Produced by ChiNeng Technology

During the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show media roundtable, the LeDao team engaged in in-depth discussions on the L90 flagship SUV's competitive advantages, brand positioning, and community reinvention.

With its 900V pure electric architecture and battery swap system at its core, LeDao addresses the key issues of large SUV users—comfort and storage—through innovative designs like the 240-liter expansive front trunk, carving out a distinct advantage among hybrid and extended-range competitors.

Shen Fei, who assumed leadership of LeDao just over 20 days ago, introduced a management philosophy of "subtle influence," emphasizing small, incremental goals to gradually boost sales and brand recognition. Facing a lackluster community atmosphere and a high cognitive threshold, LeDao plans to reshape its brand image through events such as the "Family Fun Week."

We analyze LeDao's strategic layout and its path to breakthrough in China's new energy vehicle market from two perspectives: product technology innovation and brand community reinvention.

01

Product Technology Innovation:

The Unique Competitive Advantages of L90

Amidst the large SUV craze at the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show, LeDao's L90 stands out with its pure electric architecture and battery swap system, offering unique technological advantages and addressing user pain points.

In the face of stiff competition from hybrid and extended-range vehicles, LeDao has established differentiated product competitiveness through the synergy of its 900V high-voltage platform, expansive front trunk design, and battery swap network, providing family users with a travel experience that is both "convenient and enjoyable".

● The centerpiece of LeDao's L90 is its 240-liter expansive front trunk, a design that directly tackles the core challenge of large SUV users—space for "six people and ten suitcases".

During the roundtable, Yu Bin emphasized that the L90 not only meets the basic need of "sitting comfortably" but also achieves the functional breakthrough of "storing enough and easily retrieving" through the low opening design of the front trunk (optimized from 750mm to 600mm). This design takes into account the practical needs of family users, particularly female users, reducing the physical strain of luggage handling. Simultaneously, by integrating radar and cooling systems, it strikes a balance between the aesthetics and engineering performance of the entire vehicle.

The front trunk of L90 is not merely a space but a systematic achievement rooted in NIO's decade-long technological expertise.

The compact design of the 900V high-voltage architecture frees up valuable space for the front trunk, while the synergy of the SkyOS all-domain operating system and intelligent chassis ensures consistent performance between four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive models.

This technology-driven spatial innovation allows L90 to distinguish itself from extended-range competitors like Lixiang L9, offering the unique spatial efficiency advantage of a pure electric architecture.

● The battery swap system is another pillar of LeDao L90's competitiveness. Li Hong believes that "the endpoint of extended range is pure electric, and the endpoint of pure electric is battery swap." Battery swapping not only alleviates range anxiety but also mitigates concerns about battery degradation through full-lifecycle battery management.

As of April 2025, LeDao boasts 1,921 operational battery swap stations, covering core cities and county markets, far surpassing NIO's early network construction pace.

Compared to ultra-fast charging technologies (such as BYD's megawatt flash charging), battery swapping offers unparalleled speed (equivalent to 20C, completed in three minutes) and experience (no need to exit the vehicle, adaptable to extreme weather), and reduces user costs through peak-valley electricity price adjustments and energy storage capabilities.

LeDao's "Battery Swap County-to-County Connectivity" plan is advancing in tandem with NIO, and the full deployment of fourth-generation stations ensures equitable energy replenishment experiences for both LeDao and NIO users. The L90 comes standard with an 85kWh battery and will support buyout upgrades in the future, further enhancing user choice flexibility.

The scaling and standardization of the battery swap system not only provides users with mileage assurance but also offers strategic value for battery recycling and energy coordination, aligning with the national energy transition direction.

● In technical details, the 900V architecture shared by LeDao's L60 and L90 demonstrates platform advantages.

The 52-liter expansive freezer and second-row space freedom of L60 also benefit from the compact design and thermal management optimization of the high-voltage platform. Addressing user feedback on charging power, LeDao plans to adjust the thermal energy distribution between the cabin and battery through OTA upgrades, increasing the charging power of L60 in the second half of the year (currently up to 168kW) and ensuring compatibility with mainstream charging stations above 800V.

Shen Fei clearly stated that complicating the design to be compatible with a minority of older 400V charging stations is not cost-effective, highlighting LeDao's systematic trade-off philosophy in product design.

Furthermore, LeDao's cabin design fully considers family scenarios, particularly children's needs. The L60 employs mother-and-baby-grade materials, silver ion antibacterial technology, a temperature-sensing but wind-insensitive air blanket outlet design, and smart connectivity with child safety seats, providing a safe and comfortable riding environment for children.

Although the interior of L90 has not been fully unveiled, it is expected to continue this design logic, further emphasizing its family-oriented attributes.

