Shen Fei, head of Nio’s family-focused sub-brand Onvo, has mocked claims that Chinese carmakers inflate showroom activity to exaggerate the success of new model launches.
This weekend marked the first one with both new six-seat SUVs Nio ES8 and the Onvo L90 available across over 300 showrooms in China.
The debate was sparked by the Weibo user “萝卜叔叔的车” who — without mentioning Nio or its ES8 model — questioned whether carmakers inviting crowds into stores to create the appearance of a smash hit “doesn’t count as a kind of fraud.”
“At the stage of a new car launch, inviting a bunch of people to the stores to create the appearance of a smash hit — doesn’t this count as a kind of fraud?” the user wrote on Weibo.
“For a 400,000-yuan [$55,800] car, are there really that many people interested? Will that many interested people actually buy? Sales figures are what matter most, just don’t use attendance numbers as an excuse anymore,” he added.
Nio has set a pre-sale price for the new ES8 ranging from 416,800 to 456,800 yuan. Under its Battery-as-a-Service subscription plan, the entry-level price falls between 308,800 and 348,800 yuan.
Compared with the previous generation, the new ES8’s entry-level price is 81,200 yuan lower, or 119,200 yuan cheaper under BaaS.
As final launch prices are often lower than pre-sale guidance, the ES8’s starting price is expected to fall into the 300,000-yuan range.
Although the post did not mention Nio or Onvo, Shen responded jokingly about his own visits to Nio and Onvo stores.
“Just now I went for a quick look around at the Nio Onvo store. I don’t know if I count as someone brought in just to ‘make up the numbers’, but several users on site recognised me,” Shen wrote.
“One user said he has a Nio veteran users’ group of nearly 300 people, and this time half of them have already placed orders,” he added.
“Over at the Onvo side, an L60 user who plans to pick up the car in October recognised me and pulled me over for a photo… These cars really do have product strength and competitiveness. I’m calling on more people online to come to Nio and Onvo stores to check out the cars and test drive — the livelier, the better,” he added.
At a media Q&A session on Friday, about 12 hours after the ES8’s unveiling, management said the L90 had delivered “more than 7,000 units” between August 1 and August 21.
The exchange came as Nio saw another surge in store traffic over the weekend following the pre-launch of its revamped ES8 last Thursday.
In a separate post on Monday, Shen highlighted the boost that both brands were seeing in showrooms.
“This week is the fourth week since the launch of the Onvo L90 and also the first weekend that the ES8 display cars arrived in stores. Nio + Onvo stores were packed with people,” he wrote.
“The breakthrough of the L90 has drawn more consumers’ attention to the large three-row SUV market, attracting many potential users with strong purchasing power and business-social needs to take a closer look at the ES8,” Shen Fei added while noting that sales staff “also reported that the ES8 launch has created new buzz and store traffic for the L90.”
“Many who came to see the ES8, considering their budgets and big-family usage, also ended up choosing the L90. I think everyone should choose according to their own needs — but anyway, if you’re buying a large three-row SUV, you should choose one that supports battery swapping!” the executive wrote.
Until being appointed head of the sub-brand Onvo, replacing Alan Ai, Shen Fei led Nio’s charging and battery swapping division for a decade, being one of the main responsible for the technology adoption in China.
William Li, Nio’s founder and chief executive, also posted earlier this Monday on X to praise the strong reception.
“Huge turnout the first weekend right after All-New ES8 pre-orders went live!” he wrote.
Li said the interest for Onvo‘s six-seat SUV “got a further boost too.”
“So many first-time BEV buyers, including ICE & REEV owners and even MPV shoppers, came to check out the All-New ES8. The Onvo L90 got a further boost too. Clear proof the golden era of large three-row electric SUVs has arrived. Huge thanks to our hardworking frontline teams for their detailed demos and warm reception. Let’s Jiadian!” he added.
The L90, a six- and seven-seat SUV positioned in the large family segment, began deliveries on August 1 across 44 cities in China.
Insurance registration data shows Onvo recorded 3,790 registrations in the second full week of August, its second-highest weekly tally since the brand began deliveries nearly a year ago.
Of these, 2,330 were L90s, up from 2,090 in the previous week.
