Nio has received about 100,000 cancellable orders for its third-generation ES8 SUV ahead of the model’s official launch this weekend, Deutsche Bank said in a research note on Tuesday.
Pre-sales for the ES8 began in China on Aug. 21 at RMB 416,800 ($58,630) with a 100-kWh battery pack, a lower price point compared with its predecessor. Consumers can reserve the model with a refundable RMB 5,000 deposit. Deutsche Bank analyst Wang Bin’s team said the final price, to be disclosed at Saturday’s Nio Day 2025 event, could be cut by RMB 7,000 to RMB 17,000 from the pre-sale level.
The ES8 is Nio’s latest launch following the Onvo L90 under its sub-brand, which delivered 10,575 units in August, the fastest model in company history to surpass 10,000 deliveries. Nio has said the new ES8 will reach 10,000 units monthly production in October and 15,000 in December, contributing to its goal of delivering 150,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, averaging 50,000 per month.
Deutsche Bank noted weekly new orders fell about 10% in the second week of September to around 8,300 units as buyers waited for final pricing. “We expected the weekly delivery to increase meaningfully after September 20th,” Wang’s team wrote. Earlier this week, Nio began shipping the ES8 to its nationwide stores ahead of deliveries.
Separately, UBS upgraded Nio to “buy” from “neutral,” citing stronger performance from new models and an improved balance sheet following a $1 billion share issuance announced last week. Nio’s stock closed up 8.17% at $7.02 in New York on Monday, its fourth straight day of gains.
