Electric vehicle maker Nio on Thursday held a pre-launch event for the third generation of its ES8 SUV, the company’s first mass-produced model originally released in 2018.
The new ES8, marketed in Europe as the EL8 due to a trademark dispute with Audi, is positioned as a “full-scenario technology flagship SUV” and is currently the largest pure electric SUV in the Chinese market by size.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin in late September, with the official launch to take place at Nio’s annual event next month.
The third-generation ES8 carries a starting pre-sale price of 416,800 yuan ($58,080) including the battery pack, or 308,800 yuan ($43,30) under Nio’s battery-as-a-service scheme, which allows customers to lease batteries and swap them for fully charged ones, lowering the upfront purchase cost.
Versions include six-seat and seven-seat executive trims, with prices for the top Signature Edition rising to 456,800 yuan, or 348,800 yuan with the leasing plan.
In terms of performance, the new model is built on Nio’s 900V high-voltage architecture and equipped with dual motors delivering 520 kW of peak power and 700 Nm of torque.
It accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.97 seconds and brakes from 100 km/h to a stop in 34.9 metres.
A standard 102 kWh 4C battery pack provides a CLTC range of 635 km with energy consumption of 16.6 kWh per 100 km.
Nio also plans to introduce a 120 kWh self-developed pack that will support 5C fast charging.
Ahead of the pre-launch, around 300 showrooms across China received display units of the SUV.
Earlier on Thursday, a Nio executive had suggested that the final price of the ES8 can fall in the 300,000–400,000 yuan range for buyers opting into the battery leasing programme.
The model enters an increasingly crowded six-seat SUV segment. Tesla began taking orders in China this week for its new Model Y L, priced from 339,000 yuan ($47,200), with deliveries scheduled to begin in September.
Li Auto also started nationwide deliveries of its i8 SUV on Wednesday, following its late-July launch.
As of press time, Nio shares are surging 7.4% at $5.45.
