The Chinese company NIO is accelerating its European expansion plans. After establishing itself in the Norwegian market, the Asian firm now wants to reach other regions such as Germany, where it will put its current flagship, the ET7 F-segment saloon, on sale at a surprising price of 69,900 euros.
Its main rivals, the BMW i7 and Mercedes-Benz EQS start at 135,900 and 107,326 euros respectively in the German market; in fact, the rates of the Chinese model are relatively close to those of the smaller Mercedes-Benz EQE (63,427 euros), which falls within the E segment (executive saloons).
The NIO ET7 is 5.10 meters long and has a wheelbase of 3.06 meters. In its home market, it is available with three batteries: 70 kWh (500 km CLTC), 100 kWh (700 km CLTC), and 150 kWh (1,000 km CLTC). Initially, it will only be marketed with the first two packs, since the one with the highest capacity uses solid electrolyte cells and is not yet available.
Its propulsion train is made up of two motors capable of producing a power of 653 CV (480 kW) and a torque of 850 Nm, which allows it to complete the 0-100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds. In addition, it has adaptive suspensions and a high-performance braking system developed by the renowned specialist Brembo.
The NIO ET7 will start its deliveries at the end of the year
The ET7 integrates the NAD (NIO Autonomous Driving) semi-autonomous driving system, available under subscription. Among other things, this assistant incorporates a LiDAR with a 1,550 nm laser developed with Innovusion capable of seeing up to half a kilometer away with an angle of 120 degrees. In addition, it also has 11 8 MP cameras capable of detecting vehicles at 680 meters and pedestrians at more than 220 meters, as well as 12 ultrasonic sensors and a Wave radar.
The computer in charge of managing the autonomous driving system, ADAM, consists of 48 A78 CPU cores, 256 third-generation Tensor cores, 8,096 CUDA cores, and 68,000 million transistors, with a power of 1,016 TOPS (Tera operations per second), about 7 times higher than Tesla’s FSD.
On the technological level, its 12.8-inch vertical touch screen for the infotainment system, a laminated panoramic roof, massage seats, and a 1,000 W sound system should be highlighted. The ET7 will have access to NIO’s network of battery exchange stations, where your pack can be replaced with a fully charged one in a matter of minutes.
