New forces in Chinese car production rush to release new products, with innovation in focus

A number of new forces in Chinese car production, especially makers of electric vehicles (EVs), are flexing their muscles to release new products to grab more market share, with innovation featuring smart driving and artificial intelligence (AI).

The latest example is Xiaomi, which on Sunday delivered its first SU7 Ultra, a pure EV, with better-than-expected orders since its debut. Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, said on Sina Weibo that orders have far exceeded expectations.

The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra was released on Thursday, and within 10 minutes, orders with deposits and very high intentions to buy had exceeded 6,900 units. Within two hours, that number had surpassed 10,000 units, Xiaomi Auto said on its account on Sina Weibo.

The new model, priced at 529,900 yuan ($72,750), is equipped with a full-scene smart driving function, with computing power totaling 11.45 EFLOPS (a measure of supercomputing performance, representing 1 quintillion floating-point calculations performed every second). More functions, including a roaming parking search and parking assist for ultra-narrow spaces, are expected to be available this month, according to Xiaomi Auto.

Huawei announced on Sina Weibo on Saturday that the newly released Huawei AITO M5 Ultra had commenced pre-orders with a starting pre-sale price of 238,000 yuan. The vehicle is equipped with Huawei's advanced driving system, featuring upgraded 192-line LiDAR and 4D millimeter-wave radar, significantly enhancing its intelligent driving and safety capabilities.

On February 21, Leapmotor T03 was officially unveiled, launching two models priced at 59,900 yuan and 69,900 yuan. Zhu Jiangming, chairman of Leapmotor, said that the company will introduce three B-series models in 2025, with the high-end configurations of these models expected to feature lidar and high-performance AI computing chips for autonomous driving.

"Innovation has become the hallmark of Chinese emerging automakers this year, featuring smart driving empowered by AI. It is also a key reason why their vehicles have gained popularity among consumers," Zhang Xiang, director of the Digital Automotive International Cooperation Research Center of the World Digital Economy Forum, told the Global Times on Sunday.

In February, more than 10 auto manufacturers including Geely, Dongfeng, and Leapmotor announced deep integration with AI company DeepSeek's large language model, empowering intelligent cockpits, smart driving, and other functions.

On Saturday, a number of new forces in Chinese car production announced delivery figures for February. XPeng Motors delivered 30,500 vehicles, representing a year-on-year increase of 570 percent, marking the fourth consecutive month with deliveries exceeding 30,000 units.

Li Auto delivered 26,300 vehicles in February, a 29.7 percent year-on-year increase; Leapmotor delivered 25,300 vehicles, achieving a 285 percent year-on-year rise, and Zeekr delivered 14,000 vehicles, up 86.9 percent.

Zhang noted that with the continued post-holiday releases of consumer demand, support from consumption-boosting policies as well as the continuous improvement in smart driving technology and charging/battery-swap infrastructure, the new-energy vehicle (NEV) market will maintain strong growth momentum in the coming months.

"Chinese automakers have established the largest NEV industrial chain globally. Now empowered by advanced technology, China-made NEVs have advantages of cost-effectiveness, which enables them to explore more of the global market," Zhang noted.