news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

At the Chengdu Auto Show which is about to kick off this month, several mid-size SUVs have attracted much attention because they are tasked with dethroning Tesla Model Y.

In the first seven months of this year, Tesla Model Y achieved sales of 29,912, 22,537, 47,917, 26,356, 39,985, 41,110 and 36,299 units in the Chinese market respectively. At the same time, it has also won the title of "Monthly Sales Champion of a Single Model" in the Chinese auto market many times this year.

However, after Musk revealed on social media in June that there would be no new Tesla Model Y model launched this year, many car companies immediately sensed the possibility of defeating the Model Y.

Many car companies including Huawei, Zeekr, Xiaomi, and Ledao are preparing to enter this niche market, and the Zhijie R7, Zeekr 7x, and Ledao L60 that will be unveiled at the Chengdu Auto Show have become highly anticipated models.

So, how do these models subvert Model Y? At the opening of the Chengdu Auto Show, Kung Fu Auto will take a closer look.

"Arms display" to siege Model Y

In the era of fuel vehicles, one of the killer weapons for Chinese brand models to challenge joint venture brand models is to pile up configurations that surpass their levels.

In the new energy era, this traditional skill still works. At the Chengdu Auto Show, these new mid-size SUVs were "displayed" and their configurations were superior to those of the Model Y.

Let’s first look at the Zhijie R7. Its dimensions are 4956/1981/1634mm and its wheelbase is 2950mm. Compared with the Tesla Model Y, its advantages are very obvious.

More importantly, there are reports that the Zhijie R7 will also adopt the Huawei Tuling chassis, which will not only have a front double wishbone + rear five-link suspension combination, but will also be equipped with intelligent air suspension and CDC variable damping shock absorbers. This is in stark contrast to the Model Y, which has been criticized for its too hard chassis.

As for the latest ADS 3.0 advanced intelligent driving assistance, it will naturally not be absent on the Zhijie R7, which also makes the outside world have more expectations for the Zhijie R7.

Let's take a look at the Zeekr 7x. As the second SUV model of the Zeekr brand, the Zeekr 7x has extremely high configuration specifications. Its appearance continues the design style of the Zeekr 007 and can be regarded as the SUV version of 007. The body dimensions of the new car are 4825/1930/1656mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2925mm.

Like Zeekr 007, Zeekr 7x will also be equipped with an 800V high-voltage platform as standard for the entire series. It will be available in two versions: lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium batteries. The single-motor version has a maximum power of 310kW, and the front and rear motors of the four-wheel drive version have a maximum power of 165kW and 310kW respectively. The maximum total power is 475kW, and the power parameters are consistent with Zeekr 007.

In addition to performance and battery life, the smart cabin and smart driving of the Zeekr 7x are expected to continue the configuration of the Zeekr 007, so it will be equipped with a 13.02-inch LCD instrument, a 15.05-inch central control screen, AR-HUD head-up display, Qualcomm 8295 chip, laser radar, NVIDIA Orin-X smart driving chip and high-end smart driving functions.

It is worth noting that since the Zeekr 2025 model launch conference, the Zeekr brand’s intelligent driving has been comprehensively improved, so it is estimated that the Zeekr 7x will also be the latest version of the entire series.

In addition to these two new cars, the Ledao L60, which was released earlier, also made its debut at the auto show.

Ledao L60 is the first model of NIO's second brand Ledao. Li Bin has been comparing it with Model Y.

The pre-sale price of this model starts at 219,900 yuan, and it will be launched and delivered in September.

Ledao L60 is better than Model Y in most vehicle indicators. For example, the drag coefficient is only 0.229Cd, which is lower than the Model Y's drag coefficient of 0.236Cd.

In terms of body size, the length, width and height of Ledao L60 are 4828/1930/1616mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2950mm, which is also larger than Model Y. The most eye-catching thing is that this model supports battery swapping, which, in Li Bin's words, has lowered the threshold for battery swapping in the NIO series.

From the perspective of comprehensive product strength, whether it is Zhijie R7, Zeekr 7x, or Ledao L60, they have formed a dimensionality reduction attack on Model Y in terms of product strength alone, and have the basis for launching a challenge to Model Y.

Is there a shortcoming? Challenging Model Y is slightly disadvantageous

It must be admitted that the several mid-size SUVs at this Chengdu Auto Show have the strength to compete with Model Y in terms of product definition, technical reserves, and brand halo. However, whether they can be truly recognized by the market and users is far from enough.

Maybe many people would say that Model 3 was overthrown because of its outdated product strength and its brand halo is not as dazzling as before, and the days when people had to buy it are over.

However, the mid-size SUV market where Model Y is located has a completely different situation, and the competitiveness of these models is not stable enough. From the current situation, they all have their own problems to a greater or lesser extent.

Let’s talk about Zeekr first. Since the 2025 model launch conference, Zeekr’s brand credibility has been seriously questioned. Judging from the recent developments, Zeekr is still far from overcoming this hurdle.

Especially for potential users, it has become a consensus that buying the first car of Zeekr's new model is equivalent to buying a "semi-finished product", which casts a shadow on the market prospects of Zeekr 7x.

As for Zhijie and Ledao, although both of them are backed by mature IPs - Zhijie has Huawei and Ledao has Weilai, it cannot be ignored that they both face the fact that their brand power is relatively weak.

Although Zhijie is backed by Huawei, Wenjie has always had greater influence than Zhijie in Huawei's Smart Selection system. Moreover, Wenjie has not yet proven itself in the pure electric field. The reason why it was able to achieve sales results in the past was based on the "boost" of the fuel tank, which is a big challenge for the pure electric Zhijie.

As for Ledao, the label of "low-priced version of NIO" is indeed attractive enough, but the problem is that no matter how strongly it is associated with NIO, Ledao is ultimately different from NIO itself.

For example, Ledao models cannot enter the "Niu House" and Ledao users cannot participate in the "NIO DAY" voting, which shows that there is a clear difference in status between the two. Moreover, the price of 219,900 yuan is far from being affordable. If you really want to swap batteries, then Aion, which has already reached a battery swap cooperation with NIO, may have more hope.

For potential users, it is obviously worthwhile to spend tens of thousands more to buy a NIO identity and change their identity.

Kung Fu Clap

Speaking rationally and objectively, the product power of these new cars is strong enough, and they all have something eye-catching.

However, whether Model Y can be completely defeated can only be fully seen after it is officially launched and its production capacity is smoothly ramped up, and the cluster offensive formed by word-of-mouth can be fully seen.

Even if the company cannot produce Model Y by then, it should not be a problem to grab orders for more than 10,000 vehicles per month.