Nio Group booked roughly 100,000 firm orders across its three brands in the four weeks to mid-June 2026, a pace that trailed only BYD and Geely among Chinese carmakers, according to Goldman Sachs’ research. The same data put the group's two-week total above 47,000 units, signaling that demand held up after the initial launch spike for its flagship ES9 SUV.

Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) sells through three brands: the premium Nio marque, the family-focused Onvo, and the compact Firefly. The surge reset the company's standing in a market it had trailed for much of the past year.

In Goldman's week-22 reading (May 25–31), Nio's weekly firm orders reached 38,810 units, ahead of Geely's Galaxy and Zeekr lines combined at 22,100, Li Auto at 8,700, and Xiaomi at 8,600. Only BYD (HKG: 1211), at 48,700, and Huawei's multi-brand HarmonyOS Intelligent Mobility alliance, at 40,680, ran higher that week.

Orders cooled in early June as the new-model effect faded, with Nio still logging about 28,000 units in the June 1–7 week, more than Li Auto, Xiaomi, and Xpeng booked together. The catalyst was the ES9, which began deliveries on May 28 after locking in tens of thousands of orders within its first days on sale.

The full-size SUV starts at 498,000 CNY (c. $73,700) and runs to 628,000 CNY (c. $92,900), with Nio's battery-as-a-service rental lowering entry pricing to 390,000 CNY (c. $57,700). It measures 5,365 mm long, uses a 900V architecture, and pairs dual motors for 520 kW (697 hp) and a 4.3-second 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) sprint. A 102 kWh NMC pack delivers 620 km (385 miles) of CLTC range, and the car adds steer-by-wire and rear-wheel steering.

Demand was not confined to the new model. Nio's updated ES8 was still drawing close to 4,000 weekly orders during the same stretch and is closing on its 120,000th delivery since launch. Combined momentum lifted May deliveries to 37,705 units, up 62.3% year-on-year, with ES9 wait times stretching to roughly 17 weeks.

The Onvo sub-brand has added a second front. Its new five-seat L80 SUV launched on May 15 and delivered nearly 6,000 units in its first half-month, while an updated L60 reached the market on June 11. Nio Inc has guided for June deliveries of 43,000 to 48,000 units, which would set a monthly record.

The order strength lands as Nio works to consolidate a financial turnaround. The company reported its second consecutive profitable quarter in the first quarter of 2026 and has reaffirmed a full-year profitability target.

Founder William Li has repeatedly cautioned against the industry habit of inflating headline order counts, arguing that locked, non-cancellable orders are the figures that matter. Goldman's tracker measures exactly that category, which lends weight to the four-week tally.

The numbers also reframe the competitive field. BYD remains the clear volume leader, though its weekly firm orders eased to about 44,100 in the most recent reading, down 8% week-on-week. Geely (HKG: 0175) has held second on steadier demand, while Huawei's alliance and Nio have swapped places week to week as launch cycles play out.

Whether Nio can hold a top-three order rank once the ES9 backlog clears will test how durable this momentum really is.

Conversion rate: 1 USD = 6.7595 CNY as of June 17, 2026