NIO’s new large SUV gets faster, smarter, larger, and more luxurious than ever before at a price that will hit rivals where it hurts.
NIO has officially unveiled its third-generation ES8 SUV with pre-sales opening up from as little as RMB 308,800 (£32,000 / $43,000) with the BaaS battery rental model.
The ES8 will be offered in six and seven seats variants, with both sizes offered in the Executive Premium Edition trim, and the six-seater offered in the flagship Premium Signature Edition.
All versions sit on a 900-volt platform and use a 102kWh battery, with rental of the battery reducing the pre-sale starting price by RMB 108,000 (£11,300 / $15,150).
Official sales will begin in late September, with purchase incentives for both new and existing customer available until then.
All variants of the ES8 pack 520kW of power delivered via a 180kW motor on the front axle and a 340kW motor on the rear axle, with peak torque of 700Nm.
That’s enough to propel the ES8 to 100kph in just 3.97 seconds, slower than several of its rivals but NIO has rarely prioritised speed and acceleration over its core fundamentals of luxury interiors, technology, ride quality.
Like the ET9 saloon, the ES8 gets a triple-lidar set up with one mounted above the windscreen and two on either side, boosting the safety and reliability of their World Model ADAS system.
A CLTC range of 635km is quoted from the 102kWh battery, which as you would expect is swappable, and there’s a peak charging power of 600kW possible from NIO’s NT3 platform.
While the ES8 doesn’t benefit from rear-wheel steering, it does get dual-chamber air suspension with 100mm of height adjustment, and it gets the ET9’s tighter front steering meaning a turning radius of just 5.7-metres.
The new model represents a significant evolution from its predecessor, growing from a mid-large SUV to a full-size SUV that now measures 5,280mm long, 2,010mm wide, 1,800mm tall, with a wheelbase of 3,130mm.
As such, it dwarfs rivals such as the Denza N9, Li Auto L9, Zeekr 9X, IM LS9, and the Lynk & Co 900, the latter of which is 40mm shorter but has a 30mm longer wheelbase, becoming the largest fully-electric SUV available in China today.
It features NIO’s updated, more vertical design language with an abruptly styled front end featuring a powered 230-litre frunk, and retains the last generation’s flat windowline but with rear shoulder sculpting that is a nod to the original ES8’s iconic shape.
NIO’s familiar slit daytime running lights feature at the front together with High-Definition Projection Lights, while the rear gets a thicker than previous full-width LED lightbar consisting go 600 SuperRed LEDs, while the wheels come in 20-, 21-, or 22-inch variants.
The interior is designed around a cocooning cabin theme with seamless ambient lighting and a ‘Skyline’ dashboard display, collectively termed PanoSpace, which offers nine themes and 16 dynamic lighting effects.
Soft-touch materials cover 52 m² of the cabin, with seats upholstered in Nappa leather and diamond quilting, door cards featuring real wood and brushed metal speaker covers, and microfibre rooflining.
Four interior themes are available: Pamir Brown, Warm Gravel, Gangri Blue, and Sappanwood Red, with the latter two demonstrated in NIO’s official images.
Slim screens ahead of the driver and passenger provide essential information and infotainment controls, while the main central screen is a 15.6-inch AMOLED unit powered by the Snapdragon 8295 chip and running NIO’s SkyOS system.
Twin panoramic windows feature, complete with electronic sunblinds, either side of a fold-down 21.4-inch mini-LED screen for the back seats, and a pair of vanity mirrors for second-row occupants.
Audio comes courtesy of a 27-speaker NIO LYRA sound system producing 2,600W of output in an 8.1.4.2 format and compatible with Dolby Atmos audio.
Six-seat variants of the ES8 get three zero-gravity seats, with the front passenger seat and both second-row seats capable of laying back, tilting the base cushion, and extending a legrest for full body support.
Even the third-row gets 130-degree backrest recline and heating, with first and second-row seats getting the full package of heating, ventilation, and massaging functions, 10-point on the front seats and 16-point in the second-row.
With all seats in place, total boot space is as much s 547-litres with an additional 132-litres under the boot floor, enough, NIO claim, to accommodate six adults, ten 20-inch cases, and two 14-inch cases.
In what may well be a world-first, the ES8 also boasts five-zone climate control, with even the third-row getting its own temperature control.
As you may expect, there’s a heating and cooling drawer in the rear with an 8.8-litre capacity, capable of storing consumables from as low as 2°C up to 55°C, controlled via a small screen on the back of the centre console or via voice control.
Second-row seats get sunblinds built into the doors to provide extra protection from the sun, while the six-seater seats also get phone chargers built into the seat.
The ES8 utilises a centralised computing architecture which combines NIO’s in-house NX9031 chip, triple lidar units, and 28 other sensors to offer highway and urban autonomous assisted driving.
It also features 11 airbags as standard, with airbags able to detect the proximity to the occupants and adapt accordingly.
Adaptive airbags in the second-row also still operate successfully when the seats are fully reclined, with the ES8’s safety being validated through 72 crash tests.
Pricing for the Executive Premium Edition six- and seven-seater variants starts from RMB 416,800 (£43,300 / $58,000), or from RMB 308,800 (£32,000 / $43,000) with the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) subscription plan.
The Executive Signature Edition starts from RMB 456,800 (£47,500 / $63,600), or from RMB 348,800 (£36,200 / $48,500) with BaaS.
NIO supports these vehicles with a network of 8,173 charging and battery swap stations across China.
