Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio has opened pre-sales for its new flagship ES9 sport utility vehicle, pricing the model below its technology-sharing ET9 sedan as it seeks to expand sales in China’s premium electric vehicle segment.
Nio unveiled the ES9 at a technology event in Hangzhou on Thursday, setting a starting pre-sale price of 528,000 yuan ($77,230) including the battery pack.
The starting price is about 31% lower than the 768,000 yuan price tag of the ET9 sedan, which shares many of the same technologies and has served as a pricing benchmark for the new SUV.
The ES9 will be offered in three six-seat variants priced at 528,000 yuan, 588,000 yuan and 658,000 yuan, respectively, including battery packs.
Under Nio’s Battery-as-a-Service program, pricing falls to 420,000 yuan, 480,000 yuan and 550,000 yuan.
The company is expected to officially launch the ES9 in late May, with deliveries scheduled to begin on June 1.
Nio said the ES9 is equipped with its latest in-house technologies, including the Shenji NX9031 driving assistance chip, SkyRide chassis system and SkyOS operating system. The higher-spec Signature Edition, starting at 588,000 yuan, includes the full SkyRide active suspension package and is 23.4% cheaper than the ET9, the company said.
The SUV uses a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system producing 520 kilowatts of combined output and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds.
Powered by a 102-kilowatt-hour battery pack, the ES9 offers a driving range of up to 620 kilometers, according to the company.
The full-size SUV measures 5,365 mm in length and includes rear-wheel steering, which Nio said gives the vehicle maneuverability comparable to its smaller Firefly compact EV.
The ES9 launch continues a pricing strategy Nio previously used with the ES8, lowering prices for vehicles equipped with newer technologies to broaden customer access while maintaining premium positioning.
That strategy helped make the ES8 Nio’s best-selling model over the past six months, with the company saying the third-generation ES8 reached 90,000 deliveries as of April 3, 195 days after deliveries began.