Nio is offering its German customers vehicles at as much as 37% below their original list price through a short-term registration scheme, the latest attempt by the Chinese EV maker to revive demand.
The premium brand registered six vehicles in the first two months of 2026 in Europe’s largest automotive market.
The promotion, sent to the company’s German subscriber base on Tuesday, advertises the ET5 sedan, ET5 Touring wagon, and EL6 SUV from €399 per month with 0% financing, including the company’s Battery-as-a-Service subscription.
Nio has deployed twenty battery swap stations across the country allowing customers to swap their vehicle’s battery for a fully charged in one in a few minutes.
The ET5 sedan carries a promotional list price of €30,850 — down from the roughly €49,000 at which the model was originally offered — with a €3,085 down payment, 48-month term, and a balloon payment of €16,967.50 at the end.
The vehicles are classified as Kurzzeitzulassungen — cars that have been registered for a maximum of 24 hours and immediately deregistered, a common practice in Germany that allows manufacturers and dealers to reclassify unsold new vehicles as near-new inventory and sell them at steep discounts without officially cutting the new-car list price.
In its campaign email, Nio pitched the arrangement as carrying ‘decisive advantages,’ including ‘immediate availability without months of delivery waiting times,’ ‘attractive price advantages compared to conventional new cars,’ and ‘no restrictions on warranty or guarantee.’
The company described the vehicles as being in ‘new condition with minimal mileage’ of no more than 100 kilometres.
Nio framed the offer with urgency, telling subscribers they have only ‘a short time left’ to secure the ET5, ET5 Touring, and EL6 with 0% financing from €399 per month including BaaS, calling it an ‘exclusive promotion’ valid only for orders placed by March 31.
The company urged customers to ‘take the opportunity now and step into a new generation of electric mobility.’
The offer expires on March 31 as the company continues to try to sell the 2023 or 2024 model year vehicles it has across all the established and new European markets.
The lineup was refreshed in China during the first half of 2025, but updated versions have not reached the Old Continent.
Escalating Incentives
The campaign marks the third distinct promotional push Nio has launched in Germany in the first quarter of 2026, each more aggressive than the last.
In January, the company was already running 0% financing offers on the ET5, ET5 Touring, and EL6 models with no stated expiration date.
In February, after registering a single vehicle in January — its worst result since entering the market in late 2022 — Nio introduced a ‘Try & Buy’ programme for the ET7 executive sedan, allowing customers to drive the car for six months with a one-time payment of €4,500, fully credited toward the purchase price.
The latest offer goes further by combining the 0% financing with the short-term registration discount.
Six EVs in 2 Months
Nio registered one vehicle in Germany in January and five in February, according to data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
The six-unit total for the first two months of 2026 arrived in a market where German EV registrations rose 23.4% in January and 28.7% in February.
The results represent a 90% decline from the same period a year ago and continue a trajectory of collapse that has defined Nio’s German presence.
The company registered 1,263 vehicles in 2023, its first full year in the market. That figure fell 68.5% to 398 in 2024 and declined a further 18.3% to 325 in 2025.
The six vehicles sold this year across four flagship showrooms in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Hamburg amount to an average of 0.75 sales per store per month.
Restructuring
The promotional blitz coincides with a sweeping overhaul of Nio’s European operations.
As EV reported exclusively earlier this month, Nio dismantled its unified European management structure in February, splitting the region into six separate departments and shifting sales toward a dealer and distributor model.
Two of those units — Norway and a newly created European sales division — were transferred out of the European organisation entirely and placed under the company’s Global Business department in China.
The company also fired its head of German operations, David Sultzer, as part of the restructuring.
Sultzer was the third person to hold the role in roughly two years, following Ralph Kranz, who oversaw the market launch, and Marius Hayler, who lasted eight months before leaving for Polestar in June 2024.
Chinese EV makers, including Nio and XPeng face a 20.7% countervailing duty on top of the EU’s standard 10% import tariff, bringing total levies on their vehicles to 30.7%.
Chinese Rivals
Nio‘s difficulties stand in isolation among Chinese automakers operating in Germany, where nearly every other brand from the country is growing rapidly.
BYD registered 3,053 vehicles in February alone.
Its year-to-date total of 5,682 units represents growth of 1,252.9% year over year. Leapmotor, which entered through its Stellantis partnership, registered 1,091 vehicles in February, a 486.6% surge. XPeng posted 331 registrations in the month, up 104%.
Tesla, which has its only European factory near Berlin, registered 2,276 vehicles in February, up 59% year over year.
Polestar posted 296 units in the month.
