Lei Jun's frantic output of anxiety, LeDao begins counterattack

Author | Chai Xuchen

Editor | Wang Xiaojun

In the current environment of consumption downgrade and fierce price wars, an electric car starting at 250,000 yuan is surprisingly being snatched up.

Five days ago, Lei Jun tantalized everyone with the official launch of the Xiaomi YU7, with a price range of 250,000 to 330,000 yuan, which doesn't seem low. The price did not exceed expectations, but the orders far surpassed them. After the launch event, the pre-orders exceeded 200,000 units in just 3 minutes, and within an hour, it was refreshed to 289,000 units.

This means that the YU7 sold more in one hour than many leading new forces sell in a year. A Xiaomi salesperson revealed that consumer enthusiasm is quite high since the YU7's launch, with too many people wanting test drives requiring carpooling, but the store's test drives can be booked until 3 AM.

For competitors, the YU7 is like a thunderclap, and there is a strong smell of gunpowder in the automotive industry.

"Originally, Leapmotor's sales were good these days, and we were in a good mood, but after seeing Lei's nearly 300,000 units in just one hour last night, we feel a lot of pressure," said the chairman of Leapmotor the day after Xiaomi's launch event.

Not only Leapmotor feels anxious; before the official launch of the YU7, Zhijie announced a price cut of 20,000 yuan across the board; Avita, ZEEKR, and Nio have all introduced limited-time subsidies and other measures. Some brands even voluntarily offered a "deposit reimbursement" policy for customers switching orders, trying to "steal" users and absorb Xiaomi's overflow orders.

It is important to note that seven years ago, the domestic automotive industry had already ended decades of continuous growth and entered a phase of stock. The key to counterattack now lies in how competitors adjust their strategies based on the YU7.

A fierce industry offensive and defensive battle has begun.

In fact, even before the launch of the Xiaomi YU7, industry insiders had predicted that this year's SUV segment would become a bloodbath, especially in the mid-to-large SUV sub-market. "The battle for mid-to-large and full-size SUVs this year will inevitably continue until the end of the year. Every brand that competes will enter this SUV field," said an executive from a new force to Wall Street Insight.

In the next three quarters, star products in the pure electric SUV category will be launched intensively. Within the price range of 200,000 to 500,000 yuan, several pure electric SUVs, including Nio's new ES8, LeDao L90, L80, Li Auto i8, i6, and Xiaomi YU7, will be launched in quick succession.

Currently, the trend of pure electric replacing extended-range vehicles is accelerating upward, and the large three-row SUV category presents both pressure and opportunities for Li Bin. At this moment, Nio's sub-brand LeDao, which has a direct competitive relationship with the YU7, is preparing to strike hard.

Not long ago, Nio's chairman Li Bin announced that the flagship SUV of the LeDao brand, the L90, will be launched in the third quarter of this year. In his view, the LeDao L90 will become a "Game Changer." In Li Bin's plan for Nio in 2025, with a sales target of 440,000 units, LeDao is expected to bear half of that, making it a key pillar for Nio to address market anxiety and achieve economies of scale Recently, Wall Street News was invited to experience and visit the L90 interior, which Li Bin claimed would "change the landscape of family three-row SUVs."

According to reports, the Lido L90 is built on the all-domain 900V high-voltage platform and the industry's first complete vehicle operating system. It combines the large luxury SUV shape with ultra-low drag and ultra-low energy consumption. In addition to the small table, it achieves full electric control from the front trunk to the cabin to the rear trunk.

Yu Bin, the product manager of Lido Automotive, stated that the L90 has a 240L front trunk and a 430L rear trunk, addressing the two major pain points of "fitting people but not luggage" and "the third row is suitable for short trips but uncomfortable for long trips." In addition, the L90 is equipped with the same high-performance motor and air suspension as the Nio ET9.

Therefore, industry insiders on-site believe that the biggest selling point of the Lido L90 is its space, as well as its quality and high-end feel that are very close to Nio's. "Its advantages in the rear trunk and front trunk space are all plus points, especially the front trunk, which is not available from other brands."

Moreover, Nio's battery swap system will also become a key driver for Lido's sales growth.

Li Bin revealed that by the end of May, the battery swap proportion of Lido brand models had reached 60% of Nio's overall battery swaps. Internal research data from Nio shows that 60% of users buy Lido because they can swap batteries, and the expansion of the battery swap station network will greatly help Lido's sales.

Li Bin candidly stated, "I believe this is a very important turning point."

At the same time, the industry's balance is beginning to tilt towards Lido, with the overall market accelerating towards the "pure electric moment"—in the first quarter of this year, the overall market's pure electric sales grew by 47.7% year-on-year, while range-extended vehicles only saw a slight increase of 1.1%; in the market for passenger cars priced above 200,000, range-extended vehicles experienced a decline (-7.5%), while pure electric vehicles saw double-digit growth (18.3%).

Industry insiders have stated, "This year, many range-extended and plug-in hybrid vehicles are starting to be replaced. If the next choice is pure electric, it will be an opportunity. The next question is whether the L90 can attract this group of users or those who previously drove the Highlander to switch to the L90."

In the industry’s view, battery swapping is about to become a booster for Lido's rebirth, as it hides Nio's pricing weapon behind it.

"Users in the 300,000 yuan SUV range are more discerning, and competition will be fiercer. In contrast, the market segment around 250,000 yuan is currently not as crowded. The reason why everyone felt the L60 was very successful at that time was that the price of 140,000 after BaaS was too attractive. Whether the BaaS price of the L90 can attract consumers into the store is crucial."

A practitioner stated that the past product system of Nio has allowed Lido to have the advantage to produce a product like the L90, and it can also be competitive in price. It can be said that a high-end pure electric large three-row SUV may be a deep sea that is difficult for other brands to enter, but it is a blue ocean with great potential for Nio and Lido.

The large SUV market is also maintaining high growth rates. Yu Bin told Wall Street News that the market for large three-row SUVs has grown from 920,000 to 1.3 million over the past three years, with a 41% increase, indicating a very strong demand However, in the first quarter of this year, there is not much supply in the mainstream large three-row SUV market priced above 300,000, with Aito and Li Auto being the mainstream options, while the LeDao L90 will become a one-stop choice for large three-row SUVs in the 300,000 range.

It can be said that the L90 is already sharpening its knives, ready for LeDao to ramp up production. According to plans, LeDao will focus on the mid-to-high-end market priced between 200,000 and 350,000. The LeDao L60 is already available, the LeDao L90 will officially launch in Q3, and there will be a five-seat SUV, the LeDao L80, in Q4. Li Bin revealed to Wall Street Insights that the internal expectation for the fourth quarter is that the LeDao brand can reach 25,000 vehicles.

Expectations are already high, but in the view of LeDao President Shen Fei, LeDao is still a new brand and faces many challenges in terms of product itself and market communication. Can LeDao learn from the previous lessons of the L60 and lead the new team to charge forward, helping the entire Nio company achieve profitability? Everything will be revealed in the second half of the year.

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