Nio's move comes at a time of increasingly fierce price competition in China's EV market, which is also making model refresh cycles shorter.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Nio (NYSE: NIO) will begin delivering 2024 models in early March, and the company has also started offering discounts on current models, as price competition in China's electric vehicle (EV) sector continues to intensify.

"In 2024, we will further upgrade the smart hardware configurations of our existing models, and deliveries of new models will begin in early March," Nio said in a statement today.

"With the Chinese New Year approaching, we are offering a short-term purchase incentive for the 2023 models, and we welcome in-store inquiries," it said. The 2024 Chinese New Year holiday runs from February 10 to February 17.

Nio did not mention the exact amount of discounts it is offering for current models, or what upgrades will be available for the 2024 model.

In the Chinese EV market, new high-end EV models that were launched in the past few months have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 cockpit chip as standard, replacing the previous 8155 chip to provide a better experience.

Nio currently has eight models on sale -- ES8, ES7, ES6, EC7, EC6, ET7, ET5, ET5 Touring -- of which the first five are SUVs and the last three are sedans.

The cockpit chips in these NT 2.0 platform-based models are all Snapdragon 8155 chips, and they are expected to be upgraded to Snapdragon 8295 in the upcoming refreshes.

Nio's management has previously said that the brand will not release and deliver all-new models in 2024, but will introduce updates to existing models. Deliveries of the first model from Nio's sub-brand codenamed Alps are expected to begin in the second half of the year.

The company unveiled its executive flagship sedan, the ET9, at Nio Day 2023 on December 23, but its deliveries won't start until the first quarter of 2025.

Nio's move appears to be aimed at countering the increasingly fierce price competition in China's EV market, which is also making model refresh cycles shorter.

Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) said on January 11 that its 2024 model will be released and deliveries will begin in March, and that customers who buy the 2023 model will have purchase discounts.

Li Auto didn't mention further details, but local media reported that it was offering discounts ranging from RMB 35,000 ($4,870) to RMB 38,000, depending on the model.

On January 12, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) lowered the prices of almost its entire Model 3 and Model Y lineup in China, with the Model 3 dropping as much as nearly 6 percent and the Model Y as much as 3 percent.

Nio models have a starting price range of about RMB 300,000 to RMB 600,000, and the higher the price, the lower the sales, especially for the 7 series models.

The company delivered 18,012 vehicles in December, bringing full-year 2023 deliveries to 160,038 units, up 30.66 percent from 2022.

The ES6, Nio's main selling model, delivered 6,943 units in December, contributing 38.55 percent to Nio deliveries, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.

The ET5 Touring delivered 3,331 units in December, contributing 18.49 percent of Nio's monthly deliveries.

The regular ET5 delivered 2,167 units in December, contributing 12.03 percent.

These three models were the Nio's highest sellers in December, as well as its least expensive.

The ES7 delivered 266 units in December, the EC7 368 units, and the ET7 466 units, together contributing 1,100 units and standing at 6 percent of Nio's deliveries in December.

($1 = RMB 7.1937)

Nio Dec deliveries breakdown: ES6 at 6,943, ET5 Touring at 3,331