Nio‘s flagship ES9 SUV recorded 8,595 wholesale units in June, data published by China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Wednesday.
Last month marked the model’s first full calendar month on sale, after customer deliveries of the full-size electric SUV began on May 28.
In just 96 hours of availability, the brand had delivered 3,108 units across China.
Founder and Chief Executive William Li said the company delivered the 10,000th ES9 unit on June 26, exactly 30 days after the first customer handover, calling it a speed record for premium battery-electric vehicles priced above 500,000 yuan ($73,500) in China.
The ramp made the ES9 the second-highest-volume model in the Nio brand lineup in June, behind only the ES8 — to which it nearly caught up.
Considering the final three days of May, in which the EV maker delivered 3,108 ES9s, and the 8,595 vehicles registered in June, total deliveries of the model have now surpassed 11,700 units.
At an estimated average selling price above 500,000 yuan ($73,600), the ES9 generated more than $600 million in revenue in June alone.
Delivery Ramp
The near-tripling of ES9 volume from May to June reflects the unwinding of a large pre-launch backlog.
Nio had built at least 6,000 ES9 units at its factory and delivery centers ahead of the May 27 launch event, allowing same-day handovers when customer deliveries started the following day.
Final pricing came in 30,000 yuan below pre-sale levels across all three trims.
The entry Executive Luxury Edition starts at 498,000 yuan ($73,300) with the battery included, or 390,000 yuan ($57,400) under the Battery-as-a-Service leasing program.
The mid-tier Executive Signature opens at 558,000 yuan ($82,200), and the range-topping Horizon Special Edition at 628,000 yuan ($92,500).
Nio paired the launch with aggressive financing, led by a 60-month installment plan offering zero interest for the first 24 months and a 3% annualized fee over the remaining 36 months.
Frontline sales staff projected a conversion rate above 50% from pre-orders to firm orders, and analysts counted more than 25,000 non-cancellable orders early in the ramp.
According to William Li, 70% of the ES9’s first 10,000 buyers were new to the brand, suggesting the flagship is pulling conquest customers from luxury combustion marques such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi rather than cannibalizing existing Nio demand.
Nio‘s main brand registered an average selling price of 443,000 yuan ($65,200) in June, up 14% from the 390,000 yuan ($57,400) average reported for the first quarter of 2026.
President Qin Lihong has said the ES9 carries the highest gross profit of any Nio SUV.
Waiting Times
Days after deliveries began, Nio‘s online configurator showed estimated waits of 16 to 17 weeks from order lock for the two most expensive trims, against just three to four weeks for the entry model — a gap that inverts the usual pattern in which the cheapest, highest-volume trim carries the longest queue.
Longer queues for the priciest configurations suggest buyers are skewing toward the models equipped with the SkyRide fully active suspension, steer-by-wire, and the Horizon Special Edition’s two-tone exterior treatment.
As of Wednesday, the configurator shows the entry Executive Deluxe Edition — the cheapest trim — carrying estimated delivery waits of three to four weeks from configuration lock.
The more expensive trims, including the Horizon Special Edition and the Executive Signature, still show waits of 15 to 16 weeks.
Launch-period promotional benefits — including zero-down-payment financing, an accessory set, a delivery gift box, and five years of free NOP+ assisted driving — remain available to customers who lock an ES9 order through July 31.
Nio Brand Results
Across the main Nio brand, total wholesale volume rose 9.5% month over month to 21,908 units in June. The ES9 drove the entire gain — every other model in the lineup declined.
The entry-level range bore the steepest losses — combined wholesale volume for the ES6, ET5, ET5T, and EC6 fell to 4,208 units in June from 5,260 in May, a 20.0% drop.
For the first time ever, Nio failed to deliver a single unit of its EC7 coupé SUV.
The ET9 executive flagship sedan — with which the ES9 shares several features — registered 125 wholesale units in June, down 19.4% from 155 in May.
Nio‘s ES8 recorded 8,969 wholesale units in June, seeing deliveries fall for the second consecutive month.
The decline brought the model below 10,000 monthly units for the first time since the third-generation version’s production ramp in October 2025 — ending an eight-month streak above that threshold.
Part of the softness may reflect buyers waiting for the forthcoming five-seat variant.
Nio will open orders for the five-seat ES8 on Thursday (July 9) — less than 24 hours after the CPCA data was published.
Vice President of Branding and Communications Ma Lin has said the five-seat version will not be heavily discounted, describing it as the same vehicle with two fewer seats rather than a separately positioned product.
Management is counting on the variant to address a segment it estimates at roughly three times the size of the three-row market, appealing to buyers who want maximum cargo space without a third row.
Second-quarter deliveries across the group reached 107,658 vehicles, falling 2,342 units short of the low end of management’s 110,000-to-115,000 guidance range.
