Nio Stock Jumps to 1-Year High As Wall Street Turns Bullish On New ES8 SUV

The ES8 is set to be officially unveiled at Nio Day 2025 this weekend, with Deutsche Bank expecting final prices to come down from pre-sale levels.

Nio shares rose for a fourth straight session Tuesday, climbing to their highest levels in nearly a year after Wall Street turned more bullish on the Chinese EV maker ahead of the official launch of its new ES8 SUV. 

The EV maker’s U.S.-listed stock closed up 8.2% at $7.02, marking its best day in almost a month. Its Hong Kong-listed shares mirrored the U.S. gains, advancing 8.2% to HK$55.25 in early Wednesday trading.

Deutsche Bank said dealer checks indicated around 100,000 cancellable pre-sale orders for the third-generation ES8, which opened for pre-sales in China on Aug. 21 at a starting price of 416,800 yuan ($58,630) with a 100-kWh battery pack, according to a CnEVPost report.

The bank’s research arm expects the final sticker to come down by 7,000 yuan to 17,000 yuan when the SUV is officially unveiled at Nio Day 2025 on Saturday.

The ES8 is seen as a key growth driver following the Onvo L90, which delivered 10,575 units in August, becoming the fastest Nio vehicle to cross the 10,000-unit milestone. Nio said the ES8 will reach monthly production of 10,000 units in October and 15,000 in December, supporting its fourth-quarter target of 150,000 deliveries.

Orders slowed earlier this month as customers waited for final pricing, with Deutsche Bank estimating that nationwide weekly new orders slipped about 10% to 8,300 units in the second week of September. The research arm expects demand to pick up again after the launch event.

Meanwhile, UBS on Tuesday upgraded Nio to 'Buy' from 'Neutral' with a higher price target of $8.50, citing the strength of the ES8 and Onvo L90 as well as a healthier balance sheet following Nio’s $1 billion share sale. The bank said it expects Nio to reach free cash flow breakeven by 2026.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment was ‘bullish’ amid ‘normal’ message volume.

One user remarked that despite several upgrades in recent weeks, Nio still needs to prove it can perform much better before any major rally takes hold.

Another user said they were buying aggressively ahead of Nio turning profitable, arguing that once the company posts a profit, the stock could surge sharply.

Nio’s U.S.-listed stock has risen 61% so far in 2025.

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