In the past June, NiO delivered 40,600 new vehicles, a new high in 2026, an increase of 62.9% year-on-year. Among them, the sales volume is 400,000 yuan for NiO ES8. The NiO ES8 is the first model launched by NiO and the first smart electric vehicle in the world to complete three generations of replacement. Just past June 28th, this product celebrated its 8th birthday. To commemorate this milestone, Li Tianshu, senior vice president of NiO, officially donated his first domestic high-end pure electric mass production vehicle, the "NiO ES8 Foundation Version 0001", to the Beijing Automobile Museum. At the event, NiO announced that the ES8 five-seat edition is officially open for pre-order and will be available on July 9. As NiO's first model and sales manager, the ES8 is called the brand's "anchor model" by NiO's founder, chairman and CEO Li Bin. However, he recently admitted that the second-generation ES8 is a bit "lost" when communicating with core media such as AutoHome. Although many improvements have been made in technology, innovation, etc., there have been some mistakes in terms of user high frequency, high perception experience, and cost definition. The experience of failing on the second-generation ES8 has helped the success of the third-generation ES8 today. For new models, whether NiO's investment in each dollar can bring benefits to users, whether the benefits are high-frequency or low-frequency, will be forced to rank. They want to calculate the return rate of every penny from the perspective of the user, the user value, and maintain a reasonable gross profit margin. Many models have good sales performance in the early days of the market, but they will soon show a sharp decline. Li Bin called this slippage period "the death valley of the new car effect". Obviously, the third-generation ES8 has crossed the "new car effect death valley" stage. Since its launch in late September 2025, the new car has sold more than 120,000 units, with sales exceeding 10,000 units almost every month. In Li Bin's view, the third generation of ES8 can cross this stage because it has achieved four aspects: product definition, the high-frequency just-needed scenarios for the target users are solid enough; intelligent systems have long-term iterability; "rechargeable and replaceable upgradeable" battery recharging systems; after-sales service, users are fully respected. The attention to detail has enabled the third-generation ES8 to achieve a breakthrough. According to Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NiO, among the third-generation ES8 users, NiO brand users accounted for 20% of the increase in purchases and repurchases, and the remaining 80% were converted from other brand users. Of the 80% of converted users, 60% are traditional luxury fuel car users, with 56E (BMW 5, Audi A6, Mercedes E-Class) sedan users, and the remaining 20% are extended range users. NiO was founded with the values of honesty, caring, vision and action, and wanted to incorporate them into everything we do. Li Bin said that whether it is complementary energy, design, brand, technological innovation, etc., NiO hopes to have long-term thinking and let short-term actions serve values and long-term thinking. It is also because of adhering to such a style of behavior, so that they can maintain rapid growth in the current decline in the entire market. At the same time, Li Bin is also full of confidence in the company's future performance. With the addition of 5 versions, the sales performance of the third-generation ES8 is expected to increase by a large chunk in the future. In the large five-seat SUV market, the sales ratio of pure electricity and extended range power was 1:23 in the first quarter of 2025, which has changed 10 times to 1: 2.2 in the first quarter of 2026. Qin Lihong expects the market to still change at the same rate in the coming year. A year later, pure electric power is expected to become the main force in the big three-row SUV market. Although driven by products such as the third-generation ES8, NiO is experiencing rapid growth. However, Li Bin still said that the company still belongs to the edge of the "pass line" and does not meet the expectations of the team. It can be felt that Li Bin and NiO still have high requirements for themselves. Of course, their ambitions are not small. What heights will NiO reach in the future? The answer may be beyond some people's imagination. The following is the original text of the exchange (car house compilation): Across the "new car effect death valley" media: ES8 has been delivered for 8 years, and now there are especially many cars in the product matrix, and the flagship has ES9. What is the positioning of ES8 in the product matrix? Li Bin: In fact, a brand needs to have an anchor point. The ES8 was our first production car. It is now also responsible for the sales of the company and determines the most important part of our brand. So, it's the anchor of our brand. A brand, its anchor point is defined by its largest sales volume and relatively wide user base. So, I think, there is no doubt that the ES8 is an anchor model, not only deeply emotional, it is also the baseline of the brand. Media: In the current smart electric market, the ES8 is the only car that has gone through three generations of iteration. I would like to hear what is the most essential thought when you are making three generations of products? Li Bin: The first generation of ES8 came out at that time