NIO ES6 2023 Review – International

Our test of the 2023 Nio ES6 took place around Shuiguan in the shadow of Beijing’s great wall – a structure built to protect China from invading hordes.

Today, it is China that’s on the verge of conquest, and in car industry terms the world’s biggest automotive market is fast becoming the global epicentre for EV manufacturing and export.

That applies to established brands such as Volvo and now Tesla, but also fledgling Chinese car-makers like BYD which have already made their way to Australia and are doing well.

Nio is among the Chinese EV start-ups to announce bold expansion plans into Australia and other markets, and the just-launched second-generation Nio ES6 – a mid-size SUV that lines up against the Tesla Model Y, among others – is central to its ambitions.

The first-generation ES6 was Nio’s most popular car, racking up 127,611 sales from launch in 2019 until production ended in April this year, ahead of first deliveries of the new series starting late May.

We’ve already tested the Nio ET5 mid-size sedan (aiming at the Tesla Model 3), the larger Nio ET7 (targeting the Tesla Model S) and the Nio ES7 large SUV (a Tesla Model X rival) – and have come away impressed, particularly with the latest-generation versions.

Other new models include the Nio EC7 coupe-style crossover and EC8 family SUV, while Nio also looks to be diverging from its luxury brand focus to more affordable model lines in future.

The ES6 is positioned among the premium set but looks to be more closely matched to the likes of Tesla and the top-shelf EVs from Kia and Hyundai than luring buyers away from European luxury marques like Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, as well as Lexus and Genesis.

Launching with a dual-motor powertrain, ES6 prices in China start at RMB368,000 ($A77,300) with a 75kWh battery, rising to RMB426,000 ($89,450) with a 100kWh battery. It is also available for RMB298,000 ($A62,570) with battery-swapping functionality (Battery as a Service, or BaaS).

Based on the current Australian market, we’d expect the ES6 – which could possibly land here in 2024, but more likely 2025 – would be priced around $100,000 plus on-road costs.

As we’ve seen with other new-generation NT2.0-platform Nio cars, the ES6 comes fully loaded in a single specification, to which various options (mainly in the form of packs) can be added.

As you might expect, pretty much everything in the 2023 Kia ES6 is electric.

The spec is high, so keyless entry, three-zone climate control and plush Haptex synthetic leather upholstery are fitted standard, although our test car came with an RMB16,000 ($A3350) package upgrading to Nappa leather.

It also had an RMB15,000 ($A3150) Comfort package adding heating, ventilation and massage to both the front and rear seats, the latter also including electric seat adjustment as standard fitment.

The front seats are really something special, offering 22-way driver’s seat adjustment and, for both front occupants, includes nine layers of materials.

What’s more, our tester had the Queen (or Lounge) Seat option which, for the princely sum of RMB8500 ($A1800), includes a four-way adjustable head restraint, triple-zone heating for the back-rest, seat cushion and leg-rest, an eight-point massage system and a single-button Comfort mode that puts the seat into what Nio describes as a zero-gravity position thanks to two 120-degree angles.

The cabin includes a panoramic roof that’s almost one square metre and is said to be the largest openable sunroof in its class.

Despite the ES6’s low 0.25Cd drag coefficient, there is a built-in roof rack. An option gives an electrically retractable tow hook as well.

Standard cars get 20-inch wheels but our test model rode on 21-inch carbon-fibre rims (RMB17,000, $A3550), along with orange brake callipers (RMB3500, $A750). There’s a choice of 10 body colours, with our test model’s Arctic Green being one of the six additional-cost hues (RMB10,000, $A2100).

Chinese buyers get a three-year/120,000km warranty together with a 10-year/unlimited-mileage warranty for the battery pack, but only for the first owner.

The 2023 Nio ES6 has yet to go through any official independent crash testing, but Nio has engineered the car for a five-star rating from safety authorities such as ANCAP and Euro NCAP.

Together with Nio’s Aquila sensor suite, which can generate up to 8GB of data per second through its 33 sensors, there is the usual array of active safety systems to keep occupants safe.

These include lane departure warning, side warning for when reversing, forward collision and door opening warning. There’s also driver fatigue monitoring, a built-in dashcam and intelligent adaptive front lighting system.

For when things go south, there’s a total of seven airbags including side curtain and a central airbag up front.

There’s also ISOFIX child seat attachments in the outboard rear seating positions.

Most noticeable on the exterior of the 2023 Nio ES6 is a watchtower sensor housing at the top of the windscreen that consist of a Lidar unit flanked by two eight-megapixel cameras, from a total seven such cameras on the car.

