Former Sales Champion Returns Strongest, IM LS6 Targets No. 1 in the 200,000-Level Pure EV Segment

Three years ago, IM staff tasted the sweetness and daze of a hit product arrival—

On October 13, 2023, the first-generation IM LS6 went on sale, and the order server crashed for more than 20 minutes.

In November—the first complete delivery month, it topped the mid-to-large Pure Electric SUV segment sales champion;

In December, it refreshed the single-month record with 9,878 units, retaining the sales champion title;

In 2024, LS6 won the mid-to-large Pure Electric SUV annual sales champion with a sales volume of about 41,000 units;

Until January 2026, LS6 cumulative deliveries exceeded 100,000 units.

Who wouldn't want to taste such happiness again and keep it in hand?

However, in China's fiercely competitive automotive market, any "king" faces countless models constantly challenging, with new kings emerging. Everyone needs to iterate and upgrade rapidly.

On September 10, the new generation IM LS6 also arrived, with a pre-sale price starting from 209,900 Yuan.

IM Motors Vice President Xu Yin announces IM LS6 pre-sale price

"LS6 was released in 2023, and has already undergone four generations of iteration by now." said IM Motors Vice President Xu Yin. "We just want to bring the latest technology to users continuously."

Of course, in IM's summarized "hit formula", technology is only one variable. If comparing the first-generation IM LS6 and the new generation IM LS6, you will find many commonalities between the two.

This is inevitable—

IM LS6 wants to personally take back the lost glory.

First Generation Sales Champion, How Was It Forged?

Time rewinds to October 2023. At that time, in the mid-to-large Pure Electric SUV market, Tesla Model Y was the sole price setter, with the 260,000-350,000 Yuan price band almost unshakable by anyone.

IM LS6 faced competition directly, setting the starting price at 214,900 Yuan, nearly 50,000 Yuan lower than Model Y. More importantly, the entire series came standard with NVIDIA Orin-X chips and LiDAR. During the pre-launch benefit period, the intelligent driving package was free for life.

This pricing strategy stemmed from a simple logic: In the fiercely competitive market in China today, setting a medium price simply because the product is good is not truly good for users—only converting technical sincerity into price sincerity can truly benefit users.

Fact proved the success of this strategy. After LS6 was released, the order server crashed for more than 20 minutes, and traffic exceeded the estimated peak by 50 times.

But price alone was not enough. IM prepared fully for this hot sale: On the production side, the Lingang Factory started a two-shift system, raising monthly capacity to 26,000 units; on the channel side, sales outlets rapidly expanded from 200 to 260; delivery processes were brought forward, with precise day-level nodes for display cars arriving at stores and test drive cars being ready.

This combination of "Advanced Technology + Precise Pricing + Full Value Perception + Traffic Reception" allowed LS6 to top the sales champion for the last two months of 2023 consecutively, and securely sit as the segment annual champion throughout 2024.

Entering 2025, market competition became even fiercer. Although IM LS6 was still in the first tier, the title of sales champion had already fallen away.

New Generation LS6: Sales Champion Returns

On September 10, the new generation LS6 went on pre-sale, and the speaker at the launch event was Xu Yin.

This June, Xu Yin returned from SAIC Thailand to the domestic market, serving as IM Motors Vice President and actually managing IM Motors.

Returning from the Thailand market, he suddenly faced the more competitive environment in China, but over 20 years of SAIC experience gave him confidence: "We have put all the heritage of SAIC's 70 years of car making into this, and all the latest technologies are all in on this car."

Xu Yin communicating with media after the launch event

Like the first-generation IM LS6, the new generation LS6 must also play a dominating technology card in terms of technology.

First is the "Pearl on the Crown of Automotive Technology", the hottest in the industry, By-wire Chassis—Full By-wire Lingxi Chassis.

Compared to IM's previous Lingxi Digital Chassis, Full By-wire means not only the previous By-wire Braking but also By-wire Steering. Additionally, it adopts aviation-grade triple safety redundancy design, with 20ms ultra-fast response speed, and a 4.49m ultra-small turning radius.

Full By-wire Chassis is also the basic capability for Level 3 Autonomous Driving. Without By-wire, there is no Autonomous Driving.

Its advantage also lies in the improvement of handling safety.

"Five stars are safety that is crash-tested, By-wire is safety before losing control. The Full By-wire Chassis wants to let everyone receive safety protection a step earlier." Xu Yin said at the launch event.

Currently, only Porsche and a few domestic car companies have Full By-wire Chassis equipped on cars, but the price is expensive.

"We have moved the configurations of 400,000 and 500,000 Yuan level luxury cars down to the 200,000 Yuan level." Xu Yin said.

Secondly, since it is a Pure Electric Car, it still needs to compete on Pure Electric Energy Efficiency. IM LS6 brings the next-generation NEO Three-Electric Architecture this time. Adopting the latest Hurricane Motor, with technical support such as ultra-thin silicon steel sheets and rotor tunnel cooling, efficiency increased by 2.8%, and weight reduced by 8%.

The latest generation NEO Hurricane Motor paired with Energy Efficiency Master Management System 3.0 reduces百公里 energy consumption to as low as 12.7kWh, the lowest in its class. Global 800V High-Voltage Platform supports 396kW Super Fast Charging, recharging 500km in 15 minutes, and compatible with more than 90% of charging piles on the market."Not pursuing one-sided digital fast charging, but letting users charge fully and quickly at any pile." Xu Yin stated.

