The large in-car screen will be upgraded from the existing 10.4-inch "wide side screen" to the 11.3-inch "narrow side screen", owners only need to pay the price difference between the two screens to upgrade
Picture of ES8. PHOTO: Credit to NIO
According to EO AUTO, NIO has confirmed that it will provide a paid upgrade service for the large screen of central control for owners who have purchased ES8. The large in-car screen will be upgraded from the existing 10.4-inch "wide side screen" to the 11.3-inch "narrow side screen" just like the ES6 model.
QIN Lihong, President of NIO, said that the staff of NIO is communicating with users about the upgrade plan so that it can be officially implemented in the near future. As for the specific iteration cost, Qin said that the old ES8 owners only need to pay the price difference between the two screens to upgrade, without paying additional costs such as installation, logistics and working hours. After the upgrade, NIO will recycle the replaced screens.
"A lot of users poked fun at the wide bezels of the ES8's large central screen. But at that time, we used the largest size of the car gauge level central control screen. Some other companies use large, consumer-grade screens that do increase the screen share for aesthetic effect, but they would yellowing the bezels of the screens in demanding usage scenarios". Qin said.
Qin also said that not every car owner has the need to upgrade the screen, and NIO only provides an "option". NIO will also be pushing these updates to users irregularly in the future that are not part of the changing infrastructure and do not require iterative upgrades that change product announcements.
This is the second time that NIO has announced plans for hardware upgrades after delivery. LI Bin, the chairman of NIO, announced the ES8 upgrade plan at the second NIO Day in December last year, which allows regular users to upgrade from 70kWh to 84kWh at a discount of 60%. According to NIO, "the final price and proposal will be announced in the second quarter of 2019. Announcing a 60% discount for older car owners before the price is announced is essentially an indication of the company's attitude toward customer service.
Actually, NIO has launched a series of hardware upgrades, including the provision of power changing mode and battery upgrade scheme, as well as the new central control large screen upgrade services to enhance the user experience and get more orders. Especially after the release of NIO's financial report last month, the huge loss caused a sharp drop in the stock price, which made it urgent for the company to increase sales volume to enhance investors' confidence in NIO's profitability.
However, these plans will also come with a heavy financial burden for NIO. Qin also said the company needs to shoulder the financial burden of replacing the old screen. Some central screens are only a year old, but NIO still needs to spend time and effort on them.