On April 1, 2019, NIO announced that the deposit payment channel of its SUV model ES6 is officially launched on its mobile application. The company has adjusted the deposit amount for ES8 and ES6 models officially, from the original CNY 45,000 to CNY 20,000 respectively. The amount of intention money has also been reduced from CNY 5,000 to CNY 2,000 for both ES6 and ES8.

Meanwhile, NIO also announced that it would upgrade its financial products from today on. A series of time-limited financial products including zero-interest installment loans, low-down payment and low-interest installment loans, as well as a variety of flexible loan schemes,  were launched for users who have already paid the deposit in April.

How it works?

According to NIO's delivery schedule, the initial limited edition 70 kWh battery version will be delivered first, in June. The performance version will be delivered from August, while the standard version will not be delivered until October.

However, the earliest delivery time in Beijing and Shanghai is later than the other regions. Because some cities need to complete the local registration procedures before the delivery.

The ES6's initial commemorative edition is limited to 6,000 units, any number of a limited edition can be chosen between 0001-6000 after paying the deposit. Users can engrave the number of limited edition on the badge on the B column.

The limitation will not affect the pick-up order; the number can be selected or changed at will before the order is settled, but cannot be changed after the order is locked.

Users need to upgrade the NIO APP to the latest version (V 3.5.0), and then click the order details in “Car Love" page to pay for the order. Several payment methods can be used. 

Besides, there are many versions of ES6 models and the launch time of each model is different.  Therefore, the corresponding order locking and production scheduling time are different too. The first batch locking time of ES6 models is as follows:

>The initial commemorative edition: the production will be arranged on May 20 if the users pay the deposit before 24:00 on May 19.

>Performance version: the production will be arranged on June 20 if the users pay the deposit before 24:00 on June 19.

>Standard version: the production will be arranged on August 20if the users pay the deposit before 24:00 on August 19.

>The user can modify the configuration or model before the order is locked; Production will be arranged after the order is locked, and the order configuration cannot be changed.

Acceptance of the New Depositing Model: Will it Work?

ES6 -high-performance, long-endurance, smart electric SUV- is the most promising product NIO. As the second model of the company, ES6 is even affordable than ES8, and its range has also improved.

NIO had previously planned to deliver the standard ES6 in December 2019, but now the delivery date is two months ahead of schedule.

According to EqualOcean, NIO has chosen to reduce ES6's deposit price rather than publishing the factory supplement based on two reasons：First, the company is short of money. The second reason is, NIO wants to test the acceptance of the pricing model. The company will follow other automakers to publish the preferential policy immediately to stimulate order growth if the results are less than expected.

Founded in November 2014, NIO is a pioneer in China’s premium EV market, and it has operated R&D centres in Beijing, San Jose, Munich and London. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange last September. However, the company accumulated a loss of CNY 9.6 billion in 2018. 

As for the gradual decline of state and local subsidies, NIO has not launched any corresponding preferential policies yet. However, NIO's competitors, BYD (比亚迪), GAC NE (广汽新能源)，ROEWE(上汽荣威) and other EV manufacturers in China, have already launched their own preferential policies.

According to the new subsidy policy in 2019, the subsidy for NIO ES6 and ES8 will decrease by CNY 65,000 and CNY 53,100 respectively. The maximum subsidy for ES6 is only CNY 27,000, which will be an ordeal for NIO's potential users. This is because the actual price paid by users was about CNY 50,000 higher than the price when the new car was released.

William Li, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of NIO, said in the report that NIO will focus on the market penetration for its ES6 and ES8 variant products and services in 2019. Indeed, the automotive industry is always evolving, but there’s still only one thing that truly matters— performance, Whether you can get government subsidies or not, making good cars is the real competitiveness of an enterprise.