China EV battle: NIO launches mid-size car with eye on Tesla’s market-leading Model 3

The ET5, priced from US$51,448 before subsidy, is expected to roll off the production line next September

The car will be equipped with PanoCinema, a panoramic and immersive digital cockpit boasting AR and VR technologies, NIO CEO William Li said

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An ET5 mid-size sedan, NIO’s latest model, is displayed at a showroom in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Photo: Daniel Ren

Published: 3:40pm, 19 Dec 2021Updated: 3:58pm, 19 Dec 2021

Chinese smart electric vehicle maker NIO has launched a new mid-size car featuring a “digital cockpit” that is squarely aimed at Tesla’s popular Model 3.

The Shanghai-based carmaker also said it aims to have a presence in 25 countries and regions by 2025. After beginning sales in Norway earlier this year, it plans to expand in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark in 2022.

The ET5, priced from 328,000 yuan (US$51,448) before subsidy, is expected to roll off the production line in September 2022. The car comes with PanoCinema, a panoramic and immersive digital cockpit boasting augmented reality and virtual reality technologies, said William Li, co-founder and chief executive of NIO.

“With PanoCinema, a huge screen is not necessarily needed [in a smart EV],” he told a crowd of nearly 10,000 people who attended the annual NIO Day event in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on Saturday evening.

This year’s NIO Day annual event was held at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on Saturday. Photo: Daniel Ren

The ET5’s PanoCinema system is powered by 256-colour curtain ambient lighting and Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 surround sound system, Li said.

NIO is not the first carmaker to meld AR and VR technologies into an intelligent car, but its move to create an immersive indoor experience with PanoCinema is likely to be a game-changer at a time when a huge screen is seen as the hallmark of a premium intelligent battery-powered vehicle, analysts said.