Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the founding of its UK Research and Development center (R&D) by showing off the smooth suspension of its ET9 luxury sedan – by balancing champagne glasses on its bonnet – China's electric vehicle maker Nio says it will aggressively pursue expansion in the UK and Europe. 

The center specializes in research on performance such as an intelligent chassis system called sky ride. 

"My job is to bring the noise level down," explains Staff Engineer Eva Chang, who has worked for Nio for a decade. "Near the highway, it's difficult to have normal conversation, and reduce noise level for better driver comfort."

She says one of the best aspects of the job is seeing their design efforts, such as insulation to counter wheel noise, come to life.

"We design better sound levels, so you and I can have a normal chat," she adds.

China's Nio started as an electric supercar racing company, before moving into mass market vehicles.

The R&D center showcases a decade of Nio's journey, from the Electric Performance 9, a racing car model, through to SUV, luxury sedan and cars built for city driving.  All of these models are competing in a tough market.

'No longer just a car'

Nio has not yet been able to replicate its domestic success in Europe, in markets where it's competing with European heritage brands as well as other Chinese and Asian technology giants. 

Unlike in China, where Nio has built a network of centers for customers to swap out their batteries, which is its signature tech, that network has a much smaller presence in Europe.

But the company's founder says Nio will aggressively pursue market share in the region, with its unique advantage. The company has a strong belief that customers everywhere will come to appreciate Nio's technology.

"The car is no longer just a car, it's an embodied robot," says Mark Zhou, Executive Vice President and Chairman of the Product Committee. "The car perceives the world… and the car is able to make decisions essentially based on information and that is where the technology makes a huge difference."

Nio's R&D center, opened in the UK due to the country's historical excellence in auto performance, is an example of the increasing Chinese and UK cooperation in the sector. 

"There is a history of working together… that’s getting ever faster and ever more in depth in recent years. You’ve seen car brands coming into the UK, British consumers are taking to them," Mike Hawes, CEO of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), told CGTN.

"But also, we want to build on that, we want to make sure that there’s manufacturing,  Nio has been here for 10 years because of the ecosystem around engineering development, the excellence that’s here. We want to put that to good use," he added.

While Nio is yet to launch in the UK market, with modest sales across Europe, but the company is targeting its first full year of profit this year, which it says is driven by its technological innovations.