High expectations are followed by sober realisation. Chinese car manufacturers have so far failed to flood the European market. Their sales figures are rising, but lag behind wishful thinking, which is not primarily due to high import duties. Brands without a long-standing history, initially only sold online, through dealer chains and now directly orderable in China, find too little customer trust. Not a few potential buyers fear that the brands will disappear as quickly as they came.
Summary: Nio's ET9 challenges European luxury car market
Chinese car manufacturer Nio is making a bold move into the European luxury car market with its ET9 model. Despite the high price tag of 103,000 euros, the ET9 offers impressive features such as semi-autonomous driving and a powerful electric motor, positioning it as a strong competitor against established German brands.
However, Nio faces challenges in gaining consumer trust in Europe, where stricter data regulations limit the full potential of its advanced driver-assistance systems. While the ET9 showcases remarkable agility and comfort, its success in the European market remains uncertain due to these regulatory hurdles and the lack of a strong brand image.
This factbox was generated by Labrador AI and proof-read by a journalist.
In addition, the software adaptation of ADAS systems, voice control and semi-autonomous driving on European roads lags far behind the capabilities in Chinese traffic. Recently, some brands have been targeting the European small car segment, and from now on the high-margin upper and luxury class. Nio is starting with the ET9. The startup is asking a proud 103,000 euros for its top model. Company founder and CEO William Li has declared 2026 as the year of destiny, because Nio is earning too little money to amortise its high investments.
That the new ET9 will change this is doubtful given the low production numbers. Even though the long luxury car with true luxury equipment would deserve it. Its handling characteristics are significantly above those of other Chinese upper-class electric cars. We drive the ET9 in its home country and speak with product manager Jonathan Rayner, who was poached from Jaguar Land Rover in England.
Europe's hurdles for Chinese brands
The traditional three-box saloon has largely fallen out of favour in the Chinese premium segment, which German manufacturers feel particularly acutely. The Chinese prefer spacious four-seaters with a sloping rear end. Thus, the 5.33 m long, 2.02 m wide, and 1.62 m high Nio ET9 presents itself as a fastback saloon, resembling an estate car. Its strength lies in its lavish comfort features and the high maturity of its ADAS systems. The semi-autonomous driving functions are impressive.
The ET9 is powered by an electric motor on each axle. Together, they deliver 520 kW/707 hp and provide 700 Nm of torque. This propels the 2.8-tonne vehicle from zero to 100 km/h in just 4.3 seconds. Without the front-end lift known from Chinese luxury saloons and without annoying body roll when steering into corners. This is because an active hydraulic suspension, which operates four times faster than the comparable system in the Porsche Panamera, levels the ET9 exemplary.
Additionally, cameras detect road damage before it is reached. More so than the predictive system of the Mercedes S-Class, Nio uploads the detected disturbances anonymously to the cloud, accessible to all vehicles. If a Nio drives over the same pothole three times, the event, including NAVI coordinates, will be accessible to all other Nios in the future, explains Jonathan Rayner. This creates a constantly growing, swarm-based database of Chinese road conditions and a comfort experience that is a distant prospect for Europe due to data protection reasons.
ET9 gets dangerously close to German premium OEMs
Its remarkable agility is thanks to the ET9's rear-axle steering, and its precise handling to the steer-by-wire steering. Developed by ZF, Nio has adapted it to German roads. From our perspective, the driving behaviour and comfort level of the ET9 outclass the rest of the Chinese competition. It gets very close to sedans from German premium brands. The ET9 drive unit draws power from a 100 kWh battery, which can be recharged from 10 to 80 percent of its capacity in 20 minutes - with a maximum of 600 kW. Alternatively, it can be swapped at Nio exchange stations, which are still scarce in Europe. A full battery is enough for just under 500 kilometres of range (WLTP). A 135 kWh battery is expected to follow.
