NIO, manufacturer of smart electric vehicles in the premium segment, has received a 2021 Red Dot Product Design Award for its first smart all-electric sedan, the NIO ET7, only six months after its launch. It is the fourth Red Dot award NIO has won, and follows two honours in the field of charging infrastructure: for NIO Power Home and for NIO Power Swap.
In 2020, NIO secured a further Red Dot accolade for its digital assistant Nomi.
“We are very proud to have received our fourth Red Dot Award,” says NIO’s Vice President of Design, Kris Tomasson. “This not only confirms that our products are innovative and the forefront of technology, but also that we have taken the right path with our NIO philosophy ‘Driven by Design’.”
The NIO ET7 made its debut in January 2021 at the NIO Day in Chengdu. The design teams in Munich and Shanghai, led by Tomasson, successfully collaborated to create a smart, all-electric sedan with more than 100 standard comfort, safety and smart features. The exterior, interior space, digital cockpit, performance and autonomous driving function are designed to offer the user the ultimate experience. Coupled with a range of over 1,000 km (NEDC), the NIO ET7 sets a new standard for premium electric vehicles.
Commenting on the design and the language that NIO’s first smart sedan evokes, Tomasson says: “NIO ET7 is the perfect embodiment of our design DNA. It is ‘pure’, which is shown in the sleek lines of our evolved front design language with the new X-Bar. The car is ‘human’ with an interior conceived for people, creating the feeling of a ‘second living room’. NIO ET7 is also ‘progressive’ with some of the most advanced technologies seamlessly integrated into its form. And last but not least, NIO ET7 is ‘sophisticated’ because it is an absolute premium sedan, and it really says so through its design.”
The Red Dot Award for Product Design dates back as far as 1955 and recognises the best products for a given year. The assembled jurors were once again true to the motto “In search of good design and innovation” in the 2021 competition. The international panel of experts comprises specialists from a wide variety of sectors. They scrutinised the products entered in the competition in a process that spanned several days and were guided by assessment criteria such as the product’s formal quality, ergonomics and longevity.
Regarding the design of the NIO ET7, the jury made a clear statement to explain why NIO deserved the Red Dot Award 2021: “The design and appearance of the NIO ET7 is minimalist progressive, reduced to the bare essentials, integrating all the technologies that will make EVs ready for the future.”