and achieved such a result. The price was set at 448,000. At that time, it was very difficult to achieve such a result. In the high-end pure electricity segment, the share of the generation ES8 is also very high. Back eight or nine years ago, it did two things right: one was to cater to the needs of the user experience, and the other was to let everyone feel the leading edge of technological innovation. Objectively speaking, the second generation ES8 is a bit lost. Although we have also done a lot in terms of technology, innovation, etc., we have not grasped the user's high-frequency and highly perceived experience in terms of user experience. For example, the size of the car body and the internal space are all done conservatively, and the space and space sense do not give full play to the advantages of pure electric technology. There are also some problems with cost definitions. Where the user's perception is low, too much money is spent, and not enough is invested in places where the user's perception is high. The second generation ES8 gross profit margin is not as good as the third generation. On the third-generation ES8, we made a mandatory ordering of the different scenario needs of large SUVs according to our target user base. Whether every dollar of investment can bring benefits to users, whether the benefits are high frequency or low frequency, will be forced to rank. Every penny should be calculated from the user's point of view and user value, with a reasonable gross profit margin. On the third-generation ES8, we really spend money on the points that users need, and the cost is on the blade. Media: Can you share with us the current user portrait of more than 100,000 owners of the third-generation ES8? For example, the proportion of old car owners, the proportion of BBA, the proportion of various brands, etc. Qin Lihong: Let's talk about the new ES8 customer composition. First of all, this car was out of circle. NiO's old users accounted for 20% of the increase in purchases and repurchases, and 80% were users other than NiO in the past. The second is a firm leader in the transformation of power forms. Of the 80% of users outside NiO, 60% are users of traditional luxury gasoline vehicles, and there are more users of the last car than SUVs; the other 20% is the conversion of extended-range users, basically showing a 6-2-2 pattern. This is the concept of statistics. What makes me feel more important is the spiritual level of convergence. The ES8 user also represents the entire NiO user. NiO's users are the leading users of the development of China's electric vehicle era. They are the backbone of society that pursues innovation, has responsibility and responsibility, bears great responsibility in family, society and work, and can handle it very calmly. Media: You've been referring to the “new car effect death valley” before. A new car realizes the value of the whole life cycle, is it still necessary to do something at the bottom of your own bottom? Li Bin: The new car effect death valley is the whole era of smart cars. We must answer the questions together. Now the product iteration is fast, the shelf life of many technologies is short, some products are hot when they are new, they fall down quickly, and some cars can wait until the next hot period. NiO still has some models, initially getting rid of the "new car effect death valley", the first is the third generation of the new ES8, which has been at a high level since September last year. In addition, it is a firefly, which has been on the market for more than a year. Now it is still necessary to wait for the car to be picked up, and the more it sells, the more it sells. We still have some good cars, and the Ludo L60 and L90 can still maintain good sales in the same market. There are several points behind this: First, product definition, we must consider the high frequency of the target market just to do enough solid. For example, what exactly is a spatial experience? What exactly defines a comfortable experience? These are changes that are relatively beyond intelligent technology. Second, the platform of the intelligent system should consider long-term iterability. The ET7 and ET5 released in 2022 have recently received a very large upgrade. The intelligent system adopts the world model, and everyone feels that the car has changed again. The upper limit of smart hardware must be high, and software iteration must be continued, which will form a word of mouth. It doesn't matter if you buy it early. Third, rechargeable, interchangeable and upgradeable battery mode. Generation ES8 was 70 kWh at the time, 100 kWh behind, and 150 kWh. If you upgrade a battery pack for 100,000 yuan, how can the user agree. If you really need it, you can spend dozens of dollars a day. It's a completely different experience. And finally, the way we serve our users. Whether it is NiO, Ledao, or Fireflies, we can guarantee that the price is basically stable. When we make internal decisions, every time we set a price, the user relationship department is deeply involved, and we do various surveys to understand the ideas of existing users. We need to know what it costs to do these things. This is an expression of competence. These are all done bit by bit, not by doing a good job to get through the new car effect death valley. ES8, why five? Media: At present, the five-seat SUV market of NEV is dominated by expansion. Five-seat SUV, we pay attention to the advantages of