Nio, the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker, has made a surprising move by offering discounts for its ES6 and ES8 models for the first time. This announcement created a buzz on the Chinese social media, with some speculating if Nio is following the trend set by Tesla or if there is something else at play.
The new incentive packages, however, are only available for cars in stock and these are the older versions of the ES6 and ES8 that are based on the 1.0 EV platform, which Nio is upgrading to the 2.0 version.
For buyers of the ES6 and ES8, Nio is offering last year's government subsidies in the form of a discount of equal amount, a three-year interest-free loan, and a RMB 15,000 discount for trading in their old car.
The ES6 and ES8 models already in stock have additional discounts of RMB 18,000 and RMB 24,000 respectively, and for cars that have been in the inventory for more than 120 days, the discount goes up to RMB 40,000 along with a servicing package and commercial insurance worth RMB 10,000.
All 2022 models of ES6 and ES8 will come with the Nio Pilot package for free, and the in-car assistant Nomi and enhanced display options are available at a reduced price. The final discount of up to RMB 5,000 is for customers who pay for their car in cash and on the spot.
Despite the discounts, Nio confirmed that the demand for its cars has not fallen and the company was inundated with requests for comments. The discounts were snapped up in just a matter of hours and there are only a few cars left. Nio confirmed that it has no plans to lower prices for its EVs and will not join the “race to the bottom.”
