Model y's three-row assault: Li Bin and Li Xiang Remain Unfazed?

The official announcement of six Model Ys has made NIO and Li Auto anxious.

Last night, Tesla officially posted on Weibo: "Model Y L, see you in golden autumn!" accompanied by two pictures showing the side silhouette of the Model Y L and the rear car badge. At the same time, the new car has officially entered the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology directory.

According to Tesla's usual practice, the Model Y L is likely to be launched directly on various official channels one day, without too much introduction.

This is a six-seat pure electric SUV that appeared quite "laid-back" in its early promotion, yet it is capable of making competitors entering the pure electric six-seat SUV market in 2025 take it very seriously—because it is Tesla, and it is the absolute blockbuster in the 250,000 yuan pure electric SUV segment.

Once the Model Y L was unveiled, within two and a half hours, Li Xiang, Shen Fei, and Li Bin successively retweeted this Weibo post to promote their own pure electric six-seat SUVs. Although they did not directly "declare war" against each other, their restrained statements were filled with a sense of competition, as if to say "The refreshed Model Y, feel free to compare."

This time, do NIO and Ideal have the capability to compete head-to-head with the Model Y L?

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Narrow Road Encounter - Ideal i8

The Model Y L has already lit up, so who will compete with the Model Y L? Its competitors know best.

Li Xiang was the first to retweet Tesla's official Weibo post, calling the Model Y L a "six-seat pure electric SUV worthy of respect." He called on users in the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan price range to "look forward to" six-seat pure electric SUVs, and also promoted his own five-seat pure electric SUV, the Li Auto i6.

People's focus on these words, besides interpreting whether "the six pure electric SUVs worth respecting" has any implications, also includes debating Li Xiang's pricing range for the Model Y L.

The current Model Y has a starting price of 263,500 yuan for the single motor version, while the dual motor version is priced at 303,500 yuan. According to convention, the higher-positioned Model Y L will set a price above 300,000 yuan. There are also informed sources who have stated in media interviews that the estimated price of the new car will be around 400,000 yuan.

Some netizens believe that Li Xiang is guiding people to position the price of the Model Y L in the "200,000-300,000 yuan range," but others refute this by saying that Li Xiang is referring to the i6, which will be launched in September, rather than the Model Y L.

This year, the ideal pure electric SUV competing with the Model Y L is undoubtedly the i8, while the i6 is challenging the standard wheelbase Model Y.

Let's take a brief look at the basic parameters of the Model Y L.

The new car's dimensions are 4976/1920/1668mm, with a wheelbase of 3040mm, a curb weight of 2088kg, and peak power of the front and rear motors at 142kW and 198kW respectively, with a top speed of 201km/h.

In line with @ Shawn's revelations this Tuesday, the Model Y L has an extended wheelbase that is 15cm longer than the standard wheelbase version, but contrary to people's speculations, the Model Y L has kept the length under 5 meters.

Looking at the wheelbase, the Ideal i8's 3050mm is closer to the Model Y L's 3040mm, but it is larger in length, width, and height compared to the Model Y L.

In terms of overall dimensions, the Ideal i6's length, width, and height are similar to those of the Tesla Model Y L, but the i6 has a wheelbase that is 40mm shorter than the Model Y L. However, the i6 is a five-seat pure electric SUV, so the two models are positioned differently.

More importantly, the pricing: the pre-sale price of the Ideal i8 today is 350,000 to 400,000 yuan, while the current price of the L8 is 321,800 to 379,800 yuan. The official price of the i8 is expected to be 10,000 to 20,000 yuan higher than that, which almost perfectly overlaps with the estimated price of around 400,000 yuan for the Model Y L, as indicated by the aforementioned informed sources.

In the case of the Model Y, which has gained global success without the impact of range-extended impressions, for the Ideal i8 to surpass the Model Y L, the first aspect to consider is space.

We recently experienced the Li Auto i8. The dynamic aspects are still under wraps, but what can be said is that the i8 continues to uphold the Li Auto family's commitment to a unified experience of three-row space. Compared to the Model Y L, the size of the i8 theoretically gives it more "capital."

For example, the seat shape of the i8 provides a strong sense of wrapping, with the side wings of the seat cushion and the backrest both extended and thickened.

In addition, the third row of the i8 has enough space, and when there isn’t much luggage in the trunk, the backrest can be adjusted to the most reclined position. However, the angle of the third-row seat cushions is relatively flat, and the cushions can be a bit hard.

If the trunk is fully packed, the backrest of the third-row seats must be adjusted to a relatively upright position. In this case, tall people will tend to have a sitting posture similar to that of a small stool.

Therefore, the Model Y L's inherently smaller size requires it to make more extreme design choices in terms of space when facing direct competitors like the i8.

