China EV war: Tesla, Nio and Li Auto target mainland families with premium SUVs
Tesla to Nio are shifting their focus from price cuts to developing spacious family friendly, long-range vehicles for the mainland Chinese market.
The premium SUV segment has emerged as the new battlefront, as carmakers heed Beijing's call to end a brutal price war and chase affluent consumers to improve their bottom line.
Tesla, which plans to launch a six-seat Model Y on the mainland this autumn, has been overtaken by two major local rivals –
Li Auto and Nio – with new SUV models in the world's largest EV market.
On Thursday, Shanghai-based Nio announced it would start deliveries of its six-seat Onvo L90 SUV from August 1, a model expected to draw thousands of orders from mainland customers.
Li Auto's Li i8 six-seat SUV starts from 321,800 yuan. Photo: Handout
It became the second carmaker in three days to launch a pre-emptive strike against Tesla in building spacious intelligent vehicles that are priced around 300,000 yuan (US$41,800).
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