The opening of the facility marks the imminent start of production of ClearMotion1, an active suspension product that will be fitted to the Nio ET9, ClearMotion said.
(Image credit: ClearMotion)
Nio Capital-backed US advanced suspension startup ClearMotion has opened its facility in China, where it will soon begin volume production of active suspension products for Nio's (NYSE: NIO) executive flagship sedan, the ET9.
ClearMotion's production facility in Changshu, Jiangsu province in eastern China, officially opened on February 29, marking another important milestone in moving vehicles equipped with ClearMotion1 active suspension technology products into mass production, the startup said in a statement yesterday.
Nio's ET9, unveiled at Nio Day in December 2023, will be the first ClearMotion1-equipped vehicle, ClearMotion said.
The opening of the plant marks the imminent start of production of active suspension technology products for Nio models, it said.
ClearMotion's Changshu plant is planned to have a 7,000-square-meter production area and a 700-square-meter research and development area, according to the company.
ClearMotion is a Boston-based startup that aims to make car rides less bumpy, according to information on its website.
On September 8, 2022, Nio Capital said it led a new $39 million round of funding for ClearMotion, which will be used to support the 2024 debut of ClearMotion's active suspension, the CM1.
On August 16, 2023, Nio Capital said that construction of ClearMotion's first plant began in Changshu and product deliveries are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The plant would include more than 7,000 square meters of production area and 2,000 square meters of research and development area with a design capacity of 1.5 million products per year, Nio Capital said last August.
At the Nio Day 2023 event on December 23, 2023, Nio unveiled the ET9, with a powerful intelligent suspension system as one of the main selling points. The ET9 became available for pre-order at the time of the unveiling, with a pre-sale price of RMB 800,000 ($111,700) and deliveries set to begin in the first quarter of 2025.
(Image credit: Nio)
William Li, Nio's founder, chairman, and CEO, showed a demo video of an ET9 prototype with a four-tiered tower of champagne at the front of the car going over a speed bump without spilling the champagne. Li's presentation showed that the technology came from ClearMotion.
On the day the ET9 was unveiled, ClearMotion said in a statement that it had received a landmark production order from Nio for its active suspension technology.
The production order is for 3 million units of ClearMotion's high-bandwidth active suspension technology, ClearMotion1, which will be used to equip the next-generation Nio EV over the new product development program life, ClearMotion said on December 23 last year.
After Nio Day 2023 first demonstrated the capabilities of the ET9's suspension system, Nio shared 2 other videos on Chinese social media platforms.
On January 5, Nio posted a video showing the front wheels of the Nio ET9 prototype moving up and down at high frequencies, while two glasses filled with water placed at the front of the vehicle remained stable.
Another video shared by Nio on February 18 shows the ET9 letting the thick snow covering its body fall through strong shaking of the body.
($1 = RMB 7.1964)
