was 9 to 10 weeks.
The Group’s Largest Seller
The ES8 is Nio Inc.’s best-selling model, ahead of the ES9, the flagship SUV that passed 30,000 deliveries on September 23.
Li has set a target of more than 40,000 deliveries a month for the whole group in the fourth quarter, against 37,408 in September.
Nio has not announced a new Nio-brand model for the rest of 2026.
The brand’s next new models will come from its cheaper 5 and 6 series in 2027, Li said on the September 1 call.
