Not only is Xiaomi Auto affected by intelligent driving accidents, but the entire automotive industry is.

The most direct impact is that at the Shanghai Auto Show, which will open on April 23, major automakers may not dare to make intelligent driving the focus of their exhibition stands, or even avoid mentioning it. Around April 2, we contacted the marketing teams of many automakers, and their common action was to avoid this sensitive time period, which means they need to start working overtime to revise the originally planned promotional themes for the auto show, avoiding or minimally mentioning intelligent driving.

Is anyone daring to mention it? At least in the current time period, it's not clear who dares to defy public opinion. For example, according to NIO's usual practice, they release technological breakthroughs and new cases related to intelligent driving every Tuesday, but after the recent accident, they have suspended these releases. Automakers facing the same situation as NIO are everywhere, such as when a BYD executive posted content related to intelligent driving on social media and then immediately deleted it.

Since the end of the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, when automakers entered the period of popularizing intelligent driving for all, all Chinese brands except Great Wall Motors have launched large-scale press conferences. However, it is clear that both automakers and automotive consumers are now entering a new round of calmness.

Thus, an unavoidable first-order question arises: if intelligent driving cannot be the main focus, how many highlights will the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show have?

Unavoidable: All heavyweight new cars revolve around intelligent driving

"Brands that don't do intelligent driving and can still sell well have already confirmed that they will not participate in the Shanghai Auto Show, ha ha."

Due to a dispute between two organizers over the hosting rights of the Shanghai Auto Show, one of which is the previous host, the CCPIT Sub-Council, and the other is the Shanghai Council for the Promotion of International Trade. In this battle between the old and the new, many brands have already made it clear that they will not participate, such as Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, and Maserati. And they are typical examples of brands that do not emphasize intelligent driving yet achieve sales.

So, looking at the industry, it's a tight competition between everyone, following the logic of making water-bucket cars. Therefore, the conclusion is that all heavyweight new cars revolve around intelligent driving.

From the perspective of the four major sub-categories, new forces, Chinese brands, joint venture brands all take intelligent driving as their core highlight, and even the imported car segment is beginning to focus on intelligent driving.

Starting with the new forces, Xiaomi YU7 may be affected by recent events, causing the overall launch timeline to be pushed back. This new car will carry two of Lei Jun's flags simultaneously, one being that intelligent driving will enter the domestic first tier, and the other being excellent performance. This echoes Lei Jun's first release of motor-related technology, with a 30% reduction in size but a significant increase in torque and other capabilities. In fact, even if intelligent driving is not mentioned, Xiaomi YU7 has many talking points and differentiated competitive advantages.

In fact, in today's consumer market, Xiaomi YU7 is already beginning to threaten existing mainstream models, such as Ideal L6, BMW X3, and NIO ES6. Many potential customers of these models are now waiting for the price of Xiaomi YU7 to be announced before making a purchase.

NIO's new cars at the Shanghai Auto Show are also clear: the 5566 models will be updated, and four models that bear the brunt of brand sales, NIO ET5, NIO ET5T, NIO ES6, and NIO EC6, will simultaneously replace NIO's self-developed Shenji chip, further enhancing computing power and expected to improve the matching effect of intelligent driving.

At the same time, NIO's NWM World Model is also expected to be gradually rolled out at the end of April. Then, NIO may leapfrog Huawei HarmonyOS and Ideal to rank third.

In addition, Ideal L-series models will also make strides at the Shanghai Auto Show, with the new NVIDIA Thor chip providing higher computing power. Lower-end models will also abandon pure vision, with the entire lineup adopting lidar. At the same time, the new language model VLA is also being gradually released. As for XPeng Motors, the focus will be on whether it will release new information about extended range.

In addition to the above-mentioned companies, new cars from Leaping Motors and Zeekr will offer more highlights than those from NIO, Xpeng, and Li Auto. Zeekr's flagship SUV, known as the Hangzhou Bay Cullinan, naturally boasts the best Qianli Haohan in intelligent driving, using the NVIDIA Thor chip. In addition, the 900V electric hybrid system may change the current market landscape. Nowadays, new energy luxury cars priced above 400,000 yuan rely on low-cost extended range to transfer costs. In an interview after the Hong Kong listing conference of Zeekr 009, An Conghui answered related questions, stating that as a traditional automaker with advantages in internal combustion engine research and development reserves, its plug-in hybrid can cover all extended range conditions and is also expected to change the fuel consumption defect of more than 8L/100km at high speeds.

Leaping Motors may bring two cars, one being a half-price Ideal L9, whose spy shots have already been exposed, a large 6/7-seater SUV that may enter the price range of 200,000 yuan, which will make Jietu Shanhai L9 and Changan Deep Blue S09 lose their differentiated low-price advantage.

