Last week, the 412th batch of the "Announcement of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Enterprises and Products" was released. This batch includes a total of 60 new energy vehicle models, with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounting for 60%, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) collectively accounting for 35%, and the rest being hybrid electric vehicles.
In terms of battery supply, LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) and ternary batteries account for a 70-30 split. CATL secured half of the battery supply in this announcement, while the supply from other battery manufacturers was less than 10 vehicles each.
Regarding automakers, Huawei-affiliated models are entering an intensive period of annual facelifts and product expansion, with an exclusive focus on SUVs.
In this batch of announcements, Huawei-affiliated brands declared multiple models, including the SAIC Shangjie Z9 BEV SUV, Chery Zhijie R7 dual-battery version, SERES Wenjie M7 full series of BEV and EREV, Changan Avatr 07L EREV, and Yijing X9.
In terms of battery supply, apart from Zhijie introducing CALB and Gotion High-Tech, other Huawei-affiliated models still rely primarily on CATL.
Notably, SERES announced an "AI vehicle" named Saidou in this batch. Instead of adopting Huawei's HarmonyOS Cockpit and Qiankun Intelligent Driving, it chose to collaborate with ByteDance and is equipped with the Doubao Large Model.
Besides Saidou, another AI vehicle model named "Jiayue 07" also appeared in this batch, which is the industry's first product defined with an "AI-native" architecture.
Although ByteDance's AI integration into vehicles will be hard to shake Huawei's absolute leading position in advanced intelligent driving in the short term, ByteDance is forming a strong challenge to Huawei through a differentiated path of "AI cockpit + ecosystem empowerment," and is expected to reshape the industry landscape in terms of smart vehicle ecosystems and user interaction experiences.
As the number of AI vehicles continues to increase, can automakers carve out new premiums in the price war?
The prerequisite for AI configurations to generate a premium is sufficiently low costs. If advanced intelligent driving hardware is only viable for models priced above CNY 250,000, it merely represents high-trim profits; only when it can be extended to the CNY 150,000 to CNY 200,000 range without significantly eroding gross margins will it change the market structure.
There is an opportunity, but the scarcity period for the AI label is very short. It is crucial to avoid the homogenized development of "if you have it, I must have it too"; otherwise, automakers will ultimately only be able to use AI hardware as a bargaining chip for price cuts.
On the BYD front, this batch brings the Sea Lion 08, Tang, Qin Plus, and Han from the Ocean and Dynasty series, while Fangchengbao introduces the new Tai 9.
Among them, the Fangchengbao Tai 9 opts for a PHEV rather than a BEV, but is equally equipped with a large-capacity 66.48 kWh battery. It offers a WLTC pure electric range of 310 km and a comprehensive range of over 1,600 km with a full tank and full charge.
As an independent sub-brand of BYD, Fangchengbao has shown outstanding performance among BYD's various series, with relevant data showing cumulative sales of 285,436 units and cumulative exports of 55,230 units in the first three quarters.
For Geely, this batch introduces two models: the PHEV off-road Galaxy Zhanjian 700 and the Lynk & Co 900L.
Specifically, the Lynk & Co 900L, as a 7-seater PHEV SUV, is matched with two different capacity battery packs of 55.1 kWh and 70 kWh, corresponding to WLTC pure electric ranges of 245 km and 320 km, respectively. The announcement shows that the battery supply is CATL's ternary battery.
Regarding joint venture brands, FAW-Volkswagen declared four versions of the L5 BEV sedan at once, Beijing Benz C 300L joins the battle of domestic luxury BEV sedans, and SAIC-GM Buick brings two PHEV models, one of which is an MPV, intending to consolidate the GL8's position in the PHEV MPV market.
Moreover, LFP batteries are now beginning to penetrate the territory of luxury models from joint venture brands. Specifically, the Beijing Benz C 300L BEV sedan is equipped with CATL's LFP battery, and all four versions of the FAW-Volkswagen L5 BEV sedan adopt LFP batteries.
According to data from the CAAM, domestic sales of new energy passenger vehicles in September reached 1.142 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 12.1%, which echoes the continuously declining new vehicle announcements this month.
Some perspectives suggest that the slowdown in the pace of new vehicle launches by automakers is, on the one hand, to address concerns about "quick-made cars," and on the other hand, to build momentum for the Guangzhou Auto Show in November. If October is a proactive buffer for automakers, then November and December may be the critical volume-boosting stages for automakers in the fourth quarter.