Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio on Thursday launched a new edition of its upscale smart car, Nio 2024 ET 7, hoping to lure high-end consumers amid an escalating price war among some of the country’s top players.

The Shanghai-based carmaker’s updated executive car features more powerful smart-driving capabilities, an enhanced digital cockpit, an extra-long driving range and more comfortable passenger seats, according to founder and CEO William Li Bin.

“Through our technological innovations, the ET 7 executive car has elevated the driving and seating experience to the next level,” Li said at a launch event at the Beijing Automotive Exhibition, which began Thursday and runs through May 4.

The standard version of the new model sells for 428,000 yuan (US$59,400). Nio is currently accepting pre-orders for the vehicle. Delivery starts on April 30 in China.

Li said shipments of the original ET 7, which began in late March 2022, have reached nearly 30,000, making it the top-selling all-electric car in China priced above 400,000 yuan.

Despite the mounting pressure, Nio has kept the price of its cars – all costing more than 300,000 yuan – unchanged.

At the launch event, Li also touted the driving range of Nio’s new model, which he said is the world’s first fully electric executive car that travelled more than 1,000 kilometres in a single test drive, thanks to its 150 kilowatt-hour battery pack.

Nio said it sought to address the “range anxiety” of EV drivers through a joint effort with partners, including Changan Automobile, Zhejiang Geely Group, JAC Group and Chery, to promote battery-swapping technologies and standards.

The company’s nationwide charging network has over 2,400 power swap stations and 21,000 charging stands, according to Li. “Thanks to our power swapping system … our ET 7 users’ driving range is even longer than fuel vehicles,” he said.

Nio on Thursday also unveiled the fourth iteration of its power swap station and liquid-cooled ultra-fast charger, which it plans to deploy soon.