Nio ET7 will start locking in orders on January 20, 2022, and deliveries will begin on March 28, William Li said.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio said at Nio Day 2020 on January 9 that deliveries of the company's flagship sedan, the ET7, are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022. Now, the company has given a more exact timeline.

The ET7 will begin locking in orders on January 20, 2022, and deliveries will begin March 28, William Li, Nio founder, chairman and CEO, said at the Nio Day 2021 event on December 18.

"When we say we will start deliveries in the first quarter, you generally have to expect it to be the end of the quarter, which is industry practice," Li said with a laugh.

In total, ET7 has more than 20 configurations and features that have been optimized and enhanced during the mass production process, he added.

On November 20, the team in charge of the ET7 project spoke with interested users at an Nio House in Shenzhen.

Official reservations for the Nio ET7 are expected to open in mid-January next year, with deliveries expected to begin by the end of the first quarter, the model's project manager said at the time.

The Nio ET7 will initially be delivered at a rate of a few hundred units per month, with capacity ramp-up taking 2-3 months, the manager said, adding that the model's capacity is not something to worry about.

In a conference call after releasing its third-quarter earnings in November, Li said the company plans to have the ET7 available in showrooms around the Chinese New Year, which arrives February 1.

The release of the ET7's assisted driving capability will be a long-term process, and Nio will consider a number of factors including regulations, safety and reliability, and will not deliberately go for an autonomous driving demonstration.