Nio shares climbed sharply in New York on Wednesday after the Chinese EV maker launched its flagship ES9 SUV at prices below the levels set at the model’s pre-sale debut six weeks earlier.
The US-listed shares were trading at $5.70 as of press time, up 8.27% on the session and giving the company a market cap of nearly $14.3 billion.
The stock opened at $5.20, matching the session low, before climbing through the morning to reach an intraday high of $5.80 — a swing of 11.31% across the day’s range.
Volume reached 61 million shares by midday, running at roughly 145% of the three-month average of 42.11 million.
A Price Cut Across the Range
Nio priced the ES9 starting at 498,000 yuan with the battery included and 390,000 yuan under its Battery-as-a-Service program, where customers lease the battery for a monthly fee.
The final pricing is 30,000 yuan, or 5.68%, below the pre-sales price of 528,000 yuan announced on April 9.
The reductions extended across all three trims.
The mid Executive Signature now starts at 558,000 yuan, or 450,000 yuan under BaaS, while the range-topping Horizon Special Edition starts at 628,000 yuan, or 520,000 yuan with battery leasing.
The full-size SUV is priced significantly lower than the Nio ET9, which starts at 788,000 yuan in China, signaling the company’s ambition to replicate the success of the third-generation ES8.
That model had a 24-to-26-week waiting time two days after orders opened in September last year — equivalent to up to half a year.
Founder and Chief Executive William Li presented the model at the launch event with about 5,000 attendees, one of the largest product launches the company has staged.
First deliveries in China are scheduled for Thursday.
Hardware
The ES9 is built on Nio‘s NT3.0 platform with a 900-volt architecture and shares the SkyRide intelligent chassis with the ET9 flagship sedan.
The powertrain’s combined maximum output reaches 520 kW, or 697 horsepower, with peak torque of 700 Nm, taking the SUV from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.3 seconds.
The entry Executive Luxury version pairs the dual-motor powertrain with a 102-kilowatt-hour battery for a CLTC range of 620 kilometers. It features steer-by-wire, rear-wheel steering, a 216-liter front trunk and 31 perception sensors.
Order Momentum
Pre-order momentum had been brisk in the weeks leading into the launch.
Chinese outlet ChinaEVHome reported earlier this week the ES9 had drawn more than 50,000 pre-orders, with frontline sales staff estimating a conversion rate above 50%, implying firm orders could exceed 25,000 soon after the launch.
Nio had built a pre-launch inventory of at least 6,000 ES9 units at its factory and delivery centers to enable same-day handover.
On the company’s first-quarter earnings call last week, Li said pre-orders had accelerated over the prior ten days and that orders from buyers outside the existing Nio community were running at more than 1.5 times the equivalent period after the 2025 ES8 launch.
Deutsche Bank expects average monthly ES9 sales to reach 5,000 units once production ramps in the second half of 2026, and lifted its 2026 delivery forecast for Nio by about 5% to around 420,000 units, citing the ES9 as a key catalyst.
Wall Street Turns Constructive
Wall Street has turned more constructive on the name in recent weeks.
CLSA, now operating as CITIC CLSA, initiated coverage of Nio‘s Hong Kong-listed shares with an Outperform rating and an HK$55 target while raising its US ADR target to $7 from $6, also at Outperform.
The broker cited two consecutive quarters of non-GAAP profitability, with first-quarter vehicle gross margin reaching 18.8%, and named the ES9 among the catalysts for its forecast.
The bullish China read sits alongside a sharply different picture in Europe, where EV reported earlier on Wednesday that Nio has told customers it will not refresh its European lineup until late 2027 and will not build new swap stations on the continent in the meantime.