electricity replacement and light weight, including the feeling of lightness and so on. How does NiO think about this product form? Li Tianshu: We believe that the ES8 five-seater edition should be a car that can bring about a five-seater revolution. We started with a question: Would you like to make your tail shorter? Later, we thought that it should be a space-extreme product based on the value of the user. Before, we said that Ledao is a two-class minivan, and ES8 is a three-class five-seater. When the seats are all up, the capacity of the front compartment and the trunk is more than 1500 liters, and the space for the seats to fall down reaches 3000 + liters. In the past, this was a level that many cars could not reach even if they were all hollowed out. Second, there is a very important detail in the product, that is, the storage division, bringing the ultimate two rows of space. We put a lot of effort into polishing the space behind the second row of seats. In fact, why many people go to buy such an executive car of the "56E" (BMW 5, Audi A6, Mercedes E-class) is because the space is large enough at the same time, giving you a good feeling of surroundings and "separation of people and goods". Li Bin: In the trunk is the daily life, I can't see it, I'm not bothered. This is why it is important for people to buy cars: “separation of people and goods”. Li Tianshu: Third, the car is big, how can we make a better driving experience? One is NiO's self-developed smart chassis, combined with the smart and agile U-turn function, which makes many ES8 users feel quite flexible and allows us to make a better five-seater. Li Bin: At that time, whether to engage in rear wheel steering was discussed, and the internal PK was done for a very long time. We evaluated it and found that through agile turnaround and intelligent optimization, we can also achieve a turning radius similar to that of the rear-wheel steering model, that is, 11 meters. Some cars with rear wheel steering also have a turning radius of 10.7 meters and 10.8 meters. But the absence of rear steering means that the high-frequency spatial experience used every day is not affected. Li Tianshu: We believe that the high-end pure electric five-seat SUV combined with high-end pure electric technology should have a relatively large market space. For the five seats of the sedan, for the five seats of the executive sedan, and for the five seats of the SUV, this is a product that has brought about change. Li Bin: We judge that "56E" (BMW 5, Audi A6, Mercedes E-class) users will change this model if they experience a five-seat SUV. I believe that after the big five come out, this trend will be further accelerated. Media: The third-generation ES8 was a huge success. What height will the addition of the big five ES8s push the product line to? Li Bin: If we go to see that ES8 is aimed at users who are also family-friendly, we call it the "all-scene technology flagship SUV". The original three rows of seats, more to take into account the large family. Now with the big five, there may be some small families, families of three, families of four, and users with smaller families can have a better experience. We see that the market is very competitive, our peers are very hard, and they are catching up very quickly. ES8 continues to sell well for such a long time, in fact, it has lasted longer than most products in the industry. We still have a sense of crisis and are thinking about how to continue to get everyone to recognize us. Big five, giving the ES8 a new source of sales growth. On the other hand, we must continue to let more people know about us and experience our products through the sales service system and user service system. I feel that limousine users are an important user source for the five-seat ES8. These people may not have thought of changing to a large five-seat SUV, how can they come in and experience it? I think we still have a lot of very detailed work to do. Also, the entire market enters the brand clarification period. The user really wants to buy a car with a price of more than 400,000, is NiO the best choice? I think a lot of people would probably say yes. This is the brand. This means that the user has not simply compared a certain configuration and a certain function, but bought a 400,000 model to look at Weilai first, and then see which one to choose in Weilai. I think this is important. Qin Lihong: I would like to add two words. We recall that since July last year, when we released L90, Brother Bin said, "The era of pure electricity in the third row has arrived." The L90 played a striker. With the launch of the ES8 point and the launch of the ES9 this year, the pure electric power form of the current three-row SUV market is already rolling. Not only NiO, but also many excellent pure electric products. The ES8 five-seat version also has the mission of category replacement: to accelerate the arrival of the pure electric era in the five-seat SUV market. In May this year, Ledao L80 fired its first shot, and the ES8 big five in July began delivery. We have observed that there are many other excellent big five products on the market that have entered the market. In the first quarter of last year, the ratio of pure electricity and extended range sales in the five-seat SUV market was 1:23; in the first quarter of this year, it became 1: 2.2, a change of 10 times. I judge that in another year, it will change at a further 10 times the rate. Next