By Jiahui Huang

Chinese electric-vehicle maker NIO's shares rose sharply after its new ES9 sports utility vehicle launch with a lower-than-expected price tag.

Its shares rose 8.4% in early Thursday, trading to 45.24 Hong Kong dollars, equivalent of $5.77, outperforming Hang Seng Index's 1.5% losses.

The gains came after NIO launched the new flagship ES9 sport-utility vehicle on Wednesday at a starting price of 390,000 yuan under its battery-swapping subscription plan, or 498,000 yuan with the battery included. Deliveries of the ES9 will start on Thursday in China.

"The pricing was quite attractive, especially for the battery-swapping option," said CCB International analyst Qu Ke. The battery-swapping feature could help preserve resale values in the long run, he added.

The new model is being closely watched as investors look to see whether NIO can introduce more popular models to sustain its sales momentum this year. The company reported a sharply narrowed first-quarter net loss of 496.0 million yuan.

NIO's key volume and margin driver ES8 also showed resilient order and delivery momentum, especially after the ES9 presale in April, HSBC Global Research analysts wrote in a recent note.

The company needs to roll out more in-demand models to further support its sales, market share and margin profile, Nomura analysts wrote in a recent note. Following positive customer feedback from ES9 preorder data, Nomura remains positive on the company and expects NIO to deliver sequential improvement in shipments and financials in the later quarters of this year.

NIO will release a five-seat version of its ES8 in the second half of the year, and it is targeting three to five new models annually over the next few years, the company's management team said during its earnings call.

Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 27, 2026 23:31 ET (03:31 GMT)

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