Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) maker Nio has unveiled a new pure electric model to take on hybrids by Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, in the latest sign of China's increasing heft in the development and manufacture of next-generation cars.

The Shanghai-based carmaker said the ET9, an executive sedan with a host of cutting-edge technologies it has developed, including high-performance automotive chips and a unique suspension system, will be priced at about 800,000 yuan (US$112,151), and is expected to be delivered to customers in the first quarter of 2025.

"We are building a flagship executive sedan based on our leading technologies," William Li, Nio's co-founder and CEO, told about 10,000 participants at the Nio Day annual event in Xian, the capital of China's northwestern Shaanxi province, on Saturday.

"The ET9 will be the best model showcasing Nio's excellence in driving technological innovations."

Chinese carmakers are striving to move up the value chain, as they race ahead of global rivals in EV development and sales. For instance, in April, BYD, the world's largest EV maker, unveiled its super luxury model, Yangwang U8, a sport-utility vehicle priced at 1.1 million yuan. The U8's four wheel side motors allow the vehicle to make so-called tank turns and to "crab walk" sideways.

The Panamera E-Hybrid and the Maybach plug-in hybrid S580e, models the ET9 is pitched against, start at 1.19 million yuan and more than 2 million yuan, respectively.

The ET9 will also become the most expensive model developed by Nio since its founding in 2014. It will use Nio's own Shenji autonomous driving chip, which it claims has computing power equal to four Nvidia Orin chips, which are used in its existing models.

Nio's Sky Ride technology system, the world's first fully active integrated hydraulic suspension system, will offer drivers and passengers a smooth and comfortable ride even when the ET9 navigates bumpy roads, Li said.

The EV will be fitted with a 120 kilowatt-hour (KWH) battery pack with energy density of 292 KWH per kilogram, compared to an average EV battery's 200 KWH/kg. Energy density is a key standard when classifying EV batteries.

"Nio is aiming to become a competitor in the luxury EV segment with the launch of the ET9," said Eric Han, a ­senior ­manager at Suolei, an advisory firm in Shanghai. "It hopes to showcase the company's research capabilities and manufacturing might through this new model."

Separately, Li also said that Nio planned to build another 1,000 battery-swap stations in 2024, unchanged from this year. Nio's battery-swapping ­stations allow owners of its vehicles to exchange a spent battery pack for a fully charged one.

Last month, the company formed partnerships with state-owned Changan Automobile and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to jointly develop battery-swapping technology, which has been created to ease drivers' range ­anxiety.

On December 18, Nio announced it had raised US$2.2 billion in investment from CYVN Holdings, a fund backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

It posted a net loss of 4.56 billion yuan for the three months ending September 30, 24.8 per cent narrower than its 6.06 billion yuan loss in the previous quarter, but 10.9 per cent wider than its 4.11 billion yuan loss in the same period a year ago.

ClearMotion to supply smooth suspension tech for Nio's ET9 EV

U.S. startup ClearMotion will supply its active suspension technology for Chinese EV maker Nio's upcoming ET9 in a contract covering 750,000 cars over the lifetime of the luxury sedan model, the two companies said on Saturday.

Nio was due to launch the ET9 on Saturday and the electric vehicle should go into production in late 2024.

ClearMotion founder and chief technology officer Zack Anderson told Reuters that the company's ClearMotion1 suspension system uses a combination of hardware - a small unit containing a motor and power electronics sits in each wheel well of a vehicle - and software to read the road ahead and cut motion inside the car by "about 75% compared to the best technology in the market today".

"We take sensor data and we do very high-speed analytics where we predict what's about to happen in the road before it hits the chassis of the car," Anderson said.

He said ClearMotion is talking to numerous other automakers, including in Europe and America, adding that the company expects to publicly announce at least one more customer next year.

ClearMotion currently has a factory in China and aims to build more production close to future customers, Anderson said.

"A lot of people get motion sick if they try to work in a car," he said. "Motion control is really the key to fixing that."

At first, the technology will be used for luxury vehicles, as automakers want to use it to make their new EVs stand out, Anderson said.

ClearMotion has raised $350 million to date and its key investors include venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, Nio's venture capital arm NIO Capital, venture capital fund Nextview Ventures and JPMorgan.

"We're looking at probably another capital raise down the road, but right now we're pretty well financed," Anderson said.