ONVO L90 Delivers 10,000 Units in 29 Days Post-Launch

NIO recently announced that all models will now come with a 100kWh battery and highlighted the delivery of 10,000 ONVO L90 units.

Despite this success, management remains cautious about future growth. They acknowledge past production challenges and stress the importance of maintaining momentum and organizational improvements as they navigate the market.

“When NIO announced on August 28 that all its models would come standard with a 100kWh battery and that the first 10,000 units of ONVO L90 had been delivered, someone posted such an exclamation on social media.”

The initial success of ONVO L90, the surprising pre-sale price of the third-generation NIO ES8, NIO’s announcement to equip all models with a 100kWh battery as standard, and the subsequent recovery of confidence in the capital market—for NIO, which entered the third quarter, it seems to have finally ushered in its “satisfying plot moment” (a reference to the rewarding, triumphant moments typical in “爽文” (shuangwen), or “power fantasy” novels).

In particular, ONVO, which has been performing steadily and even achieved a small sales surge driven by the L90 recently, has won recognition from most people.

However, amid all the buzz and praise, the senior management team of ONVO showed a rare sense of calm. Shen Fei even stated that neither the ONVO L60 nor the L90 had “reached the level they should be at” and did not think that “the good days have come.”

Qin Lihong used the phrase “after enduring for a long time, we finally see a glimmer of light, but we still need to keep moving forward” to summarize the current and future state of the ONVO brand, and even NIO as a whole, for a period of time to come.

Neither NIO nor ONVO is anywhere near the stage of “opening champagne” and sharing “success stories.” On the contrary, from the ONVO group interview held on August 28, what we saw more was the caution and self-criticism of Shen Fei and Qin Lihong.

The Fourth Quarter Will Be Decisive

“I don’t think the good days have come yet; I think it’s just okay,” Shen Fei’s first reaction was to manage expectations when he heard the media describe ONVO’s current situation as “so good.”

ONVO has recently maintained an upward momentum.

Not only did the ONVO L90 achieve sales of over 10,000 units in its first full delivery month, but Shen Fei also confirmed a widely circulated rumor: “Since the launch of the L90, whether it’s the direct drive of traffic or the expansion of its market reach, it has had a very obvious driving effect on the L60,” and “the orders for the L60 this month have also hit a new high.”

Although ONVO did not disclose specific data on how much the L90 has boosted the L60’s orders, earlier @Sun Shaojun 09 (a well-known automotive industry observer) revealed that affected by the popularity of the L90, the L60’s orders in August increased by 30% month-on-month. For reference, the delivery volume of the L60 in July was 5,976 units.

Between August 3 and 24, 4,122 units of the ONVO L60 were sold. Adding the data from August 1-2 and the last week of August, the L60’s delivery volume in August is likely to exceed 6,000 units. Combined with the L90’s delivery of over 10,000 units, ONVO’s total delivery volume in August will surpass 16,000 units.

Undoubtedly, this will make a significant contribution to NIO’s overall monthly delivery performance.

Even so, Shen Fei still believes that neither the L90 nor the L60 has “reached the level they should be at.”

He did not mention what criteria he would use to define “the good days,” but he said, “We can only talk about taking the next step to do even better when users no longer urge us to deliver the L60 and L90.”

Qin Lihong held a similar attitude. He said, “It has only been 29 days since the L90 started selling well from the first day of delivery—it hasn’t even been a full month. It’s too early to comment on (the L90’s popularity).”

So when will it be the right time to make a judgment? Qin Lihong gave a timeline: 100 days.

The existing orders for the L90 have been scheduled until October. By then, when production capacity issues are alleviated to a certain extent, they hope that the L90’s orders will remain at the current level or even rise further.

He also mentioned that due to the sharing of supply chains, the L60 currently needs to make way for the L90’s production capacity, which has prolonged the delivery time for L60 users. Therefore, “the L90 will maintain monthly sales of over 10,000 units for a period in the early stage of its launch,” which may mean that the L90’s monthly delivery volume will fluctuate in the future.

Similarly, although the third-generation NIO ES8 received a positive response after the announcement of its pre-sale price starting at 416,800 yuan, it will still take 100 days (until December) to truly test its market performance—after the upsurge of its launch period fades away.

