IM Motors opened pre-sales on 29 October for the LS8 NEO, the first model built under its NEXT 2028 strategy, with a benefit price starting at RMB 249,800. The five seat SUV goes on sale on 5 November and shares its stage with CATL, which supplies the battery across the range.
Xu Yin, deputy general manager of IM Motors, framed the choice plainly: the LS8 NEO standardises on a customised CATL pack so that two large manufacturers vouch for the quality. CATL chief technology officer Gao Huan answered the cost question head on, conceding the pack is expensive and explaining where the money goes.
The specification
Two packs are offered. The 93 kWh unit uses an LFP chemistry for 684km of CLTC range. The 103 kWh single crystal pack reaches 752km. With SAIC’s latest NEO electric architecture and an 800 volt system, 15 minutes of charging adds 529km, more than 370kW is available at 20 per cent state of charge, and consumption is 15.2 kWh per 100km.
The chassis is fully steer by wire across the range, with a 4.85 metre turning radius and 24 degrees of rear wheel steering. Driver assistance runs on a world model supplied by Momenta. Cabin fittings include 4D mechanical massage seats, a B&O audio system and a refrigerated compartment, hardware that until recently belonged to cars at twice the price.
Why not build the cells in house
Asked why IM does not follow the industry fashion for in-house cell development, chief technology officer Xiang Jiao gave two reasons. The first is that the pack is the component the buyer worries about most, and scale is the cheapest form of reassurance. CATL has led global installations for nine consecutive years, has put more than 10 billion cells into about 30 million vehicles, and works to a parts per billion defect rate.
At the launch IM displayed a pack removed from a test car that had covered 250,000km across the Sichuan-Tibet route and Mohe, China’s coldest test site. Capacity retention was still 90 per cent and every safety test had been passed.
The second reason is integration. Since 2017 the two groups have operated joint ventures, SAIC-CATL and CATL-SAIC, supplying both packs and cells, on the argument that cell chemistry only becomes a reliable product once vehicle level thermal management, structural design and energy management are applied to it.
Where the premium goes
Gao gave three answers on cost. CATL has spent more than RMB 100bn on research over the years and holds over 60,000 patents, which he reads as evidence that cell technology is still moving rather than mature. With electrified penetration approaching 70 per cent in China, he argues the competition has shifted from energy density records to certainty on safety and quality.
The second is joint engineering. He described the two technology chiefs arguing behind closed doors over single specifications, such as holding weight flat while moving from 93 kWh to 103 kWh, or reducing cell internal resistance by 10 to 20 per cent from the existing 0.3 to 0.4 milliohm so that the vehicle can reserve cooling capacity for the cabin during ultra fast charging.
The third is supply certainty. For the 93 kWh pack, the two teams lifted state of charge estimation accuracy at low temperature from the industry norm of 5 to 8 per cent error down to 2 to 3 per cent, which is what stops a car from showing range it cannot deliver in winter.
The market backdrop explains the timing. Extended range passenger vehicle retail fell about 19 per cent to roughly 694,000 units in the first nine months, while battery electric retail slipped 4.6 per cent inside a total electrified market that fell 12.8 per cent. IM read the shift and added the battery electric variant its customers kept asking for.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original Gasgoo report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://auto.gasgoo.com/news/202611/3I70476755C103.shtml.