Disgruntled ES7 owners have asked Nio to offer additional benefits as compensation, but have been denied.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Pre-orders for the new ES6 are already being taken, but the official launch will be in late May. William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, said the model will move quickly from official launch to delivery.

Although Nio has not yet announced the prices of the new ES6, the model is widely seen as starting at less than RMB 400,000, considering that the old ES6 previously had a starting price of RMB 386,000 including the battery.

The unveiling of the new ES6 has unexpectedly sparked discontent among many ES7 owners, who believe the upcoming SUV has a strong appeal but significantly lower prices, despite the ES7's stronger features and space.

These owners also believe that the ES7 uses many NT 1.0 platform components, while the new ES6, by contrast, uses all NT 2.0 platform components.

To calm the discontent of these ES7 owners, Nio held a communication meeting with them on April 27, with Li's personal participation.

However, a recording circulating on the Internet shows that the communication was inconclusive, and Li denied the owners' request for additional benefits, despite a lot of pressure from them.

Notably, on Weibo, a large number of users expressed support for Li, arguing that the owners' demands were unreasonable and that Nio should stick to its current stance.

($1 = RMB 6.9121)

NIO launches new ET7, unveils new ES6 at Shanghai auto show