Nio marked the first anniversary of its third-generation ES8 by handing the 150,000th example to its owner in Beijing on September 20, 2026 — exactly one year to the day since the large electric SUV went on sale. Co-founder and president Qin Lihong did the honors, passing the keys to Tang Limei, a Zhejiang University geology PhD whom Nio describes as China's first female scientist to join both deep-sea dives and polar expeditions.
The pace was consistent: the 140,000th unit was delivered on August 21 at the Chengdu Auto Show, so the final 10,000 took roughly 30 days — the same as the batch before it. Nio says cumulative ES8 sales have led both China's large SUV market and the 400,000-yuan ($59,240) price segment across all powertrain types, and set a battery-electric sales record in that price band.
Figures from the China Passenger Car Association compiled by CnEVPost put ES8 deliveries at 99,948 units from January through August, equal to 62.21% of Nio brand volume and 38.02% of the group's total. August alone brought 11,001 units, up 6.93% from July and the second straight month above 10,000, keeping it Nio's best-selling model. Together with the more upscale ES9, it made up 82.55% of the brand's August deliveries.
A five-seat variant rolled out on July 9 has helped fuel recent demand, starting at 382,800 yuan with the battery — 5.9% below the three-row launch price — and 274,800 yuan under the battery-as-a-service rental scheme. The model also leads on goodwill: it posted a Net Promoter Score of 85.3, first among all-electric vehicles in a first-half 2026 brand-health study by Land Roads.