Aquila also contains four 3MP cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars, two high-precision positioning units, one vehicle-to-road sensor and a driver monitoring system.

Currently the only major function to really use this suite is NOP+ (navigation on pilot), which is currently still in its beta stage. This gives a high level of autonomous driving capability on highways but is dependent on high-precision mapping.

When the mapping is not available it cuts out and switches to Pilot, which is essentially a lane centring adaptive cruise control system.

NOP+ works quite well and can carry out overtaking and highway exiting manoeuvres. However, it cuts to Pilot far too frequently and can also be overly hesitant.

There is, of course, everyone’s favourite digital assistant, Nomi, with our car having the optional rotating visualisation (RMB4900, $A1050). Nomi’s capabilities in China are apparently far more extensive than in European models, with an ability to understand more random requests. On the downside, Chinese Nomi only really speaks Chinese…

That said, the system onboard the ES6 is in English and our test car features the latest Banyan 2.0.0 operating system which marks a considerable improvement in capability and performance over the previous 1.3.0 level, which other Nio models currently have until an imminent over-the-air update (OTA).

For the driver, there’s a 10.2-inch LED instrument screen and between the two front occupants is a 12.8-inch infotainment screen. The car also gets 5G connectivity and can create a Wi-Fi hotspot.

As with all current Nio models, the 2023 Nio ES6 has a dual-motor powertrain that drives all four wheels.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, like the ET5 we tested earlier this year, the ES6 also has a rear-wheel drive bias for sportier dynamics.

This is in sharp contrast to the brand’s first SUV on the NT2.0 platform, the slightly larger ES7 (aka EL7), which has a front-drive bias.

The powertrain set-up mirrors that of the ET5. At the rear axle is a 210kW silicon carbide permanent magnet synchronous motor. With a compact volume, it’s designed for low loss and high efficiency and produces 420Nm of torque.

When more power is needed, the front-axle-mounted 150kW AC asynchronous motor engages to power the front wheels. This is optimised for high power and torque (280Nm).

Its design consists of an integrated die-casting three-in-one shell and it utilises an offset coaxial gearbox, resulting in what Nio claims is a highly integrated effect.

Combined, the powertrain produces a maximum 360kW and 700Nm.

Nio claims the ES6 can accelerate from 0-100km/h in just 4.5 seconds, while deceleration from 100km/h from standstill is completed in a claimed 34.5m, thanks to a “proprietary high-performance” braking package that includes four-piston fixed callipers.

At launch, the 2023 Nio ES6 comes with a choice of either 75kWh or 100kWh battery packs.

The long-awaited 150kWh semi-solid-state pack should launch in the second half of this year, but it seems that certainly at the beginning this will be only available as a short-term rental for longer journeys.

With the standard 75kWh battery, the ES6 has a claimed driving range of 490km under China’s CLTC standard. CLTC was developed using typical Chinese EV driving habits, meaning largely slow-speed urban driving, so expect the more stringent WLTP figures to be lower.

The 100kWh battery offers a 625km range, based on CLTC.

Chinese-market Nio models can only be charged using DC current, but European and most likely Australian versions will also allow AC charging.

Perhaps surprisingly, the larger 100kWh pack is faster to charge than the smaller one, taking 26 minutes from 10 to 80 per cent state of charge compared to half an hour for the 75kWh pack.

This is due to the ability to charge the larger pack at a maximum 480A, up from 350A with the smaller battery.

Up until now, the ET5 has been Nio’s best-driving model with its rear-wheel drive bias, and in many ways the new 2023 Nio ES6 is an SUV version of the mid-size sedan. Think Tesla Model 3 versus Y.

Unfortunately, we were unable to compare the two cars side by side, but it seems that the ES6 comes close to matching the ability of the ET5.

We did, however, have a chance to try it against a regular combustion-engined BMW X3 xDrive30i M package on various manoeuvres and the experience between ICE and EV was like night and day.

Not only did the ES6 out-accelerate and out-brake the X3, but it also did an admirable job with a slalom at 50km/h. We achieved about 60km/h in the ES6 with a moose test (double lane-change manoeuvre), although Nio says that it has exceeded 80km/h.

As with the ET5, the ES6 has multi-link suspension front and rear, but like the sedan it doesn’t offer air suspension. From the driving perspective, this didn’t seem an issue, but from the back seat some bumps proved to be quite harsh.

