NIO rolls 500,000th production vehicle off assembly line as the premium EV leader in China

Chinese premium EV developer NIO celebrated a production milestone this week, rolling its 500,000th passenger vehicle off its assembly line at its F2 plant in Hefei. The company held a ceremony attended by NIO founder, chairman, and CEO William Li as it continues its reign as a leader in its given segment in China while simultaneously expanding globally.

It has been ten years since NIO ($NIO) was founded in China and seven years since it officially launched its first all-electric model – the ES8 SUV. The automaker has since launched several additional models, including the ES7, EC6, ET5, and ultra-luxe ET7 sedan.

As the Chinese automaker continues to expand the production and availability of its passenger EVs to new markets in Europe, NIO also continues to grow its network of battery swap stations. Recently, it enlisted the help of several other OEMs to help create a new battery standard system in China to streamline the charging and swapping experience for consumers.

Back in its native land, NIO currently operates as the leader in premium EVs and is celebrating its latest production milestone with a nod to the model that started it all.

NIO celebrates 500k production milestone after 7 years

According to a recent Weibo post, NIO has surpassed 500,000 production EVs built since its inception, celebrating the achievement with a ceremony held at its Hefei factory in the Anhui province of China, attended by local officials and NIO’s founder and CEO, William Li. Per the post:

The mass production of 500,000 units is not only a milestone, but also the trust and expectations of 500,000 users. Let us follow the camera and witness the moment when 500,000 mass-produced vehicles rolled off the assembly line, and witness the growth and innovation power of NIO.

To mark the completion of the 500,000th production vehicle, NIO assembled an ES8 SUV, its first model, as seen above. In addition to the production milestone, NIO shared another encouraging metric: it has ranked #1 in the premium BEV segment in China for vehicles priced at RMB 300,000 ($41,550) and above each year consecutively since 2019.

Another fascinating figure is that NIO rolled its 100,000 production EVs off its assembly lines in April 2021 and has quintupled that number in the three years since. This is more evidence of the automaker’s continued growth in an ultra-competitive EV market in China. Congrats to NIO!