US-listed shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio opened higher on early Monday, extending a 100% stock surge since the stock reached a five-year low last April at $3.02.
The share gains followed another weekend of increased store traffic across Nio‘s showrooms in China, signaling strong demand for the new ES8 pre-launched last week.
A new research note from Morgan Stanley earlier this Monday fuelled expectations with the firm saying that its checks suggest that pre-orders “may have surpassed 30,000” units.
Additionally, the automotive blogger ‘孙少军 09′ said the store traffic gained with the launch of the Nio ES8 and the Onvo L90 helped the family-oriented sub-brand to reach a new order record for its debut model L60.
“Thanks to the L90’s launch and delivery momentum, Onvo’s L60 orders in August rose 30% month-on-month to a record high,”
Last week, Onvo‘s chief Fei Shen wrote on Weibo that production of both models was running at full capacity.
“L90 production is running at full capacity, and just as busy is the L60 production line,” the long-time Nio executive wrote before mentioning a “strong momentum” for the five-seat SUV.
“Recently, L60 locked-in orders have shown strong momentum, and we are going full throttle to ensure deliveries,” Shen Fei added.
Unveiled in May 2024, the L60 was positioned as a mid-size crossover with a drag coefficient of 0.229 — which Nio said was the lowest of any production SUV — and energy consumption of 12.1 kWh per 100 km.
Built on the company’s 900V high-voltage platform, the model achieves a CLTC energy efficiency of 92.3%.
The vehicle went on sale in September last year, with deliveries beginning in later that month. Deliveries of the long-range variant followed in December.
It is offered in a standard-range 60 kWh version providing 555 km of range priced from 206,900 yuan ($28,900), and a long-range 85 kWh version with 730 km of range from 235,900 yuan ($32,900).
As of Monday, new customers face a waiting time of about four to six weeks, depending on configuration.
Despite strong initial demand — Deutsche Bank analyst Wang Bin said in September 2024 that Onvo had secured more than 30,000 non-cancelable orders — the L60 struggled in late 2024, with cancellations leading to missed delivery targets in early 2025.
Onvo had aimed to deliver 16,000 units in January and 20,000 in March, but actual volumes were less than a third of those targets.
Weekly registration data for last week will be published early Tuesday, with Nio projected to show increased output ahead of a record delivery tally for August.
The company founded and led by William Li will report its second quarter earnings results on September 2.
