42HOW Auto

Spotted on the road: the new iCAR V25. It's the mid-size boxy SUV from Chery's iCAR brand, slotting between the V23 and V27. Pre-orders opened Oct 19 at RMB 139,800–175,800 across four trims, with launch planned for November. • 1.5T range extender, RWD or dual-motor AWD (335 kW combined) • CLTC EV-only range 200–210 km • Horizon Robotics Journey 6P chip, 560 TOPS

We drove the Maybach S680, V12 and all. Built in Sindelfingen, Germany, it ships to China with Momenta's driver assistance on board from the factory. On this car it's tuned for comfort: stops are so smooth you barely feel the brakes, and Maybach mode's gentle second-gear starts carry over into assisted driving too.

21 KM. 10 ADAS Systems. Zero Passes. Was the Route Too Tough, or Were the Cars Not Good Enough? 10 cars, 10 different intelligent driving systems, and one ultimate challenge: a 21 km route through some of Shanghai’s most complex urban roads, starting from Lujiazui. Each car started with 100 points. Lose more than 10 points, and you're out. The result? All 10 intelligent driving systems failed, while a human driver narrowly passed with 91 points! Beyond safety interventions, we also evaluated ride comfort, driving strategies on major roads and narrow streets, and overall driving efficiency. Intelligent driving shouldn't just be usable — it should be genuinely good to use. This time, we're not creating a leaderboard. Instead, we're using real-world scenarios and data to explore where urban intelligent driving stands today, and how far it still has to go before it delivers a truly great experience. We'll also be publishing the details of our test route so anyone can take on the same challenge. Successfully complete the retest, and you'll receive a random gift from us!

The day after launch we went to a Li Auto store. What the product specialist told us: • Almost every store in Shanghai has passed 100 orders, and test drives are fully booked • Ready-stock cars are sold out; a new custom build now takes 7–8 weeks per the app • Most buyers come straight for the i6: young families buying a first car, and owners of 5–6-year-old gas cars • What they notice first: the power frunk, front zero-gravity seats and the wide display • A few ask about Li's in-house 5C battery, but not many In a poll of our community after launch, satisfaction was 83% for product completeness, 74% for price, 50% for battery trust and 31% for the value of paid options.

No stage show, but the price is out: the Avatr 07L Max BEV starts at RMB 229,900, or RMB 215,900 with the limited-time launch offer. • Huawei Qiankun ADS 5 driver assistance, an 896-line lidar and 27 sensors in total • HarmonyOS cockpit with a 35.4-inch 4K display and a 15.6-inch center screen • 3-meter-class wheelbase, zero-gravity front passenger seat, CATL battery

Chinese driver-assistance chip startup XHEART launched its X7 Ultra today: 700 TOPS for large driving models (equivalent TOPS, ADAS use only), plus what it calls China's first mass-produced Armv9 automotive-grade CPU. On stage it also previewed the X9, due in 2027: 3,000 TOPS and 700 GB/s of memory bandwidth, built for next-gen world models. XHEART says the X7 series has been in mass production for 8 months, with 200,000+ chips shipped, 10 production models on the road and orders covering 40+ models.

We’re going big! Ten cars take on a 21-km urban driving test in Shanghai. Who will make it to the end? And how well can their driver-assistance systems really handle everyday city streets? October 30. Don't miss it!

Yijing's Zeng Qinglin confirmed a Taizhou Yijing X9 fire was due to being rear-ended by a loaded truck. All passengers were safe; the battery remained intact despite fire damage.

We're trying to buy the new Li Auto i6 tonight, and quick-delivery cars are already hard to get: once we picked AWD plus the dual Mach chip pack, there was no quick-delivery car left to choose. The 2026 i6 is now on sale in China. Official price: from RMB 249,800, or RMB 239,800 as a launch offer for orders placed by Nov 30. Li Auto says deliveries start right away. What else we caught at the launch: - The electric front trunk is finally here, and 2025 i6 owners can pay to retrofit it from December. - Three special paints, normally RMB 6,000, are free during the launch period. - Li Auto says the outgoing i6 sold nearly 190,000 units. Key numbers: - Battery: 96 kWh, up from 87 kWh - CLTC range: 780 km RWD / 710 km AWD - Europe: sold as the "Li 6", Norway and the Netherlands first, from Q1 2027 We own a 2025 i6, so we know the old car well. This is a mid-cycle update: on top of the bigger pack and front trunk, it adds ADB adaptive headlights and swaps the front ultrasonic sensors for UWB radar, which tidies up the nose. Our gripe: with the new semi-hidden door handles, the interior door-open button pushes your elbow into the B-pillar. For mostly city driving, we'd pick RWD, which gets 70 km more CLTC range than AWD. Our own car will go into a long-term battery test.

CATL's sodium-ion push into European grid storage keeps stacking up. New today: an MOU with Germany's Intilion to deploy 3 GWh of Tener Sodium storage over 5 years, across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. European sodium-ion deals CATL has announced this year: • Alfen: 5 GWh, from 2027 • Solarpro: 2 GWh • Intilion: 3 GWh CATL's claims: 15,000+ cycles, 25 years of operation, high discharge power at -20°C, and dimensionally compatible with lithium-ion systems, so buyers can switch chemistry more easily.