- Nio has shared a new video showing the ET9's ability to keep its wheels glued to the road while going through a ramp at 80 km/h.
- Deliveries of the Nio ET9 are expected to take place at the end of this month.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) said it will open up test drives of its executive flagship sedan, the ET9, to visitors in a week's time, as deliveries approach.
The ET9 will be officially available for test drives next weekend, and the SkyRide chassis will be loaded for use, the electric vehicle (EV) maker's vice president of product, Ted Li, said today on Weibo.
Nio further tested the ET9's performance in a flying over ramp scenario at an airport runway in Luogang, Hefei, Anhui province, according to Li.
He shared a video on Weibo showing the ET9's ability to achieve wheels that stay close to the road surface while passing a 22.5-meter-long ramp with a height of 30 centimeters at 80 kilometers per hour.
This type of scenario is of great interest because it tests the vehicle's all-around attitude control capabilities, Li said.
The core of the SkyRide fully active suspension is to keep the body level all the time, he said, adding that the active suspension keeps the body level and stable whether it's going uphill, over the top of a ramp or downhill.
Nio unveiled the ET9 and started accepting pre-orders at Nio Day 2023 in December 2023 in an attempt to enter the luxury executive sedan market dominated by foreign brands including Mercedes Maybach.
On Nio Day 2024, December 21, 2024, the ET9 was officially launched with a starting price of RMB 788,000 ($108,930) including a 120-kWh battery pack, making it Nio's highest-priced model.
Deliveries of the ET9 are expected to take place by the end of this month. Nio has yet to announce a specific date, though some car bloggers said on Weibo that the sedan is expected to see its first deliveries on March 29.
One of the ET9's biggest selling points is the SkyRide intelligent chassis system, which Nio said is the world's first integrated hydraulic fully active suspension.
The suspension system enables transient adjustment of stiffness, damping and height, resulting in better ride comfort and increased safety, the company previously said.
Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li showed a video at last December's launch event showing that when he drove an ET9 at 160 km/h and suffered a tire blowout, the vehicle did not lose control.
On February 20, Ted Li shared a new video showing an ET9 driving at high speed with a flat tire on both the front and rear wheels on the same side.
($1 = RMB 7.2337)
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