Audi has filed a lawsuit against Nio – one of China’s most renowned EV manufacturers. Audi filed the lawsuit in a Munich court last week. The German marque believes that two of Nio’s models, the ES6 and ES8, sound unnecessarily similar to two of Audi’s vehicles, the S6 and S8.
Hence the lawsuit is not concerned with styling similarities, but instead nameplates alone. After all, the ES6 / ES8 are both luxury electric SUVs meanwhile the S6 and S8 are performance-oriented ICE sedans.
Nio has been one of the few Chinese brands to successfully launch in the West. The firm started selling its EVs in Norway last year and plans on launching in Germany in Q4 2022.
Perhaps one of the reasons why Nio has been so successful in Europe is its reputation for high build quality (something Chinese automakers have struggled with in the past). The firm is also a pioneer when it comes to swappable batteries. Across China Nio has hundreds of stations were owners can drive in, swap their battery and drive out again. The whole process takes 2-3 minutes, versus 20-30 minutes on a fast charger. Nio’s first battery-swapping station in Europe opened a few months ago in (you guessed it) Norway.
Currently, Nio has six models available to order. Its latest arrival, the ET7, will eventually be offered with a 150 kWh solid-state battery pack capable of 621 miles per charge according to Nio. Solid-state batteries have the potential to charge a lot quicker than the lithium-ion packs found in today’s EVs. They are also a lot more environmentally friendly to produce.