There is, though, Nio’s in-house-developed intelligent chassis controller (ICC) which works with continuous damping control (CDC) to make up to 500 damping adjustments per second, according to the car-maker.

If anything, the ES6 seems to be more dynamically tuned than other Nio models we’ve driven, the ET5 aside. You’ve got better-weighted steering, along with a good amount of feel, while the chassis is certainly well tied-down and sportier in nature than the usual comfort bias found on Chinese-market cars.

In many ways the ES6 seems more like a high-riding station wagon than a typical SUV.

Drive modes include Sport+, Sport, Comfort, Eco and Custom. With the latter you can alter the powertrain response (slowing it up from the 4.5sec 0-100 claim to 12.9sec, which might not be a major drawcard in Australia) and other elements such as suspension stiffness, steering weight and brake regeneration.

One really welcome new feature of the latest Banyan 2.0.0 OS update is the ability to select Sport+ by simultaneously holding down the two outer buttons on the steering wheel selection pads. It’s good for when you need an extra boost from a slower mode in order to execute a quick overtake.

Another useful update with the new OS is the showing of detailed intersection pictures on the head-up display, rather than requiring you to glance either at the instrument panel or the map on the infotainment screen.

The ES6 also debuts Nio’s new intelligent smooth stop (ISS) system, which automatically eases off the braking force when the car is coming to a halt (not under emergency braking situations). From our experience, it’s not a game-changer and is largely what an experienced driver would do anyway.

The 2023 Nio ES6 has some features that will come handy on gravel roads and mild off-road conditions, but it’s not set up for serious trekking.

There are four dedicated modes to assist the driver: Snow, Sand, Towing and Wet.

We were unable to test the ES6 off-road but the ground clearance is only 165mm and the approach and departure angles are 17 and 20 degrees respectively, so the SUV will need to be handled carefully when travelling on unmade roads.

As a prestige brand, with premium prices, Nio brings with it an expectation of high cabin refinement and polish – and in this respect, we’re pleased to report the new 2023 Nio ES6 makes a strong first impression.

Karuun, a sustainably-produced rattan-based material, makes a welcome return to the interior, although it is used rather sparingly as a separator for the two levels of the dashboard and in a small insert on the back of the centre console for rear passengers.

There is Nio’s familiar twin-screen layout, luckily with the head-up display reinstated.

Materials are all of a good standard and soft-touch in all the expected places. There’s a wireless charging pad in the front, along with two USB-C ports.

On the rear of the centre console is an LCD screen for rear passengers to control the climate and the seats, including moving the front passenger seat forward. At the side of the rear seats is a control to adjust the backrest angle.

In a first for Nio, the ES6 introduces a 40/20/40-split folding rear seat arrangement, with the seats going down to create a nearly-flat floor with up to 1430 litres of cargo space. With the seats upright, the boot holds 579 litres.

The cargo area includes two hidden storage spaces. The Chinese version does not come standard with a retractable cargo blind, but we’re told export models will have one.

The new ES6 measures 4854mm long, 1995mm wide and 1703mm high, with a 2915mm wheelbase. That makes it 55mm lower in height than its predecessor, although Nio claims headroom in the rear actually increases by 75mm.

The overall measurements make it slightly bigger than rivals such as the Model Y, but keeps the five-seater ES6 planted in the medium SUV segment.

This remains more of a ‘Would I buy?’ rather than ‘Should I buy?’ question given there’s still no firm launch date for the Nio brand in Australia, which suggests the 2023 Nio ES6 is more of a 2024/25 proposition.

Sales in the UK are expected later this year, so right-hand drive production is obviously imminent. Tooling up for Europe is one thing, but with RHD manufacturing also in the mix, Nio is unlikely to wait too long to enter other key markets such as Australia.

From this first drive in China, we’d say the Nio ES6 should also draw plenty of attention Down Under.

It’s the most convincing model from the Chinese premium brand to date, with a more involving drive than even the ET5, bucketloads of advanced tech and high levels of user-friendliness and practicality.

Certainly for China, Nio expects the ES6 to be its best seller – and this is likely to be the case for the Australian market, too.

2023 Nio ES6 at a glance:
Price: $100,000 estimated (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now in China, Australia in 2024/25 (estimated)
Powertrain: Front asynchronous, rear permanent magnet synchronous motors
Output: 360kW/700Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 100kWh ternary lithium
Range: 625km (CLTC)
Energy consumption: 16kWh/100km (CLTC)
Safety rating: Not tested