China’s Nio Is Rumoured To Launch A New Ultra-Luxury Sedan This December
Apparently this new Nio model will be comparable to the likes of Mercedes-Maybach
President and co-founder of Nio, a Chinese automaker, Qin Lihong said the company would launch a major product on Nio Day this December and it is going to be exciting indeed. According to a CarNewsChina source familiar with this, it will be a 1 million yuan (about RM650,370) luxurious electric sedan to compete with the Maybach S class in China.
Last December, Chinese media reported Nio was developing its most expensive car yet, an ultra-luxury electric vehicle (EV) that will be unveiled in 2023. Brand CEO William Li previously announced that it would not launch any new product in 2024 and according to China car reviewer Sean from Telescope, a former employee of the brand , the new sedan will be launched in 2025.
Moreover, Nio Day will be held in Xi’an in December and while the exact date hasn’t yet been announced, according to Chinese automotive media AutoHome, the flagship sedan will have a Nio badge and won’t be operated by any of its sub brands coming in 2024 (for example, Alps and Firefly) which are instead dedicated to entry-level vehicles.
According to Telescope, the new ultra-luxury sedan will sit on Nio’s new NT3 platform, being the first EV to be equipped with the brand’s self-developed autonomous chip. It will also have an extra long wheelbase of 3.3 metres. It is so long it will be at the peak limit of what a third-generation Power Swap Station (PSS) can handle.
This means it won’t be possible to battery swap in 1.0 or 2.0 gen PSS and Nio had also unveiled a new generation 300 kW motor in August, and the new flagship EV will almost certainly feature it. The brand has had a lot on its plate recently and as such, one has to wonder if the brand is even capable of offering such a product considering the EV price war is still ongoing in China.
On top of that, aside from moving upmarket with the new flagship sedan and moving downmarket to offer more affordable EVs under Alps and Firefly brands, Nio is also developing its chips, maintaining a battery swap station network, and navigating complex expansion into European markets where it faces BBA (Chinese term for German trio Benz, BMA, Audi) on their home ground.
2024 will be a challenging year for Nio as it won’t launch new Nio-badged products with only a few facelifts expected, and it will need to market and prove the latest sub-brands.
We got all this from CarNewsChina and their full article is linked here. Thank you CarNewsChina for the information and images.
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