Nio's third-gen ES8 crosses 160,000 deliveries as the big SUV keeps selling

Nio has put its 160,000th third-generation ES8 on the road, handing the keys to a couple in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, who run a high-end equipment manufacturing company. The milestone landed on October 23, 2026 — just over a year after the model first reached customers.

The timing was no accident. Yang Bo, Nio’s head of user operations, had said on October 19 that the 160,000th example would be delivered before the week was out. Consider that promise kept.

A launch that changed Nio’s numbers

The third-gen ES8 debuted on September 20, 2025, with deliveries starting the very next day. It cleared 150,000 cumulative units on September 20 this year, exactly its first anniversary. The most recent 10,000 took 33 days — a touch slower than the 30 days needed to go from 140,000 to 150,000, but hardly a sign of a model running out of steam.

September alone accounted for 10,546 ES8 deliveries, the third straight month above the 10,000 mark. That was down 4.14% from August. The CPCA-sourced figure sits marginally above the 10,542 Nio initially reported on October 1.

September in context: 10,546 ES8 deliveries · 49.47% of Nio main brand volume · 28.19% of Nio Inc’s total

Zoom out and the picture gets more striking. Across the first nine months of 2026, the ES8 line notched 110,494 deliveries — 60.71% of everything the Nio main brand sold and 36.79% of the group’s output across its three marques. One nameplate is carrying more than half the core brand’s weight.

Why buyers keep picking it

The Xi’an owners cited two practical reasons: the ES8 works for business hospitality and it handles long trips well. Nio’s battery swap network also tipped the decision. That swap angle has become something of a quiet sales argument for the brand in China, where charging time still shapes purchase choices.

The five-seat bet

Nio didn’t sit on the three-row formula. On July 9 it added a five-seat ES8 variant, with deliveries beginning the following day, opening the model to buyers who want the size without the extra row.

• Launch price (five-seat, with battery): 382,800 yuan (about $56,980) — 5.9% below the three-row starting figure
• BaaS entry price: 274,800 yuan at launch, with the pack rented separately
• Purpose: push the ES8 into the large five-seat SUV segment and widen the customer pool

Nio says the third-gen ES8 has taken close to 20% of Xi’an’s large SUV market this year, enough for first place in the segment. Regional bragging rights, sure — but it tracks with the national delivery numbers.

The ES8 isn’t working alone at the top of the range. The ES9 added 7,706 deliveries in September, up 18.94% on August and good for 36.15% of main-brand volume. Together the two large SUVs accounted for 85.62% of the main brand’s September sales.

That concentration cuts both ways. It shows Nio has found a product formula that lands with Chinese buyers shopping the upper end of the SUV market. It also means the main brand’s fortunes are hitched tightly to two expensive models — a dependency worth watching as rivals pile into the same segment.