Nearly four years after debuting its first-generation SUV model, NIO is on the cusp of officially unveiling its 2023 EC6 refresh and is poised to roll it out quickly. The revamped electric SUV will make its official launch this Friday with initial customer deliveries to begin almost immediately.
The EC6 was first announced in 2019 as NIO’s third overall model, all of which had been SUVs up to that point. The Chinese EV automaker has since expanded its lineup to include multiple sedans, as well as new SUVs, but continues to produce the flagship models that started it all a mere five years ago.
Out of NIO’s eight current models however, the EC6 is the last to make the transition over to the automaker’s second generation NT 2.0 EV platform. We learned a refresh was coming in late August, when NIO executives confirmed the plans during a Q2 earnings call.
Days later, we got our first spy images of the EC6 refresh alongside news of a September debut. Today, NIO has confirmed a launch event taking place in China on September 15 and is reportedly ready to begin rolling out the new SUV immediately.
NIO EC6 already in showrooms, deliveries imminent
NIO shared the following images of the refreshed EC6 SUV on its Weibo page today, alongside details of the official launch, scheduled for 8PM Beijing time on Friday, September 15 (8 a.m. EST).
Minutes after officially confirming the launch event, NIO followed up by sharing EC6 deliveries will begin the following day on September 16. According to a post on the NIO app, the refreshed SUVs are already present in showrooms ahead of Friday’s launch and will be available for test drives.
NIO has yet to share pricing of the new EC6, but the first-generation came in three versions priced at RMB 396,000 ($54,300), RMB 436,000 ($59,800), and RMB 496,000 ($68,000) respectively. Still, the automaker has opened pre-orders for the EC6 for RMB 5,000 ($685) that also comes with RMB 1,000 in NIO credits.
Pre-orders will end before the launch event later this week as NIO intends to immediately open its order books and start getting the SUVs to customers in China while the hype remains at a high. No word yet on when we might see the second generation EC6s make their way to NIO’s current markets in Europe, but we are sure to learn more following the launch event, so stay tuned.
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