IM Motors' "Second Startup", Keeping Pace with the Times | Renqi

Author: Guan Hongye

Over more than ten years, China's new energy vehicles have completed a magnificent leapfrogging maneuver. Penetration rates approach 48%, and annual production and sales leap to the tens of millions scale, redefining the coordinate axis of the global automotive industry.

However, after scale reaches the summit, the track begins to change tempo.

At the end of summer in the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan", the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology used unusual wording—"irrational competition remains prominent", "must strengthen efforts to resolve". Regulatory authorities issued a stern statement; this is not advice, it is a warning.

Industry profits continue to compress, and the overall market is volatile. China's new energy vehicles are bidding farewell to unbridled growth and welcoming a great era of value reconstruction. In this variation, IM Motors' "Second Startup" happens to step on the era's beat.

In August 2026, IM Motors held an employee cadre conference, setting the tone for a "Second Startup" and unifying the strategic rhythm. At the Chengdu Auto Show, the trump card was revealed: the "NEXT·2028" strategy: three pure electric models landing soon, and a direct remark from management, "The market is competitive, but SAIC IM holds the best cards."

One

Founded in December 2020, IM's first five years were a typical training history of a state-owned new brand. Early products were more about verifying technical capabilities, refining user cognition amidst market fluctuations.

Last year, IM made a key move: launching the Star Super Extended Range system, opening a differentiated track with large battery extended range. This technical solution balancing pure electric experience with worry-free long-distance travel quickly received market feedback, with annual sales of over 80,000 units, firmly ranking in the first tier of the extended range market, earning the industry evaluation of "New King of Extended Range". LS6, LS8, and LS9 extended range versions established a foothold in their respective niche tracks. The market completed the first major exam of IM's product definition and manufacturing capabilities with orders.

The breakthrough in the extended range track opened a valuable window for IM, but management saw clearly that the underlying structure of the market was changing. External environment signals, combined with internal technical accumulation, pushed IM to refocus its weight back to the pure electric main battlefield.

At the internal cadre conference, "Second Startup" became a consensus among all employees: goodbye to small steps and trial-and-error, entering a proactive offensive cycle. Channels, user cognition, and supply chain experience accumulated from past extended range businesses were all converted into ammunition for the pure electric counterattack. The NEXT·2028 strategy is the general plan for this offensive.

From August to October 2026, IM will launch three pure electric models in succession: the new generation LS6, L6, and LS8 pure electric version. These three cars all come standard with three core assets: NEO Three-Electric Architecture, Full By-Wire Chassis, and IM Claw Intelligent Agent.

This is not a simple new product launch, but a concentrated release of technical reserves.

What is a by-wire chassis? For ordinary users, it might be a strange technical term. But for the industry, it is the watershed from "people driving cars" to "cars driving themselves". According to information previously revealed by IM, the reliability of by-wire steering has reached aviation-grade 10FIT standards (failure rate below 10 times in 1 billion hours), response speed is only 20 milliseconds, over 10 times faster than human instinctive reaction. More importantly, SAIC is one of the leaders in formulating the national standard for by-wire steering.

The four words "Come standard on all series", usually in the automotive industry means putting high-spec configurations down, but in IM's context, it feels more like using the foundation of the "State Team" to conduct a technology equity on the market.

Two

"The market is competitive, but SAIC IM holds the best cards." Xu Yin's sentence, Deputy General Manager of IM Motors, came out in the interview room, low in volume but heavy in weight. This sentence was not improvised; it was the trump card of a brand backed by a trillion-yuan automotive group, revealed in a sluggish industry moment.

This card is SAIC's 70 years of automotive engineering system accumulation. From manufacturing precision at the Lingang digital factory to bargaining power of top global supply chains, to dealer networks covering the country—these seemingly cumbersome heavy assets, when the industry shifts from "light equipment" to "system victory", become a defensive moat. When new forces are flustered by capacity climbing, IM's upstream manufacturing is already producing according to schedule; when the market is uneasy about supply chain breakage, SAIC's global procurement network has long completed multi-source backups.

This card is technical authority in defining rules. In July 2026, the national standard for by-wire steering formulated under SAIC's leadership was officially implemented. From industry follower to standard setter, this is a declaration of industrial status. By-wire chassis for intelligent cars is like chassis for fuel cars—whoever holds the definition rights to the underlying architecture occupies the high ground in the next generation competition.

The significance of this card may not be obvious when the industry is on the upswing, but in a market downturn and financing contraction cycle, it is a real safety cushion. So, when Xu Yin spoke of "holding the best cards", what he meant was not confidence, but fact.

Three

On the launch event site, one detail was worth savoring: Xu Yin made his first public appearance in the capacity of IM Motors Deputy General Manager.

Before this, he had operated the MG Brand in the Thailand market for six years. In Thailand where Japanese cars dominated, he led the team to push MG ownership to 220,000 vehicles, and made IM land smoothly as the first stop for going global.

He did not avoid the cruelty of the market. In the first half of the year, 527 new car models were launched in China, and the overall market dropped by 20% from January to July. But he also saw growth signals—the pure electric market is rising, which is exactly IM's focus direction for the second half of the year.

"In a market used to 'taking it slow', run the 'fast, fast, fast' of Chinese brands." This is the experience Xu Yin summarized in Thailand. Now back in China, the rhythm is faster, but he is not anxious. He said: "What I focus on more is whether consumers are satisfied with the details. If these can all be done, sales will naturally follow."

Pragmatic, but not cowardly in war.

Four

Returning to China only in June, Xu Yin made a remark from an outsider: "Do not just talk about parameters, think more about what emotional value can be provided to users."

The cooperation between the new generation L6 and high-end master Prof. Jimmy Choo allowed outsiders to see IM's side of "emotion".

It is no longer just emphasizing 2.74-second acceleration or 800-volt fast charging, but starting to tell the design narrative of "Crystal Logo", "Bespoke Blue", and "Not For Everyone".

In a highly homogeneous new energy market, this is almost an "anti-involution" attempt. While everyone is competing on the number of fridges, TVs, and large sofas, IM attempts to draw a dividing line using aesthetics and emotional value.

From establishing on technology to empathizing with temperature, IM's communication is elevating levels.

Five

Today, Chinese automobiles stand on a grand historical node. On one hand, Chinese manufacturing goes global, and new energy becomes a national card; on the other hand, homogenization involution and irrational competition become barriers that must be crossed. MIIT emphasized to "brake the car", meaning the industry must shift from "comparing who runs faster" to "comparing who can brake and go further".

2026 is the watershed. At such a node, IM's "Second Startup" chooses a difficult but clear path: put the technology of the next two to three years into current products in advance, using "technology inclusivity" to counter low-level involution.

August: new generation L6 pre-sale; September: new LS6 launch; October: LS8 pure electric version appearance—three pure electric models launching in succession. Large-scale industrial competition, short-term looks at marketing momentum, long-term returns to products and systems. The NEXT·2028 strategy opens the curtain; IM wants to redefine its own beat amidst variation.