Chinese electric cars are developed in record time, sometimes in just two years or less, if components from suppliers' shelves can be used. Driven by the entertainment industry, new features are constantly being demanded in cars as well. This not only creates enormous internal pressure, which employees counter in 12-hour shifts, but also an oversupply in the EV market with the declining purchasing power of the Chinese middle class.
Central control instead of patchwork
Nio developed the ET9 in three years because the most important assemblies were completely new and created in-house, says product manager Rayner. Still, two years less than the European standard. Rayner explains the speed with Nio's innovative development concept. While traditional brands start with the hardware platform and gradually add assemblies, Nio first defines the electronic architecture - here the 925-V platform of the ET9 including the currently most innovative available battery. Because it drives the costs. After that, Nio adapts the peripheral hardware, up to the vehicle structure made of lightweight aluminium and high-strength steels. The time gain arises from the overlapping quality assurances of both platforms and early adaptation of the production tools.
Because Nio develops without legacy issues, for example, a central control unit for all ADAS systems is used, while traditional brands use peripheral units that a central computer networks at the end. This slows down update processes because a refreshed secondary unit must first be aligned again with communication with others. In contrast, an update of the central Nio unit saves valuable time, Rayner emphasises. It takes place at short intervals with OTA updates based on the AI-supported Nvidia system Drive Orin.
Even the testing cycles for drivers at Nio are more tightly scheduled than those of traditional manufacturers, because heat and cold tests can be conducted in China, where all traffic and road conditions can also be found. Time-consuming trips to Australia, South Africa, northern Canada, and US agglomerations are eliminated. "We have conducted three winter and two summer tests for the ET9," explains Rayner, "all of them in China, where we are also not subject to any time difference. If problems arise, they are solved the next day." With the help of a multitude of developers. While Nio employs a few thousand, BYD, by the way, employs 102,000.
Sensors enable flawless partial autonomy
The 360-degree environment and the interior of the ET9 are captured by the highly sensitive Aquila Super Sensing System - an improved version compared to other Nio systems. It includes a high-precision lidar above the windscreen in the so-called watchtower. It looks up to 150 metres ahead. Its information is also used by the predictive hydraulic suspension. Two wide-angle lidars between the front wheels and front doors monitor the side traffic.
In addition, there are two high-resolution radar units, seven wide-angle cameras, as well as eight others and three surround cameras for the visual representation of the surroundings. Inside, four systems monitor the driver, twelve sensors detect the driving direction, lanes, cross traffic, and other road users, a sensor system for location determination, and a touch sensor for the hands on the steering wheel.
Their interaction in navigation-supported semi-autonomous driving is a masterpiece. The ET9 elegantly merges into flowing traffic, overtakes slower vehicles completely independently and swiftly, brakes gently before intersections, starts harmoniously after stopping, grants the recklessly crossing scooters and carelessly crossing pedestrians in China a longer life, and prevents cars changing lanes suddenly from getting damaged. Especially in the bustling city traffic of Shanghai, the system guides us flawlessly through narrow streets and parks fully automatically on request.
Chinese premiums remain a niche
Especially in semi-autonomous driving, the innovation lead of Chinese e-cars over those from Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea is most evident. For years, Chinese OEMs have been collecting data on traffic scenarios over millions of highway kilometres, in thousands of megacities and rural areas. Additionally, every sold car continuously feeds the cloud. Thus, the sheer number of vehicles in customers' hands alone makes an immense contribution to swarm intelligence.
In Europe, however, the significantly stricter regulations on collecting vehicle-related data and their storage could stifle the potential of innovative luxury vehicles from the Far East in the bud. The latest developments are known to flow into them first. This is also the case with the Nio ET9, whose ADAS potential European customers can unfortunately only use fragmentarily.
The Nio ET9 remains a well-equipped business saloon for European customers with significant price advantages over those of European brands. Its great potential in driving safety and comfort features can only be inadequately exploited, and it also lacks a sustainable brand image. Consequently, Chinese upper and luxury class saloons will hardly achieve significant sales figures in these less price-sensitive segments here.
