Nio's annual event, Nio Day, is expected to take place at the end of this month.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Another Nio (NYSE: NIO) executive has hinted at a new model announcement for the upcoming Nio Day 2023 that is expected to be held at the end of this month.

"(We're) starting to review a very significant model now. To learn more, please be patient," Nio's assistant vice president of brand and communications said on Weibo today.

"That's all I will have on Weibo today, there will be a full afternoon of Nio Day planning sessions," Ma wrote.

Nio Day is Nio's annual event, which typically unveils new models and technologies. The company has had users in its community vote on the location of the event for the past several years.

On August 13, a vote by users in the Nio community resulted in Xi'an, Shaanxi province in northwest China, being the host city for Nio Day 2023.

The date of the event has not yet been determined, though it usually falls on a Saturday in the second half of December.

William Li, Nio's founder, chairman and CEO, said in an August 29 analyst call after the EV maker reported its second-quarter earnings that the Nio brand will have no new product launches next year, but will have its regular model-year facelifts.

The first model for Nio's mass-market brand, codenamed Alps, will be released in the second half of next year, and model development was well underway, Li said at the time.

These words from Li reduced expectations for this year's Nio Day. However, Nio co-founder and president Qin Lihong said on a Nio Radio program last month that the company will have a new product and model to launch on this year's Nio Day.

There are no clues as to what the new model Nio might unveil on Nio Day 2023, but several automotive bloggers have recently speculated on Weibo that the company might unveil an ultra-luxury sedan to take on the Mercedes Maybach.

It was reported about a year ago that Nio was building an ultra-luxury sedan to take on the Mercedes Maybach S-Class.

Nio's ultra-luxury sedan was in the design stage and would be priced in the RMB 1 million ($140,000) range, local automotive media outlet Auto Home reported on December 14, 2022, citing an insider close to the project at the EV maker.

The limousine will be operated under the Nio brand, not a sub-brand, and will compete with the Mercedes-Benz Maybach S-Class, the source said.

If things go well, the model could be released as early as 2024 and sold globally, the source added.

($1 = RMB 7.1371)

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