ONVO is sparing no effort to seize this new opportunity.

Confronting Past Shortcomings

Amid the launch boom of the ONVO L90 and NIO’s repeated mentions that the order volume of the third-generation NIO ES8 has exceeded that of the ONVO L90 in the same period, NIO has maintained remarkable restraint and clarity this time.

The most direct manifestation of this clarity is the courage to confront its past shortcomings.

Production capacity has long been a key issue that NIO has been questioned about repeatedly. When the NIO ET5 was delivered, it coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to severe production capacity constraints; when the ONVO L60 was launched, it also experienced similar growing pains in production ramp-up.

Today, history seems to be repeating itself: although the L90 is produced in a different factory, its booming orders have still put pressure on the supply of shared components (such as batteries) with the L60. As a result, the L60’s production capacity has to make way for the L90 in the early stage of the latter’s delivery—even with the L80 not scheduled for delivery this year.

Qin Lihong elevated this issue to the level of organizational capability for reflection: “In the past, people were sometimes disappointed with us or had complaints, mainly because we seemed to stumble in the same place more than once… The incident with the L60 last year woke us up.”

They realized that they could no longer excuse themselves with “objective reasons” and must proactively seek a thorough solution.

As a result, we are seeing a NIO that is “rooting deeply”: Eric, the head of manufacturing, rarely makes public appearances. Instead, he spends every day in the factory, focusing on the details such as “how many units are planned to be produced today, how many are actually stored in the warehouse, and why there is a shortage of one unit.”

Shen Fei, who just transferred from NIO’s energy business to the ONVO brand in March this year, is also learning as a “newcomer” how to start from every detail of the supply chain to “push production capacity further forward” in the shortest possible time.

There are no brilliant tricks from “external experts”—only down-to-earth efforts to tackle problems bit by bit.

Growth

“Growth” was the theme of NIO Day 2025, and the third quarter is the period when NIO has focused on showing the public its phased achievements.

From the competitively priced ONVO L90, the two rounds of price adjustments for NIO’s 100kWh battery, and the pre-sale price of the third-generation ES8, to Li Bin’s statement last night that “my inescapable responsibility is to manage NIO well and ensure its survival,” NIO has recently demonstrated a strong desire to “survive.”

For NIO to “survive” and “thrive,” it is inevitably dependent on the sound development of each of its brands. However, as two brands targeting the mainstream market—NIO and ONVO—they are bound to need to differentiate their product positioning without harming each other’s interests.

Take the ONVO L90 and the third-generation NIO ES8 as examples.

Both are large three-row SUVs. Except that the frunk (front trunk) of the ONVO L90 is slightly larger than that of the third-generation ES8, there are certain gaps between the two models in terms of interior comfort, power performance, and the intelligent driving chips used. At the same time, the L90 still maintains advantages in these aspects compared with its competitors in the same class—each model has its own mission.

What NIO needs to do is explain to NIO users “where the more than 100,000 yuan (price difference) goes,” while letting ONVO users know “although there is a price difference of more than 100,000 yuan, this car is still excellent.”

Therefore, we can see that Shen Fei stated in the ONVO group interview that the launch of the third-generation ES8’s pre-sale has had a positive impact on the L90: “It will only make the L90 more well-known and sell more units.”

The achievements of the ONVO L90 and the third-generation NIO ES8 reflect the results of NIO’s internal organizational structure adjustments over the past few years—and this is probably just the beginning.

As one of the key figures in driving ONVO’s sales back on track, Qin Lihong described Shen Fei’s style with the phrase: “Director Shen always carries two things in his pocket: a bottle of cold water and a bowl of chicken soup (a metaphor for staying calm while maintaining motivation).”

Shen Fei explained his philosophy: “I believe that when things are going most smoothly, we should think more about difficulties and crises; when we are at the lowest point, during the darkest moment before dawn, we should also have confidence. It is important to maintain a stable and balanced mindset.”

Not being arrogant in victory and not discouraged in defeat—this is probably the important quality that has enabled ONVO and NIO to achieve “accumulated strength leading to a breakthrough” in this new stage.

(End)