Is Ideal Auto famous in China? In the fierce competition in the new energy vehicle market, Ideal Auto has successfully opened up a differentiated competitive track with its unique extended-range technology route and precise family user positioning. From technological innovation to market performance, from user reputation to strategic layout, this new force automaker, which has been established for less than ten years, is reconstructing the value map of Chinese family travel.
Technical architecture: extended-range + intelligent driving dual-wheel drive
The core competitiveness of Ideal Auto comes from its original extended-range electric system. Taking the popular L6 model as an example, it is equipped with a 1.5T range extender and a dual-motor combination, with a pure electric range of 212km and a comprehensive range of up to 1,390km, which completely eliminates the industry’s stubborn disease of “mileage anxiety”. In the field of intelligent driving, the AD Max3.0 system independently developed by Ideal Auto shows its technical depth: based on an end-to-end model to achieve full-scenario navigation assisted driving (NOA), combined with a visual-lidar fusion solution (VLM), it still maintains accurate environmental perception and decision-making capabilities under complex road conditions. What is more noteworthy is that its intelligent driving system adopts dual redundant deployment on the vehicle side, which can ensure safety even if a single system fails. This “safety redundancy” design is extremely rare in the same class.
Market performance: dual test of sales and finance
In 2024, Ideal Auto’s delivery volume exceeded 500,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 33.1%, firmly ranking the sales champion of Chinese brands above 200,000 yuan. As the sales leader, L6 delivered more than 190,000 vehicles throughout the year, and successfully entered the rigid demand market for family users with the precise positioning of “200,000-level six-seater SUV”. However, behind the dazzling sales data, the financial performance revealed strategic trade-offs: the full-year net profit fell 31.9% year-on-year to 8 billion yuan, and the gross profit margin fell to 20.5%. This “price-for-volume” strategy not only reflects Ideal Auto’s determination to expand its market share, but also reflects the fierce competition in the industry.
User reputation: the balance of design aesthetics and pragmatism
In the evaluation of car owners, the design aesthetics and space practicality of Ideal L6 are highly recognized. 52.4% of car owners are attracted by its family design language, and the through-type taillights and simple front face form a strong visual memory point. The large five-seat layout in the car, combined with Nappa leather seats, creates a “mobile living room” effect among male users aged 26-40. However, some car owners reported that there is still room for improvement in noise control when driving at high speeds, which has become a key optimization direction for subsequent modifications.
Strategic Outlook: Pure Electric + Supercharging Two-Line Breakthrough
Facing the industry’s electrification trend, Ideal Auto is accelerating the construction of a pure electric ecosystem. The upcoming pure electric SUV i8, equipped with an 800V high-voltage platform and CATL Kirin batteries, supports 12 minutes of fast charging for 500km, directly hitting users’ “charging anxiety”. In conjunction with the 3,000 supercharging station network to be built by the end of the year, Ideal Auto is creating a “car-pile-network” coordinated travel closed loop. In the field of intelligent driving, its L3 autonomous driving technology has entered the countdown to landing, and combined with the self-developed VLA large model, it is expected to be the first to achieve a breakthrough in autonomous driving in complex urban road conditions.
Competitive challenges: structural pressure to break out of the red ocean
Although Ideal Auto has an advantage in the extended-range market, the “substitution” strategy of rivals such as Leapmotor is eroding the market boundaries. In the pure electric field, it is surrounded by strong competitors such as Tesla and Xiaomi. Whether its pure electric model i8 can replicate the market myth of the L series has become a key battle to determine the valuation height. In addition, the contradiction between the pressure on gross profit margin and the increase in R&D investment tests Ideal Auto’s financial balance ability.
Standing at the forefront of the transformation of the new energy vehicle industry, Ideal Auto redefines the family travel experience with technological innovation and responds to market fluctuations with strategic determination. While other car companies are still swinging on the balance beam between battery life and cost, Ideal Auto has taken the lead in building a three-dimensional competitive system with dual technical routes of “extended range + pure electric” and dual ecological closed loops of “intelligent driving + supercharging”. This forward-looking layout not only reshapes the competitive landscape of China’s new energy vehicle market, but also paints a new picture of future travel for global family users.
Leave a Reply