Spotted: the first NIOs in the wild

NIO Netherlands is based in Amsterdam, near the Amsterdam ArenA. Around that Dutch headquarters, AutoRAI.nl came across a few examples of the NIO ET7 the other day.

The first NIO ET7s in the wild

In Germany we had already been able to drive the car, but in the Netherlands we had not encountered it before. So with these specimens we have spotted the first NIOs “in the wild,” although they are most likely still specimens of the brand itself.

In the case of the white one, this is obvious, as there are large NIO stickers on the front doors. Moreover, it is literally charging at the front door of the headquarters. The dark gray one was parked a little further down the street and appears to be already a private one, were it not for the fact that it has been registered since August. Back then, cars were not delivered to customers at all.

Seeing them in a Dutch parking lot, it is striking that the ET7 is actually quite a big car. Compare it to the Tesla’s where the light gray one is next to, or the Renault Twingo next to the dark gray one. At 5.1 meters long, the ET7 is even slightly larger than a Tesla Model S, one of its direct competitors. As such, the ET7 is the new brand’s flagship model. For those who prefer a car with more modest dimensions, NIO is also coming soon with the slightly smaller ET5.

That’s special: an NIO ES8

A few weeks ago, we also happened to walk past NIO headquarters and then there was something in the parking lot that was much more special: an NIO ES8. That is the brand’s first regular series production model, introduced in 2018 and subtly facelifted in 2020. You can see that facelift model here. This example has been registered since mid-September.

What makes this ES8 such a special spotlight? Well, NIO may be planning to come to the Dutch market with several models, but the ES8 is precisely not among them for now. Incidentally, they do supply the ES8 in Norway, last year the first European country where NIO was active.