#NioES8

Nio, originally launched as NextEV in 2014, announced that it had delivered 3,268 electric SUVs in the third quarter of 2018. Not only does this beg the question of when Nio swapped from Formula E and electrified hypercars to utility vehicles, but it also makes us wonder how a burgeoning EV firm managed to surpass production goals. Aren’t all zero-emission automobiles that aren’t developed by established automakers supposed to languish in purgatory?

Answering the first question is easy. Nio started deliveries of the ES8 crossover last June, though it still sells the high-performance EP9 for $1.2 million. We doubt that model provided any significant contributions to overall volume in Q3. The trickier bit of this equation is figuring out how the Nio moved all that metal. While 3,200 cars is a paltry some for a mainstream manufacturer, it’s pretty damn good for a company that just started building a volume electric. Even Tesla would have been envious in 2012.

Nio, the Chinese electric vehicle startup that uses swappable batteries and implements a full-time digital assistant, wants to launch a global model that would make its way to the United States by 2020. To do it, it needs an alternative to the traditional dealer network most brands rely upon. Fortunately for Nio, it already has an app that allows for direct sales in China.

However, that doesn’t mean Americans would be comfortable with purchasing a car over the phone. Nor does it guarantee the United States would eagerly adopt the kind of vehicles Nio is building. For the most part, the North American market isn’t hugely enamored with electric vehicles, and the portions that are interested seem fiercely loyal to a specific Californian brand named after a Serbian-American inventor.