Large 6-Seater SUV: Three Years of Following Li Auto Across the River, Now Li Auto Has Changed the River

At the launch event of the Li Auto i9, Li Auto Second Product Line President Li Xinyang said: "According to my incomplete statistics, from last year to this year, this is already the 22nd flagship 6-seater SUV launch event."

In early 2025, on the track of flagship 6-seater SUVs, there were only Li Auto L9, AITO M9, the previous generation NIO ES8, and the million-level flagship SUVs of BBA belonging to another world.

But in the Chinese market, 20 months is enough time to crowd in over 20 new competitors into this track. This is not unexpected, because counting from when Li Auto L9 deliveries broke 10,000 units in 2022, 3 years is exactly the cycle for competitors who followed Li Auto across the river to complete the R&D of a new car.

It's just that the speed of Chinese families having children might be slightly跟不上 the speed of large 6-seater SUV launches.

Even for Li Auto itself, the all-new L9 Livis hasn't been able to return to the peak of that year again. In all of July, only 1 flagship large 6-seater SUV had sales over 10,000, sales of 6,000+ could rank in the top 5, and there were 4 selling fewer than 1,000 units.

Facts prove that those following Li Auto across the river, unless firmly determined to make a 'Half-price Li Auto', it is very difficult for this track to produce another hit product again. So, what Li Auto needs to answer is no longer how to build a 'bigger L9', but when everyone is crowded together, blaze a new trail to make an i9.

More impactful than 'Volkswagen with Letters' is 'SUV with Home'

'Letters behind Volkswagen' represents a low-key luxury that is untouchable, and Li Auto adding a 'home' behind the SUV this time also foreshadows the uniqueness of this car.

Li Xiang mentioned that when defining the i series products, the team thought about one core question: How should a native pure electric SUV be done? The answer is three most important definitions: better space experience, lower drag and energy consumption, better handling and comfort.

This reminds one of a proposition explored for a century in Europe.

As early as the 17th and 18th centuries, the European upper class had a cultural tradition of Grand Tour. And in the 20th century, with the development of automobiles, the Italian word Gran Turismo took on a new meaning: A car that allows people to travel long distances quickly, comfortably, and elegantly.

In Italian car culture, from the beginning, GT was required to have two distinct characteristic genes: sufficient mechanical quality, and a sufficiently beautiful body.

This later formed the classic definition of GT: Capable of long-distance travel, comfortable, possesses sufficient space, smooth and elegant. It is not simply making the space larger, but finding an optimal balance of space.

Until here, do you see some familiar definitions?

Europeans previously attempted to use Mercedes-Benz R-Class and BMW 5 Series GT to resolve the contradiction between engine, transmission, and space. But in the pure electric era, i9 gives a new approach, this is also what Li Xiang said: "Recently the industry is discussing the problem of flagship SUVs getting larger and larger, I think, this is just a transition phase, the inherent advantages of pure electric architecture determine that the size arms race will definitely end."

Li Auto i6's success, and the high satisfaction of MEGA users with exterior design, has already proven the foresight and uniqueness of Li Auto's design language. When applied to the more expressive Li Auto i9, this design language presents an elegant, sporty look like a large GT touring car.

And we don't need to dwell on the word SUV itself, after all in the Chinese market where raising a sedan by a bit makes it an SUV, the definition of SUV itself has become very broad, and the core of why people like SUVs is actually space and form.

Li Auto i9 amplifies the space advantage of SUVs further through pure electric architecture, and solves the shortcomings of traditional SUV drag, energy consumption, and handling. A very obvious comparison, Li Auto i9 and Li Auto L9 Livis with stronger chassis build achieved the same 134 km/h result in the high-speed lane change test according to ISO 3888-1 standard.

For the creation of 'Home Space', Li Auto's skill becomes more proficient on i9.

Vehicle length 5,225mm, wheelbase fully 3,168mm, shoulder distance for facing seating in the rear two rows exceeds 2 meters, can also fit the whole family's luggage, and this is completely incomparable to traditional SUV experience.

More importantly, Li Auto's creation of atmosphere.

For example, home lighting system, welcome light carpet has 'Sweet Home' text, roof warm light main lamp makes interior lighting no longer limited to reading lights. Also the 'Home Suite' mode inspired by Singapore Airlines First Class Suites, it breaks the limitations of traditional 'face-to-face' or 'King bed' modes, designs the space as 'Studio + Bed', further expanding the usable value of the space.