By simply sorting out the most dynamic new force automakers, it is clear to see the overall trend: intelligent driving has been deeply integrated into the DNA of each company. In today's public opinion field, anyone who dares to shout out radical slogans will undoubtedly face strong questions in a short period of time.

All in all, the highlight is still price, price wars

Closely following the new forces are naturally Chinese brands. Judging from each brand, it will be a low probability event to shout out phrases like L3 autonomous driving or L3 capabilities again like a month ago. However, compared to new forces, traditional automakers have stronger financial resources and product definition capabilities. So the good news is that in addition to intelligent driving, they have many stories to tell.

Brand by brand, BYD's auto show plans have not yet been exposed, but starting in early April, rumors have been circulating that it may bring a new sports car. Even if the sports car doesn't make it, the Han L and Tang L, which will be launched before the auto show, will be enough to support its exhibition attention. Of course, its heavyweight models will also include a new energy station wagon, the Seal 06 DM-i Touring Edition.

With a starting price of 99,800 yuan for the current regular version, it is highly likely that it will further harvest buyers of joint venture gasoline vehicles. Of course, it must also be mentioned that it will continue to promote its corporate strategy of intelligent driving for all.

Geely will have 13 new models queued up for launch this year, and the Geely Galaxy Starship 9 is likely to become a competitor to Leaping Motors' new SUV. It is also inexpensive but significantly better in technology, with a price possibly below 250,000 yuan.

Changan's major goal this year is to bring a new 100,000-yuan-level car with lidar intelligent driving. Although it may not be unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show, it is expected that there will be news of related new progress.

Great Wall Motors may bring the Tank 800, which debuted at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show and was nicknamed Baoding Cullinan. In the current situation where BYD, Geely, and Changan are all competing to release large SUVs, this card may be played. Moreover, although Great Wall is not as aggressive as its peers in intelligent driving, it has conducted multiple live streaming sessions to showcase its capabilities, which are also quite good. Therefore, it is also indirectly popularizing intelligent driving for all.

Among joint venture automakers, the situations of FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen are similar this year, both having to endure for one year before a large number of plug-in hybrid, pure electric, and intelligent driving heavyweight models debut at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. However, the Volkswagen Group is not lacking in competitive cards in the auto market this year. The Audi A5L, the replacement model of the Audi A4L, has confirmed that the mass production version will be unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show. Given that the SAIC Audi A5L has already been declared with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, its official launch is approaching. Therefore, it is likely that pre-sales will be completed at this Shanghai Auto Show. The current Audi A4L has a guided price range of 289,800-400,800 yuan. With the addition of lidar and Huawei's intelligent driving system, if it can maintain the current pricing, its competitiveness will be obvious. Because within 300,000 yuan, only the Tesla Model 3 sedan has achieved good results so far, and the market opportunity for the Audi A5L is actually not small.

Mercedes-Benz has an open card and a possible hidden card at the Shanghai Auto Show. The open card is the all-new Mercedes-Benz CLA, which uses new technology from the MMA platform. Although it has been officially announced that the progress of intelligent driving may be delayed, as the first Mercedes-Benz model with urban NOA capability in China, it embodies more than just technical capabilities, but also whether Mercedes-Benz will adjust its pricing logic.

The hidden card also includes the fact that Mercedes-Benz technical executives announced during an interview at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show that subsequent new engines matching plug-in hybrids will be successively launched in China. Therefore, the increasingly popular plug-in hybrids are also likely to be launched on a large scale at any time. In addition, the localization of the Mercedes-Benz GLE has been confirmed. Currently, many internal employees of Mercedes-Benz have not received any news about whether the Mercedes-Benz GLE will be released at the Shanghai Auto Show, but the announcement of related new progress cannot be ruled out.

BMW will comprehensively showcase its next-generation technology at the Shanghai Auto Show. However, this auto show is more about seeking to initially change consumer perceptions. For example, the 18,000 Nm driving fun concept car demonstrates BMW's new intelligent algorithm capable of controlling this high-performance beast while maintaining safety and showcasing its capabilities.

Written at the end

Therefore, just like the situation we have faced for a long time, intelligent driving cannot be avoided at today's auto shows because the characteristic of our current era is AI intelligence.

It is difficult to judge whether this Shanghai Auto Show will be a hit or a miss. This is because many potential price disruptors are gearing up to launch their products, and many automakers are not necessarily timid.

After all, on the same night that the Xiaomi incident trended on social media, more than three automaker executives issued very sharp criticisms. Although some later deleted their posts and some retracted them, it is clear that some people still choose to try and speak out.

In short, this is how the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show is. Despite the black swan events, there are still many highlights.