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Electric cars in China

Chinese EV matches luxury with cost-cutting guts, teardown shows

NIO's high-end ES8 uses same components as more affordable models, but offers perks

A man looks under the hood of a NIO ES8 sports utility electric vehicle. (Photo by Shuhei Yamada)

TOKYO -- What is the special characteristic of ever more popular Chinese electric vehicles? It may be aggressive economizing in the unseen nuts and bolts while maintaining a luxury experience for the passengers, a close examination of a high-end EV sold by Shanghai startup NIO shows.

Founded in 2014, NIO designs and develops EVs, while production is contracted to Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp. NIO first launched its mainline sports utility vehicle, the ES8, in 2017.

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