This post was originally published on Autocar
SUV flagship from UK-bound Chinese EV brand aims to mix it with BMW’s iX
Nio is a brand you’ve read plenty about on this website without ever seeing one of its cars on UK roads.Still, it remains one of the most interesting Chinese brands to arrive on European shores, with a creditable attempt at rivalling the likes of BMW and Volvo with a sleek range of models.Nio is already on sale in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands – but a bit like tomorrow, Nio’s UK launch is always coming but never arrives.Officially, that launch is still planned, and fairly soon, and given the brand’s development footprint has already extended into the UK with a facility just north of Oxford officially labelled as the “global R&D centre for performance and advanced concept engineering”. If and when it comes, the second-generation Nio EL8 – previously known as the ES8 when it became the first Nio to be sold in Europe, in Norway – would be the flagship model at the top of the Nio range.