will officially launch the new ES6 and announce the price on May 24, with deliveries expected to begin within days of the launch, according to local media.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) unveiled the new ES6 on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, but did not announce an official launch date or price. Now, a new report provides additional information.

The new ES6 will be officially launched on May 24, and its price information will be announced at that time, local auto industry media D1EV reported on Thursday after visiting several Nio stores in Beijing.

The model's show cars will be available at Nio stores from the day of launch, and consumers who have recently reserved the car will be invited to test drive it in batches, according to the report.

Compared to the old ES6, the new model will keep only in the Sport version, with the previously available higher-priced Performance and Signature versions optimized to become the new ES7 model currently on sale, the report said.

Deliveries of the new ES6 will begin at the end of May, the report said, citing salespeople at Nio stores.

William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, unveiled the 2023 ET7 sedan and gave the debut of the new ES6 SUV based on the NT 2.0 platform at a brief launch event on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18.

Li did not announce the SUV's exact specifications or pricing at the time, saying only that the model's official launch would be in late May.

Nevertheless, Nio has already started allowing consumers to reserve the model with a RMB 5,000 deposit.

In an interview with local media at the time, Li said that the delivery schedule for the new ES6 would be different from Nio's previous models and that deliveries would begin soon after the launch.

Pricing information for the new ES6 has not been released, and Li said in that interview that Nio would not engage in a price war, so the model's price would not be set particularly low.

For reference, the old ES6 based on the NT 1.0 platform was previously offered in three versions -- Sport, Performance and Signature -- with starting prices of RMB 386,000 ($55,840), 426,000 and 496,000 respectively.

For Nio, the new ES6 will be a model of strategic importance, as it will be the least expensive of Nio's SUVs.

From January to August 2022, 32,877 ES6 units were delivered, contributing 46 percent of Nio's total deliveries of 71,556 units during the period, according to figures monitored by CnEVPost from the company and the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

The new ES6 is now widely seen as being powerfully equipped and competitively priced, which has sparked discontent among some owners who previously purchased the ES7 SUV.

Last month, several ES7 owners formed a WeChat group to collectively express their dissatisfaction that the upcoming new ES6 means Nio has betrayed them.

Launched on June 15, 2022, the Nio ES7 is the company's second model based on the NT 2.0 platform and the first SUV on the second-generation platform.

The Nio ES7 is currently offered in two versions, priced at RMB 468,000 and 548,000 including the battery. If consumers choose to purchase using the battery rental service BaaS, the starting price is RMB 398,000.

Nio began deliveries of the ES7 on August 28, 2022, with a cumulative total of 15,123 units delivered by the end of January this year, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

The Nio ES7 is similar in appearance and key specifications to the new Nio ES8, but smaller in size and less expensive. Previously, the model that sits behind the flagship ES8 in Nio's product array was the ES6.

Although Nio has not released information on the specifications of the new ES6, a regulatory filing in January has revealed the core specifications of the model.

The new Nio ES6 measures 4,854 mm in length, 1,995 mm in width and 1,703 mm in height, and has a wheelbase of 2,915 mm.

For comparison, the old ES6 is smaller, measuring 4,850 mm in length, 1,965 mm in width and 1,758/1,731 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,900 mm.

The new ES6 will be equipped with dual motors supplied by Nio's motor division XPT, with a maximum power of 150 kW and 210 kW respectively, the same as the ET5 sedan.

This specification is lower than the motors of the ES7, which has dual motors with a maximum power of 180 kW and 300 kW, respectively.

($1 = RMB 6.9120)

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