year, the mainstream product of the big five SUVs is pure electricity. Why? Because pure electricity has the reasonableness of technology and experience. The high-voltage pure electric platform can give more space to the user, rather than to various machines. In the layout of the big five seats, people and goods can be separated very gracefully. Nowadays, people's pursuit of lifestyle is diversified, and it is possible to have more space. For pure electric vehicles, the only possible concern is the issue of mileage or refueling. There are more and more charging piles, and more and more NiO power change stations. By the end of this year, NiO will have built more than 4,600 substations in China, and there may be more than 5,000 by this time next year. Of course, mileage anxiety is not a physical problem, it is a psychological problem. Once solved, the spatial advantages of pure electricity are released. Future, still optimistic media: What is the third generation ES8 thinking about original design? How do you think the original design may bring you some deductions in the short term? Li Bin: I am now talking about smart electric vehicles from the chaos period of the brand to the clarification period. Why is it a period of chaos? Just because technology is changing and has not converged, product homogenization has not yet emerged. So we all have our own innovations. For example, some can be oil and electricity, some may be a large sofa with color TV in the refrigerator, some have three motors, and some have a shape that looks more like others... In short, everyone is doing all kinds of exploration. When users choose a car, they are often attracted to something. Technological innovation has gone through a period of explosion and is now moving towards a period of convergence. You said that the range is 800 kilometers, 900 kilometers, the user has no sense, he knows how many kilometers he drives per week. Even if he travels long distances, he barely needs 1,000 kilometers. With autonomous driving, you can't drive for more than ten hours at a time, always going to the toilet and eating. At this point, people began to pay attention to the brand. After the configuration and technology are basically flattened, everyone will start picking brands. I have done websites. Everyone chooses the fuel car era from the brand. I choose BMW or Mercedes-Benz, Audi. In the era of new energy, there are too many brands to choose from. People often pick according to the configuration, and now they can't pick because they are all the same. At this point, the user begins to return to the brand. McKinsey just released a report showing that in the past few years, the brand ranked fifth in the decision-making factor of electric vehicle purchase, and now ranks second, and I estimate that next year may be the first. At this time, why picking Wei came became a problem. I think this is the difference between the chaotic period of the brand and the clarification period. Everyone is starting to think about the brand, rather than simply comparing the configurations. After everyone is homogenized, the emotional experience becomes very important when the differentiation brought about by the functional experience becomes smaller and smaller. Just like many people buy Weilai, they just want to have Nomi. Design, whether exterior or interior, is something that can be perceived at a glance. Are you pompous or decent? Is it steady or unrestrained? Luxury or elegant? Is it original or follow? It embodies a lot of things. NiO wants to truly embody values through design. At the beginning of 2015, I talked to Li Hong and Tianshu. The three of us talked until 4 am in a hotel room. We said that we should be sincere, caring, visionary, and action. Later, we shifted from sincerity, love, vision, and action to pure, warm, futuristic, and exquisite. All NiO designs need to return to these four words for evaluation, including cars, including activities. We are still swaying on the edge of the pass line, not meeting our own expectations. Weilai did things hoping to think deeper and farther. We want everything we do to align with that goal. This is what we say about "one day, one pawn, for a long time". Even in design, we do that. However, different models and different target user groups will have different weights. How do you say I copy it? Just as we do "rechargeable and upgradeable", others can inspire us, but we can't simply copy it. This is the philosophy of NiO. Whether it is charging or switching, design, branding, technological innovation, etc., we hope to have long-term thinking. Let short-term actions serve the underlying logic and long-term thinking. Media: Affected by the rise of raw materials and computing power memory chips, in the capital market and secondary market, automobile stocks have entered a phased trough. 您怎么看待汽车估值的“下修”？包括车企应该做一些哪些调整和应对来应对？ 李斌：汽车行业面对的挑战非常大，主要是零售市场，1到5月份同比下降了接近20%。背后的原因，主要是汽车行业开始进入到存量时代。中国汽车的保有量快到3.8亿了。我觉得，大家都需要对市场有正确的预期，以前“高速增长，单边向上”的时代一去不复返。汽车行业，不是现在不够好，而是以前太好了！所以，大家也不要有恐慌的心理。资本市场都被AI项目卷走。AI是大家要迎接的机遇，也是挑战。钱都被吸走了，别的怎么办。回到汽车行业来讲，我认为不需要悲观。即使国内只有1900万辆，我认为，中国汽车品牌最终在全球应该有4000万辆的规模。在这样规模下面，智能汽车，也是一个智能化的产品，也是能源的载体，它的商业规模，不管是从深度还是从广度讲，都远远超过以前的汽车产业。现在我们仍然感到心潮澎湃才对。每一个汽车就是一个机器人、一个智能体，无非是不能变成人的样子。“买车送司机，车变安全”，这对整个社会的改变是巨大的。我觉得，我们一定要看到自身的优点。 最终，具身智能毫无疑问会变成很大的产业。然而，即使它变得再大，其实也就是和汽车产业相当。从重量来看，一辆车等于10几台，甚至几十台机器人。机器人重量就五六十公斤，一辆车平均2吨多。所以，我觉得汽车行业现在要保持定力。忘掉“汽车”两个字，记住“智能电动汽车”六个字。你要做的是“smart EV”，你就没有被淘汰；你要做的只是“Car”，就被淘汰了。不焦虑，才能聚焦在我们认为真正重要的事情上。