Electric seven-seat performance SUV aims to prove the Chinese can build a crediblealternative to existing premium fare. Although Chinese vehicles aren’t widely available in the UK, they’re already plagued by reputation, mostly bad. But where we might expect a cheap sticker price, sketchy build quality and woeful crash test performance, Chinese company Nio’s ES8 is unashamedly targeting the premium segment. At first sight, Nio's debut offering is a smart, substantial if conservative-looking SUV that wouldn’t appear out of place in any European car park. In the greater scheme of thing, that’s small beans, because as a first effort, this is the most refined Chinese car we’ve yet seen. Nio has plans to come to Europe within the next five years, and the ES8 goes a long way to putting to bed the notion that China can’t build quality cars. |