● LeDao's technological innovations not only enhance the user experience but also reduce costs through platform reuse.

Sharing the 900V architecture and battery swap technology between L60 and L90 reduces R&D amortization costs, while the application of self-developed chips and SkyOS further optimizes the vehicle's cost structure. Li Hong revealed that the manufacturing quality and product definition of L60 have achieved the highest user satisfaction in NIO's history, proving the validity of the technological path.

However, LeDao has deficiencies in technology dissemination, leading to users having a vague understanding of the technological foundation behind L90.

The June technology-focused event will be an opportunity for LeDao to address its communication shortcomings, enhancing users' and media's in-depth understanding by dissecting core technologies such as the high-voltage architecture and battery swap system.

02

Brand Community Reinvention:

LeDao's Cognitive Breakthrough and User Connection

As a family-oriented brand under NIO, LeDao faces challenges of low brand recognition and a lackluster community atmosphere.

With 37,000 units delivered in six months, averaging about 6,000 units per month, the L60 ranks among the top-tier of pure electric SUVs priced between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan, but it has not met expectations, reflecting insufficient brand communication and market education.

After taking over LeDao, Shen Fei introduced a management philosophy of "subtle influence," emphasizing improving details and user connections to reshape the brand image and community atmosphere, laying the groundwork for sales breakthroughs and long-term development.

LeDao's brand recognition dilemma stems primarily from users' misunderstandings of its "family fun" positioning and confusion with NIO's high-end image. Li Hong admitted that some users mistakenly perceive LeDao as NIO's low-end brand, a cognitive bias resulting from inadequate company communication.

The high user satisfaction (the highest in NIO's history) and referral rate of LeDao's L60 indicate that the product itself has been recognized, but the "convenient" scenarios (such as family travel and child care) have not been effectively communicated.

To address this, LeDao plans to strengthen the brand narrative of family happiness through events like the "LeDao Family Fun Week" (starting from May 15). For instance, the free charging and battery swap policy during the Spring Festival and May Day holidays not only enhanced the user experience but also created exclusive benefits for LeDao users through marketing expenditures, elevating the brand's emotional value.

Moreover, LeDao will hold "LeDao User Face-to-Face" events directly at NIO Houses, dispelling rumors that "LeDao users cannot enter NIO Houses" and reinforcing users' sense of equity.

Reinventing the community atmosphere is crucial for LeDao's brand breakthrough. Shen Fei emphasized that serving the existing 30,000+ users well, listening to their voices, and amplifying positive feedback are the cornerstones of community building.

LeDao's community is already displaying nascent vitality, but external awareness is insufficient, requiring daily accumulations to achieve a qualitative transformation from quantitative changes. For example, L60 users' affection for the 52-liter freezer and ultra-low energy consumption (some users have measured below 10kWh/100km) needs to be amplified through user stories and social media dissemination.

Li Hong added that community atmosphere should not rely solely on slogans but rather through tangible actions that make users feel "proud and cared for."

LeDao plans to host a product technology-focused event in June, providing in-depth explanations of the technical core of L90 to media and users while exploring the "atomized relaunch" of L60. Through continuous iteration and scenario-based communication, it aims to gradually increase brand visibility.

In terms of sales strategy, Shen Fei abandoned the approach of setting ambitious goals, proposing the modest goal of "selling one more vehicle per person per month" to motivate the team to improve sales through incremental improvements. This "achievable" goal setting, combined with the experience of NIO's energy team transitioning to sales, injects execution into LeDao.

Li Hong revealed that many members of NIO's marketing system's "Huangpu Military Academy" come from the energy team, and Shen Fei's role as "Chief Service Officer" continues his service philosophy from the energy sector, enhancing sales efficiency by reducing internal friction and empowering the team.

LeDao's brand reinvention also needs to address the wake-up word controversy and user rights transparency issues.

Although the three wake-up words—NOMI, XiaoLe, and LUMO—are based on brand personality distinctions, LUMO's negative associations in Cantonese have caused user dissatisfaction. LeDao has committed to supporting custom wake-up words and quickly iterating through OTA, demonstrating its responsiveness to user feedback.

Additionally, regarding the misconception that "LeDao users cannot enter NIO Houses," Li Hong clarified that NIO Houses are open to all NIO-affiliated users and are positioned as community public spaces, with plans to even open to a broader overseas community in the future. This open stance helps eliminate user barriers and enhance the synergistic image of LeDao and NIO.

Summary

Shen Fei's philosophy of "subtle influence" and events such as the "Family Fun Week" represent LeDao's pragmatic approach to brand reinvention and community building. Facing challenges of insufficient brand recognition and market competition, LeDao needs to continuously amplify its technological advantages and user value, enhancing market visibility through precise communication and community connections, step by step.