Nio ES9 nears 40,000 deliveries in under six months as flagship SUV anchors brand sales

• The ES9 is expected to reach its 40,000th delivery this week; as of the end of October, cumulative deliveries totaled 38,917 units.
• The ES9 and ES8 together accounted for 85.25% of Nio main brand deliveries in October.

Nio Inc's (NYSE: NIO) flagship SUV ES9 is expected to reach 40,000 cumulative deliveries this week, less than 6 months after deliveries of the premium battery electric model began.

Yang Bo, Nio's head of user operations, announced the expected milestone on Weibo on Monday, without providing further details.

The announcement comes as the ES9 and ES8 have become sales pillars for the Nio main brand, while the company's overall deliveries ended a 31-month streak of year-on-year growth in October.

The ES9 delivered 6,714 vehicles in October, maintaining a strong showing despite a 12.87% decline from September that ended 2 consecutive months of growth, according to China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) data compiled by CnEVPost.

Cumulative ES9 deliveries stood at 38,917 at the end of October, leaving the model 1,083 vehicles short of the 40,000 milestone.

The ES9 was launched in China on May 27, with deliveries beginning the following day. At launch, its starting price including the battery pack was 498,000 yuan ($74,120).

Positioned above the ES8, the model features a 6-seat layout, a 900-volt architecture and support for rapid battery swapping.

The ES9 previously reached cumulative delivery milestones of 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000 vehicles on June 26, August 8 and September 23, respectively.

In its latest regional delivery update, Nio announced on November 2 that cumulative ES9 deliveries in Shanghai, home to the company's global headquarters, had reached 3,000.

The ES9 accounted for 37.04% of Nio main brand deliveries in October. Together with the ES8, the models delivered 15,452 vehicles, representing 85.25% of the brand's monthly total.

The Nio main brand delivered 18,125 vehicles in October, up 5.73% year-on-year. However, growth at the main brand and Firefly failed to offset a decline at Onvo.

Nio Inc delivered 34,246 vehicles overall that month, down 15.23% year-on-year. Cumulative deliveries for the first 10 months of the year reached 334,547, up 38.46%.