All-new ES8 and ONVO L90 Orders Surge, NIO Appeals for Workforce Coordination

NIO is facing growing production strain as market demand for the all-new ES8 and ONVO L90 remains on the rise.

Internal documents show that at the end of September, NIO Inc. formally submitted a request titled Petition for Coordinated Labor Resources to Support Capacity Expansion to the Hefei municipal government, seeking assistance in resolving approximately 1,000 labor positions by the end of October to safeguard production ramp-up.

The request stems from surging market demand for the all-new ES8 and the ONVO L90, which has put significant pressure on NIO’s manufacturing capacity.

The ONVO L90, launched in late July, delivered 21,626 units within two months—setting a new record for large all-electric SUV deliveries.

The third-generation ES8 was officially launched on September 20 and began deliveries the following day, with orders far exceeding the original annual production cap of 40,000 units.

Yang Bo, head of NIO’s user operations, previously disclosed during a livestream that ES8 buyers who placed orders before the end of September now face delivery wait times of 24–26 weeks (around six months), as overwhelming demand has sharply extended lead times.

This has pushed production capacity at NIO’s F1–F3 plants to their limits, making additional labor deployment urgent.

In its request, NIO asked local authorities to coordinate with vocational institutions in Hefei to establish dedicated internship pipelines and recommend suitable personnel to meet staffing requirements.

To alleviate production bottlenecks, NIO is taking a dual-track approach.

To appease customers facing delivery delays, the company rolled out a points-based compensation policy. Under the plan, users waiting more than eight weeks will receive 500 points per day starting from the 57th day after order lock-in. If delayed delivery leads to higher vehicle purchase taxes under the 2026 policy shift, NIO will fully reimburse the difference.

With incoming orders for new models continuing to climb, expanding factory capacity and redeploying labor have become NIO’s most pressing operational challenges.

Record-high third-quarter sales underscore robust market appetite—while simultaneously increasing the burden on NIO’s production scheduling and supply chain management.

NIO delivered 34,749 vehicles in September, up 64% year-on-year. Of these, the NIO brand accounted for 13,728 units, the ONVO brand delivered 15,246 units, and the Firefly brand delivered 5,775 units.

Cumulative deliveries for the first three quarters of the year reached 872,785 vehicles, including 762,176 units from the NIO brand, 90,279 from ONVO, and 20,330 from Firefly.