Li Auto increases prices while Xiaomi cuts prices. There's going to be an exciting show in the new car market this April.

Is the automotive industry trying to avoid the "involution"? I actually think it's getting more and more intense...

Some time ago, the new - energy vehicle startups finally launched almost all the large SUVs in the 8 - series and 9 - series. You know, this was originally a niche market, but now it's almost become the front - line battlefield.

After all, this is currently the most competitive "red ocean" in the automotive circle. Other segments are also extremely competitive, and car manufacturers can only try their best to squeeze into this market.

However, just when major car manufacturers have completed their layouts, the industry is quietly undergoing a bigger reshuffle. On one hand, new cars need to be continuously launched, and on the other hand, old cars have to be remade and given a new look. Well, here come the new cars announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in April. After reading about them, you'll find that the competition in the automotive circle never stops.

Well, without further ado, let me, Brother Neck, take you all to talk about these new cars.

First, let's take a look at the first one, the Li L8.

This update is not a simple minor change but a full - scale generation change. As early as before, there were disclosures about Li Auto's new product plan: in the future, the L9 and L8 will target the flagship market, while the L7 and L6 will target the high - end market. The L8 has changed from a six - seat model to a five - seat model, and the L7 has changed from a five - seat model to a six - seat model.

Don't be confused by all these changes. In simple terms, the positions of the L8 and L7 have been completely swapped.

You know, currently, the positions of the L7 and L8 are too similar, resulting in fierce internal competition. After this swap, there will probably be a clear difference between them. The L8 may be closer to the L9 in terms of configuration, distinguished by the number of seats (five - seat or six - seat), while the L7 will be closer to the L6.

So, in terms of size, the L8 has also significantly increased. It has changed from 5080×1995×1800 (wheelbase 3005) to 5135×2000×1800 (wheelbase 3045), with the length increasing by 5.5 cm and the wheelbase increasing by 4 cm.

In terms of styling, it still follows the old "copy - paste" pattern, but this time, you can choose a two - tone body. It will probably adopt the "exclusive process of triple painting and seamless manual polishing". Judging from the renderings released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the color combination is quite harmonious.

In terms of power, the new L8 will be equipped with the third - generation range - extender system. The power of the range - extender has been upgraded from 113 kW to 115 kW. With the 72.7 - degree 5C ternary lithium battery from Sunwoda, the WLTC range will reach a maximum of 343 km, which is much higher than the previous 280 km.

Moreover, this update not only involves the L8 but also a new model called the L8 Livis.

If you haven't been paying much attention to Li Auto recently, you must be curious about what this "Livis" after the L8 is. Is it a new car or an upgraded old car? Could it be... a pair of Li Auto's AI glasses?

Actually, according to Li Xiang himself, Livis means the "ultimate version". That is to say, in the future, new Li Auto models may all have a more advanced Livis version to distinguish them from ordinary models.

For example, in February this year, Li Auto announced the L9 Livis. This car is priced at 559,800 yuan, 120,000 yuan higher than the top - end version of the old L9. You could even call it the L10.

Because it is equipped with Li Auto's latest black technologies: a fully active suspension, a fully - by - wire chassis, and a self - developed Mach 100 chip with 2560 TOPS.

So, from the case of the L9 Livis, we can see that the L8 Livis must also hide some high - tech features, and its price will definitely not be low.

But whether it can boost Li Auto's sales depends on how well the market accepts large luxury five - seat cars.

Next, let's take a look at XPeng, a good friend of Li Auto.

After the success of the MONA M03, it has launched the MONA L03, which is an SUV in the same class, or more specifically, a fastback coupe SUV.

The front face still looks familiar and is quite memorable. When it comes to the side of the body, the lines really remind you of someone...

In terms of size, the L03 should inherit the cross - class advantage of the M03, with an overall size of 4650x1920x1600 and a wheelbase of 2850, which is much larger than the Z20. However, the power of this car is only 183 kW, which is a bit weaker than that of Lynk & Co.

Also, looking at the rear of the car, the L03 has abandoned the consistent design of the M03 at the front and rear and adopted a through - type light group. It really looks very good. But the bad news is that this taillight is a bit similar to that of a certain brand.

Finally, I think its biggest advantage is that it has introduced XPeng's VLA 2.0 pure - vision urban intelligent driving system. Yes, even cars in the 150,000 - yuan class are now competing in the field of urban intelligent driving .

But as a sporty family car for daily use, it would be more appropriate if the price can be controlled below 150,000 yuan.

After talking about XPeng, let's talk about a joint - venture model, the long - wheelbase version of the BMW iX3.

After a long wait, the new iX3 has finally entered the Chinese market. It also adopts the long - wheelbase version, with a size of 4885x1895x1635 and a wheelbase of 3005, 10.8 cm longer than the overseas version, meeting the Chinese market's preference for large cars.

I won't say much about the appearance. It has been shown at every auto show, and I'm really tired of seeing it. But even now, I still can't quite accept its front face...

The interior has not been announced yet. I guess it won't be much different from the overseas version. You can take a look at the picture below. It looks very distinctive. In terms of both technological and sporty features, I think it's not inferior to domestic brands.

The only thing is that when I tested the overseas version before, I found that there was too much plastic used in the materials. This would probably be criticized severely in the Chinese market. Let's see if the long - wheelbase version will be improved a bit?

Well, I won't go into details about the new - generation 800V pure - electric platform. Let's mainly talk about its configuration. It is equipped with a 108.7 - degree 4695 large - cylindrical battery, with a CLTC range of over 900 km. It has an asynchronous motor at the front and an excitation - synchronous motor at the rear, with a power of 345 kW. The parameters are quite impressive.

Especially in terms of intelligence, it uses Alibaba's large - language model on one hand and integrates with Huawei's HarmonyOS ecosystem on the other. It also uses Momenta for intelligent driving. The degree of localization is really high.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this car. Let's see if the price will be a pleasant surprise.

Next, the Xiaomi YU7.

You heard it right. It's not that the YU7 is getting a new version, but rather a new configuration. It's very likely that the standard - range version, which was the lowest - priced at 250,000 yuan, will be removed and replaced with a new "Youth Edition" of the YU7.

The appearance, kits, etc. remain unchanged, and the lidar is also retained.

The main change is that the curb weight has been reduced from 2315 kg of the standard version to 2200 kg. It is speculated that the battery capacity has been reduced. It's very likely that the previously removed 620 - km range version has made a comeback.

What? Is even Xiaomi starting to lower the purchase threshold? Didn't they always say that they had too many orders to deliver?

Actually, looking at the sales data, Xiaomi has indeed encountered some difficulties recently. Even if we don't consider the impact of the end - of - year period on sales in January and February, the sales ranking of the YU7 has dropped significantly, indicating that its market position has declined.

Now that the production capacity has increased and the old orders are almost cleared, and new orders are not coming in, Xiaomi probably has no choice but to cut prices to promote sales and at least keep its production capacity stable.

Hey, Mr. Lei, please launch a Hongmi car. I