Third is Full-Range AI Intelligence.

IM AD Zeta Assisted Driving, jointly developed by IM and Momenta, empowers L2 functions with L4 model capabilities; Industry-first IM CLAW Lobster Agent can understand vague intentions and automatically plan routes. "Handling a string of tasks with one sentence, this is the real AI assistant." Jiao Qiao, Senior Director of IM Brand and User, introduced.

Jiao Qiao, Senior Director of IM Brand and User

But besides technology, Xu Yin also emphasized multiple times that the new generation IM LS6 also brings Aviation-Level Comfort and Luxury.

Taking "Fridge, Color TV, Big Sofa" as an example, the new generation IM LS6 can also compete hard.

"Fridge"—11L double-door fridge is the largest in its class, both front and rear rows can easily retrieve items;

"Color TV"—Full series standard 27.1-inch 5K MiniLED Premium Cockpit Main Screen, featuring Rainy Night Mode 2.0, Full-Range Digital Vision Blind Spot Assistance, AIOS Interaction capabilities, passenger side can optionally select 15.6-inch 3K MiniLED Passenger Immersive Entertainment Screen;

"Big Sofa"—New generation LS6 full series driver's seat standard 4D Mechanical Massage Seats, massage intensity is 7 times that of pneumatic massage; Passenger side equipped with Zero-Gravity Chaise Lounge, with three adjustable modes; Every seat has ventilation, heating, massage.

IM LS6 also comes standard with Danish B&O Sound System, inviting masters for exclusive tuning, restoring music's original nature with Hi-Fi sound quality.

All the above technologies and configurations are IM's "old method"—downloading Million-Level Luxury Car function configurations to achieve Technology Equalization.

"New generation LS6 is our answer to the 200,000-level market with our greatest sincerity." Xu Yin said.

Battle for No. 1 in 200,000 Pure EV

Can the new generation LS6 recreate or even surpass the glory of that year?

This question is not only an industry doubt but also a proposition that Xu Yin's team must answer.

The first-generation LS6 once created a glory of topping the sales chart continuously at the end of 2023 and in 2024, but in 2025 sales temporarily fell. Among gains and losses, IM team naturally also conducted a review.

Now that the new generation LS6 is issued again, Xu Yin chose to respond to the battle with three dimensions: "Over-level Technology Configuration Full Value Perception + Emotional Value + Traffic Reception".

Recalling the four-generation iteration process of LS6, Xu Yin said, "Among the four generations, the first generation came standard with LiDAR, the industry first; the second generation landed Lingxi Digital Chassis, standard four-wheel steering, also our first; the third generation led the industry's large battery super range extension development; the fourth generation is today's Full By-wire Chassis."

Back then, LS6 was able to explode the market, relying on the "Entry-Level Standard" Technology Equalization tactic. This time the new generation LS6 continues this logic, with four major hardcore strengths standard.

Besides these core functions, configurations such as B&O Sound System, 4D Seats, Entertainment Screen, Fridge etc. are also provided, the pre-sale rights total value exceeds 35,000 Yuan, all limited time free upgrade.

Such technology and configurations make its value perception very prominent.

In the automotive consumption field, for a long time it was Brand + Dimensions + Function + Configuration that determined price, but in the Smart Electric Era, Emotional Value has also become a support point for price. The design, interaction taillights, welcome light carpet, retractable tri-screen of the first-generation IM LS6, etc., were all prominent manifestations of Emotional Value.

The new generation LS6 continues to explore emotional value perceivable by users. Like the driver's seat equipped with 4D Mechanical Massage Seats, massage intensity is 7 times that of pneumatic massage, with five ancient meridian techniques. Jiao Qiao said, "We worked hard all day in meetings, getting on the car and pressing a bit is very de-stressing."

Another example, Preparing Super Right-Row First Class Cabin for "The Boss at Home", with Zero Gravity and Chaise Lounge two modes can lie down to watch shows, paired with 15.6-inch 3K Super Large Screen, more comfortable than home sofa.

IM LS6 Super Right-Row First Class Cabin

Also in terms of color, IM LS6 adds Jimmy Silver, Late Summer Green two bespoke car colors, interior uses Artistic Diamond Perforation and Pyramid Nail Pattern—giving consumers who like Haipai design and pay attention to taste enough reason to buy.

In the pre-sale phase of the first-generation LS6, IM welcomed "Overwhelming Traffic", which was finally converted into sales. This time IM LS6 pre-sale, the heat is also good. Xu Yin introduced, "Display cars in stores nationwide are all ready, test drive cars are also ready." "For the customer flow growth brought by new car pre-sale, store reception support we have all implemented." Xu Yin said, as of last month, IM has 436 stores nationwide.

After the pre-sale price starting from 209,900 Yuan was announced, the new generation LS6 officially entered market competition.

Since Xu Yin took over IM, he did not lightly mention sales targets. After this pre-sale launch event, he just said, "I believe this car will be very competitive in the market, the results in the next step will make everyone satisfied."

But with a peak ahead, the new generation IM LS6 can only climb the peak again. From the product strength it shows, the Hit Gene is awakening.