- The imminent launch of the third-generation ES8 and an improved balance sheet have driven Nio's stock price higher for four consecutive trading days.
- Nio will officially launch the third-generation ES8 this Saturday, with the official price expected to be further reduced from its already competitive pre-sales price.
Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) is seeing fresh success with its third-generation ES8 SUV (sport utility vehicle), and Wall Street is excited about it.
The ES8 has received about 100,000 cancellable orders to date, Deutsche Bank said in a research note today, citing its dealer check.
Nio began pre-sales of the third-generation ES8 in China on August 21, with a starting price of RMB 416,800 ($58,630) including a 100-kWh battery pack -- significantly lower than its predecessor with the same pack.
The SUV's official launch will occur this Saturday at Nio Day 2025. Prior to that, consumers can reserve the model with a refundable RMB 5,000 deposit.
The third-generation ES8's final pricing will be announced at Saturday's event. Deutsche Bank analyst Wang Bin's team expects the final price to be reduced by RMB 7,000 to RMB 17,000 from the already highly competitive pre-sales price.
The new ES8 represents Nio's latest success following the flagship SUV L90 from its sub-brand Onvo. Nio management said earlier this month that the third-generation ES8 outperformed the L90 in pre-sales during the same period.
The Onvo L90 commenced deliveries on August 1 and delivered 10,575 units in August, becoming the fastest model in Nio Inc's history to surpass the 10,000-unit delivery milestone.
During a September 2 earnings call, Nio management said the new ES8 would reach 10,000 units monthly production capacity in October and 15,000 units in December.
Nio Inc aims to deliver 150,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, averaging 50,000 monthly deliveries, the company said.
Prior to the all-new ES8's official launch, Nio Inc's nationwide weekly new orders declined by about 10 percent week-on-week in the second week of September to around 8,300 units, as potential buyers awaited final pricing, Deutsche Bank said in the research note today.
"We expected the weekly delivery to increase meaningfully after September 20th," Wang's team wrote.
Earlier this week, Nio announced it began shipping the third-generation ES8 to its Chinese stores as part of preparations for the SUV's rapid delivery rollout.
Separately, UBS upgraded its rating on Nio from neutral to buy, citing the performance of new models like the all-new ES8 and Onvo L90, as well as Nio's stronger balance sheet following its new share issuance.
The company announced last week a $1 billion share offering, with its stock rebounding after a brief dip.
Nio saw another significant surge overnight in US trading, closing up 8.17 percent at $7.02, marking its fourth consecutive trading day of gains.
Nio Inc (HKG: 9866) shares traded in Hong Kong extended the overnight US market performance in early trading today, rising 7.74 percent to HK$55.00 at press time.
($1 = RMB 7.1089)
