Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio has begun shipping its new ES8 sport utility vehicle (SUV) to more than 300 showrooms across China, adopting the same staged launch strategy it used last month with its Onvo L90 model.
The ES8, a three-row, six-seat SUV known in Europe as the EL8 because of a trademark dispute with Audi, was Nio’s first production model in 2018.
The latest, third-generation version will be unveiled at a pre-launch event in Chengdu on August 21, ahead of a formal launch at the company’s annual event in Hangzhou a month later.
Deliveries are due to begin immediately after the official launch.
Under the launch format, vehicles arrive in showrooms before the pre-launch event, allowing prospective buyers to view them in person as pre-orders open.
The company followed the same approach for the Onvo L90, with a gap of several weeks between the pre-launch presentation and the official launch event.
Nio has sought to highlight the ES8’s capabilities with a promotional road trip to Qomolangma Base Camp, powered exclusively by its battery-swap network.
The route along the G318 Sichuan-Xizang highway was recently completed with the addition of a station in Dingri County, where founder and chief executive William Li carried out the first swap with the new ES8 during a visit on Saturday.
“Proud to share an achievement from last Saturday: during my road trip from Xigaze to Qomolangma Base Camp, I joined users, colleagues and media friends to celebrate the opening of Dingri County Power Swap Station, marking the completion of Nio’s G318 Sichuan-Xizang Power Swap Route,” Li wrote on X. “I also completed the first battery swap there with the All-New ES8.”
The EV maker’s co-founder and president Lihong Qin also showcased the vehicle last week by driving it to a new facility in Gongbo’gyamda County, Tibet, where the company opened its highest battery-swap station at 4,500 metres above sea level.
The new ES8 was first revealed in June in a regulatory filing with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Li has since confirmed in a WeChat group that it will not feature electric running boards, which he said “are not needed.”
The SUV will be equipped with Nio’s in-house developed Shenji NX9031 autonomous driving chip, already deployed in its ET9 flagship sedan launched earlier this year.
The core Nio brand delivered 12,675 vehicles in July, down both month-on-month and year-on-year. The outgoing second-generation ES8 accounted for 1,090 units, or 5% of the total — its highest monthly tally so far in 2025.
