The six-seater mid-to-large SUV segment is emerging as the next crucial battleground in the new energy vehicle market.
On July 17th， Li Auto announced the commencement of pre-orders for the Li Auto i8， with an estimated price range of 350，000 to 400，000 RMB. The official pricing will be revealed on July 29th. Li Xiang， CEO of Li Auto， stated on the same day， “The Li Auto i8 is open for small deposits today. We still have a long way to go. We haven’t yet achieved the popularity of Xiaomi， where we can move directly to large orders without small deposits. Nor have we reached the level of Tesla， which doesn’t even hold a press conference without pre-orders， and directly opens sales on its official website.”
Concurrently with the announcement of the i8 pre-orders， Li Auto declared the official贯通 of the core sections of its “nine vertical and nine horizontal” high-speed charging network. The total number of high-speed charging stations has reached 959， in preparation for the launch of the all-new Li Auto i8.
Influenced by multiple news items， Li Auto’s Hong Kong stock saw a surge in its after-hours trading， reaching a high of HK$125.7 per share， an increase of over 10%.
The previous day， Tesla China’s six-seater model， the Model Y L， appeared in the latest new vehicle公示目录 from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Compared to the standard version， the Model Y L’s body length has increased by 179mm， the wheelbase by 150mm， and the body height by 44mm. Tesla China also posted on its Weibo account， “Model Y L， see you in the golden autumn!”
Sources familiar with the matter informed a Caijing reporter that the six-seater Model Y L is positioned between the Model Y and Model X， and will be an all-wheel-drive model. “The new model is planned for launch as early as the third quarter， with an estimated price of around 400，000 RMB.”
Regarding the arrival of the Model Y L， Li Xiang commented on social media that evening， stating that a respectable six-seater pure electric SUV has arrived and that users looking for a six-seater pure electric SUV in the 200，000-300，000 RMB price range can look forward to it. “Of course， if your usage needs are for 5 seats， you are welcome to pay attention to the Li Auto i6， which will be released in September.” Subsequently， William Li， founder of NIO， published a Weibo post stating that with the continuous improvement of charging and battery swapping infrastructure and technological innovation， the era of large-space pure electric SUVs has arrived. “The Le Dao L90 is an innovative masterpiece born from this background.”
The competition in the six-seater pure electric SUV market extends beyond the Model Y L， Li Auto i8， and Le Dao L90. On July 16th， IM Motors released the official images of its first mid-to-large range-extended SUV， the LS9. The new car is expected to be equipped with IM Motors’ third-generation steer-by-wire technology and is slated for release in the fourth quarter of this year. Furthermore， the AITO M7， which has demonstrated strong market performance， is also positioned in this segment， with its pure electric version scheduled for launch in August.
“Compared to the first half of last year， the competition in the large six-seater SUV market is indeed fierce，” said Deng Chenghao， CEO of Deepal. “Overall， the monthly sales volume of the six-seater SUV market is tens of thousands of units， with several star products， such as the AITO M7. Our sales target is to capture a 20%-30% share in this segment.”
In May of this year， Deepal’s all-new flagship large six-seater SUV， the Deepal S09， was officially launched and began deliveries.
J.D. Power’s 2025 China Consumer Survey results indicate that the emphasis on space comfort for middle-class families aged 30-45 has increased from 23% in 2020 to 41% in 2025. “The six-seater SUV market is expected to become even more vibrant in the second half of the year， with a continuous increase in the number of pure electric six-seater SUVs， and this trend is evident，” said Shen Fei， Senior Vice President of NIO and President of Le Dao Auto， regarding the upcoming market landscape.
