Nio EL8 review: Chinese electric SUV arrives in the UAE

Welcome to the future: copious tech, voice commands and in-car fragrance system

Chinese EV brand Nio unveiled its first Middle Eastern model, the EL8, at Anantara Santorini Abu Dhabi Retreat. All photos: Nio

The EL8 has a range of about 500km

The cabin looks minimalistic, but is tech-heavy

The EL8 is more than five metres long

The base price is a substantial Dh359,900 ($98,000)

Need speed? The EL8 can hit 100kph in about four seconds

It has the presence of an SUV, but off-roading in an EL8 will not show the vehicle off at its best

Nio shows off the EL8's poolside buddies, the EC6 and ET5, but Middle East customers will have to wait a bit longer for their arrival

A new electric car manufacturer has launched in the Middle East with ambitions to take on the region’s most entrenched brands. Nio, a Chinese EV company, showed off its EL8 model at a recent showcase event in Abu Dhabi.

The car is the manufacturer’s flagship six-seater SUV, and it’s clearly been designed to cope with a future where autonomous driving is an everyday occurrence. That is not to say the EL8 isn’t a decent vehicle to drive – it is.

The amount of tech in the car even rivals anything currently available today, and a lot of it is geared towards helping both driver and passengers in as many ways as possible. While nothing jumps out from the decor and dashboard set-up inside the EL8, it’s all about voice commands in here. So if you want something to happen, you ask Nomi, the car’s built-in AI set-up connected to ChatGPT.

I asked it to tell a joke. It did. Not a funny one, admittedly, but stand-up careers have been based on less.

Seemingly, every driver aid and add-on I can possibly think of is included with the EL8, including an in-car fragrance system. Its detection system, which is what effectively powers all those aids, stretches for some 500 metres, so there’s no excuse for not knowing what’s happening around me at any time.

Predictably then, driving the EL8 is a serene experience. That aside, Nio has also given it some proper power – in its Sport+ mode, the car, which is all-wheel drive, can go from a standstill to 100kph in 4.1 seconds.

The vehicle’s 850Nm of torque figure is also worth mentioning. All this is generated by a 180kW permanent magnet motor on the front axle and a 300kW induction motor at the rear.

However, I don’t feel any of that grunt when putting my foot down as the whole ambience inside the cabin is one of calmness personified – undoubtedly the effect the designers and engineers were after.

Top speed plateaus at a more-than-sufficient 200kph, and the range is about 500km, though that will be considerably less if taking advantage of the aforementioned Sport+ mode.

This is all about comfort and the ultra-minimalist cabin says as much. The car is about five metres long, as well, so there's plenty of room.

Owners get a lot with an EL8 and, realistically, this does not make it a budget option. Chinese brands have been offering many of their products at competitive prices as they gain a foothold outside of traditional territories, but the base price for this new arrival is a substantial Dh359,900 (about $98,000).

That kind of figure puts it up there with most of the high-end SUV offerings currently on the market (not counting off-the-scale vehicles such as the Rolls-Royce Cullinan).

Nio is likely to be an automotive contender in the region – this initial launch happened following the formation of Nio Mena, a joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based partner CYVN, so this is just the start.

For those interested in getting a closer look at the EL8 or taking it for a spin, Nio has a pop-up facility in Mall of the Emirates, Dubai, while the main showroom will be opening in Abu Dhabi later this year.