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CHENGDU: Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio is taking on even more conventional gasoline-powered premium carmakers from BMW to Audi, launching its first sedan model on Saturday (January 9) as it targets a largest share of the world’s largest automobile market.
The launch of the ET7, at an event in the western city of Chengdu, came as rival Tesla began selling its China-made Model Y sports utility vehicle to the Chinese market.
Nio aims to expand its product line to attract more customers. In China’s passenger car market, sedans and SUVs each account for about 46 percent of total sales.
Chief Executive Officer William Li said Nio’s new battery technology will give the ET7 a driving range of more than 1,000 km between charges.
The starting price will be 378,000 yuan (US $ 58,378) for the car without the battery, one of the most expensive electrical components, which can then be rented from the company. With the battery, the starting price is 448,000 yuan.
Li said in an interview that ET7’s target rivals were BMW’s 5-series sedans, Audi’s A6, and Mercedes-Benz’s E-class.
It was “reasonable” that Nio could sell a similar number of ET7 sedans to BMW’s 5-series sedans in China in the future, Li said, but did not give details of the timeline. The starting price of the BMW 5 series is 426,900 yuan and BMW sells more than 10,000 of them every month in China.
Li said the ET7 will be equipped with lidar sensors, which help the car perceive its surroundings and are often found in autonomous cars, to aid drivers, a technology dismissed by Tesla’s outspoken director Elon Musk.
The Californian automaker, which sells Shanghai-made Model 3 sedans, has just started selling its Model Y vehicles at a starting price of 339,900 yuan. Use cameras for driver assistance.
Nio, which delivered 43,728 vehicles last year, has a market capitalization of more than $ 92 billion, outperforming conventional automakers Daimler AG and General Motors. Investors have invested billions of dollars in the development of electric vehicles.
Li said “it’s not a bad thing” when asked about the company’s high market value, but added that Nio is still a relatively small company compared to established firms like BMW in terms of sales volume.
It currently sells three SUV models built at a car factory in the city of Hefei, in eastern China.
On Thursday, Nio’s rival Xpeng announced plans to launch a new sedan model. It currently has a sedan and an SUV in its lineup.
