Asian Tech Press (Dec 20) -- Chinese electric carmaker Nio Inc. (NYSE:NIO) on Saturday unveiled the mid-sized smart electric sedan NIO ET5, a Tesla Model 3's latest rival in the country.

At NIO Day 2021 on Saturday night, the Chinese EV maker formally unveiled its fifth mass-produced model and second sedan model, NIO ET5.

According to one industry source, "Nio is now taking the same route as U.S. electric car maker Tesla Inc., high-end first and then mid-range."

Nio co-founder and CEO William Li introduced the ET5 with a starting price of 328,000 yuan ($51,428) before subsidies and 258,000 yuan ($40,452) before subsidies for the Nio BaaS option. And the new car will open for delivery in September 2022.

"After seeing it, I placed an order and had to have one," a customer who is already an owner of the NIO ES8 and ES6 and has reserved the ET7 premiere model did not hesitate to pay for the ET5 reservation after seeing the various parameters of the ET5 released by Nio.

"ET5 has become the most ordered vehicle of the day among the new vehicles released by Nio in the past years," Li told the media on Sunday.

(US$1 = 6.3781 yuan)