And all this, only costs 369,800 RMB.

This is Li Auto i9's another killer feature. Not only price, but the uniqueness under this price.

Li Auto provided such several most core highlight configurations for i9: Steer-by-Wire, Rear-Wheel Steering, 4 Full-size Zero-Gravity Seats, Second-row Rotatable, Front and rear two super large screens, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8797 Chip and Mach M100 Intelligent Driving Chip.

You will find that although they seem to be well-known technology names and functions in the current market, compared to same-class competitor models, just the 4 full-size zero-gravity seats have already filtered out most models. The remaining are AITO M9 Ultimate, NIO ES9, and Li Auto's own L9.

And they are all much more expensive than i9.

This is also where Li Auto's ambition lies.

When it's time to act on itself, Li Auto shows no mercy

Must admit, Li Auto i9's price caused many i8 users to feel upset, after all this time i9 even gives the classic Elephant Grey paint for free, and i8 AWD High Performance Version 339,800 RMB price plus options, combined basically reaches a similar level line with i9.

But this might be a deliberate move by Li Auto.

On one hand, still need to calm down and look, i8 still has a unique niche in Li Auto's product matrix, just like a owner who just locked order for i8 RWD version said to us: Price less than 300,000 RMB after adding benefits plus insurance and purchase tax, is still much lower than i9, relatively smaller size also suitable for use in old city areas.

On the other hand, Li Auto also urgently needs a product to open the situation in the large 6-seater flagship SUV market, rather than '1+1<1', better to burn the boats once.

We review a round of dense product updates by Li Auto since i8 launch last year, from sales perspective there are successes, and also lessons.

i8 quickly conducted SKU and price adjustments after price announcement, response speed was very fast, but indeed lost the chance to play the first card. But i6's hot sales proved Li Auto's competitiveness on the pure electric track.

And NIO ES8 sustained monthly sales over 10,000 for a year, has largely changed the purchasing trends of the high-end pure electric SUV niche market. This makes Li Auto L9 Livis's arrival face a completely different market environment, even though AITO M9 has already transformed towards the higher-end market, but the labels of Extended Range, Fridge, TV, and Sofa have been massively replicated by 200,000 RMB level products.

Even if 'Half-price Li Auto' materials, texture, and experience are quite different, but the fact that 'it looks about the same' is a huge challenge for Li Auto L9. Of course, Li Auto also provided the response method, which is betting the prospect on Embodied Intelligence. But at this stage, the cognitive threshold of Embodied Intelligence is much higher than 'Ice Slush', and before L3 truly lands, actually users paid many costs are hard to convert to specific experiences.

6 Series sells well, can support Li Auto's sales list, but stock price and financial reports still need breakthrough in higher-end market.

We can see Li Auto's adjustments on the recently released MEGA and i9. While new MEGA experience improved while price significantly reduced, along with Li Auto L9 Livis, providing users with similar experience, but two products with completely different styles, and this can better highlight MEGA's positioning and product orientation.

And after these two flagship products anchor good positions, i9 has a clear offensive strategy: Handling benchmarks L9 Livis, space experience benchmarks MEGA home, price comes with a 'big jump'.

More importantly, MEGA and i9's price ladder, and its more extreme product orientation, makes MEGA user group not be diverted by i9, but conversely, a large number of budgets not enough for MEGA but longing for MEGA space experience users, are hard not to be tempted by i9.

And downwards, sometimes hard not to suspect Li Auto's product team is deliberately set the price difference between i8 and i9. i8 RWD version still has unique value, and i9 in a way replaces i8 AWD version with an extremely high cost-performance ratio, re-attracting users in this interval back, and raising the transaction price.

Anyway, Li Auto expanding its own plate is success. After all in this market now, relying on one or two hit models to directly change fate examples are too many, if too hesitant might gain one and lose the other.

Big Company Perspective

Currently on Li Auto App, i9 has become the product with delivery length second only to MEGA, ordering now requires 8-10 weeks waiting time.

Although Li Auto official did not give order performance, but from some third-party institutions' statistics and feedback, 369,800 RMB price exceeded many users' psychological expectations, also let many competitors feel threatened.

Three years ago, L9 told the market, what a large six-seater SUV should be like. So in the market now, crowded with products following Li Auto across the river.

Three years later, what i9 wants to prove is: Large six-seater SUV, doesn't necessarily have to be the original look.