At the same time, Ideal has accumulated experience in family vehicles with the L series, paying more attention to details, such as hiding and soundproofing the air conditioning vents, adding grooves for storing phones in the door edges, a three-segment layered dashboard, and a light-colored steering wheel. Additionally, the MEGA features a 21.4-inch rear screen and a built-in refrigerator.

The Model Y L continues to feature a sloping roof design and is smaller in size compared to the i8. The spatial shortcomings may focus on the third row and trunk capacity. A leaked comparison image between the Model Y and Model Y L shows that the latter has a noticeably reduced trunk capacity, while the space in the third row remains unknown.

However, informed sources have also revealed that the Model Y L will not only have a larger space compared to the standard wheelbase version, but it will also have a longer range and a more upscale interior. The relatively simple interior style of the Model Y may change.

As for the power, the dual-motor configuration of Model Y L with 142+198kW, although not as impressive in numbers as the ideal i8 with 150+250kW, should be noted that the i8's curb weight of 2580-2610kg is significantly higher than that of Model Y L at 2088kg.

Not only that, but urban auxiliary driving will be fully equipped on the Ideal i8, which poses a certain impact on Tesla, whose FSD activation costs are high and are subject to regulatory restrictions in two locations.

Currently, it seems that the Ideal i8, as a domestically produced pure electric vehicle with a native three-row seating arrangement, has advantages in terms of space, configuration, and specifications. However, the comparison of dynamic performance is also an important factor. Especially beyond static and dynamic aspects, the recognition of the Tesla brand represents brand safety and vehicle safety, which is something the Ideal i8 needs to overcome.

Low to high - Le Dao L90

After the pre-sale launch event, the price, configuration, and dimensions of the Ledo L90 seem to put it in an "invincible position" in various cyber comparisons.

Shen Fei and Li Bin's forwarded content about the Model Y L focuses on two aspects: one emphasizes the spaciousness of the Leidao L90, while the other mentions the increasingly charging and battery swapping infrastructure and product technological innovations, which contribute to the arrival of the large space pure electric SUV era.

The pre-sale price starts at 279,900 yuan, and after BaaS, it starts at 193,900 yuan for the Le Dao L90, which focuses on "big."

The L90 from Le Dao has a length of 5 meters and a wheelbase of 3110mm, making it the largest in size among the three models from Te Li Li, while also being the lowest in price.

In addition to the zero-gravity seats in the second row and the legroom of over 1 meter in each row, the Le Dao L90's front and rear trunk capacity can reach a total of 670L without folding down the third-row seats, with the front trunk alone reaching 240L.

"All seats are VIP, 6 people, 10 boxes with no pressure, and luggage can be stored in the front and back." This promotional phrase summarizes the main advantages of the Ledo L90.

Li Bin mentioned that "the increasingly of charging and battery swapping infrastructure and product technology innovation" is, for Leda, the reason why NIO has built a total of 3,402 battery swap stations as of today, as well as NIO's long-standing commitment to self-research, which is believed to be the reason Leda L90 can offer a surprising price.

The price difference between the Ledo L90 and the Ideal i8, compared to the Model Y L, should be more clearly reflected in the three electric systems and intelligence.

The standard configuration of the Leda L90 with an 85 kWh battery has a CLTC range of 605 km, which is significantly lower than the lowest configuration of the Ideal i8 with a 90.1 kWh battery capacity and a minimum CLTC range of 670 km.

Ladao has a strong battery swap network to compensate for the absolute value of range, while Ideal has just completed its "nine vertical and nine horizontal" charging network to ensure that the Ideal i8 can fully utilize its 5C charging rate.

In the refreshed version of the Model Y Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive, its 78.4 kWh battery can achieve a range of 719 km. Based on the claim of longer range, the smaller size and lighter curb weight of the Model Y L might outperform the Leado L90 and the Li Auto i8 in terms of range.

In terms of assisted driving, the Ideal i8 uses a single chip with a computing power of 700 TOPS, the Thor-U chip, and is equipped with the next-generation assisted driving architecture Mind VLA. In contrast, the Leidao L90 is equipped with a single chip with a computing power of 254 TOPS, the Orin X chip, and adopts a vision-based solution.

Although the promotional efforts for the Ledo L90 have been aligning with the Ideal i8 and Tesla Model Y L, its price point is slightly lower than the latter two.

300,000 yuan serves as an "invisible" dividing line for car purchases, while 30,000 to 50,000 yuan is already enough to attract a batch of potential customers.

Ludao L90 has always emphasized space, NIO's battery swapping, and self-research, perhaps in order to attract users hovering around the 300,000 yuan price range with large space, 900V, BaaS, and the convenience of energy replenishment.

Starting from the three main characters of today’s article, in addition to the ideal i8 and Lido L90, the Zhiji LS9 and AITO M8 pure electric version are also gearing up.

Do you all think that, facing the already erupted domestic three-row pure electric vehicles, Tesla still has an advantage with this China-specific offering?