Ideal MEGA: A Phoenix Rising from the Ashes?

05/06 2025 476

"With Lei Jun's endorsement and enhanced specifications, Ideal's new MEGA aims to shed its negative reputation. However, securing a market position will depend on the willingness of competitors to allow it."

"Long time no see, really missed you." At the recent Shanghai Auto Show, Li Xiang reemerged with the upgraded Ideal MEGA. Unlike the high-profile launch last year, Li now exudes a greater sense of composure. "A video worth watching. If Steve Jobs were still alive, Apple's car would be like this." Li wrote this caption while posting a teaser trailer for Ideal MEGA on his social media, adopting a posture akin to "teaching Apple how to make cars."

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The whirlwind of public opinion surrounding Ideal MEGA caught everyone off guard, including Li Xiang and his team. The bold, avant-garde bullet-shaped exterior design, meant to reduce drag, was maliciously edited to resemble a "hearse," triggering a series of adverse reactions. Critically, sales of other Ideal models also seemed to suffer, plummeting from 3,229 units in March 2024 to 1,145 units in April. Officials revealed that Ideal MEGA's average monthly sales over the past 12 months were over 1,100 units, admitting it hadn't met the expected monthly sales target of 8,000 units. Li Xiang, the "primary person responsible," temporarily stepped away from his "King of Weibo" identity, announcing a retreat to focus on reflection.

During a conference call following the release of the 2024 first-quarter financial report, someone inquired about Ideal's plans for subsequent M-series pure electric SUVs. Li Xiang bluntly stated, "The company will not release pure electric SUV products this year; they will be released in the first half of next year." Now that the promised date has arrived, Ideal MEGA's Ultra Smart Renewal Edition and Home Special Edition have indeed arrived as scheduled. On the surface, this is Li Xiang's attempt to rectify past failures, but it also represents his second attempt to crack the high-end pure electric MPV market, sparking much speculation about Ideal Auto's future development.

01

The Test Product Endorsed by Lei Jun

Back to March last year when Ideal MEGA was officially launched, Li Xiang, having consecutively achieved success with Ideal ONE and the L series, naturally believed MEGA would be Ideal Auto's next blockbuster, confident it would become the top-selling passenger vehicle priced above 500,000 yuan. However, the first Waterloo came unexpectedly. Affected by negative public opinion, within 72 hours of Ideal MEGA's launch, there were approximately 3,218 confirmed orders nationwide, but the number of cancellations reached a staggering 10,297. It was this "failed work" educated by the market that received vindication from a competitor nearly a year later.

Lei Jun, who became the "new king of the automotive circle" through Xiaomi SU7, did not hesitate to praise Tesla and Ideal's innovative spirit in an interview with CCTV earlier this year. He believes that Tesla's Cybertruck and Ideal's MEGA are both highly innovative works.

Image/Tesla's Cybertruck

The effect of being praised by a "walking traffic generator" was immediate. Real-time data published on social media claimed that before 16:00 on March 9, the potential user attention index for Ideal MEGA was quite normal, maintaining at around 28%. However, after 18:23 that day, this data surged directly to over 60%, coinciding with the time when Lei Jun's relevant interview remarks were broadcast on TV. This was not the first time Lei Jun had shown benevolent support for Ideal. Just as Ideal MEGA was facing unexpected risks, Li Xiang followed up by launching the highly cost-effective L6 series, and Lei Jun expressed his desire to purchase one in a public video. Li Xiang, who was in seclusion, specially replied on Weibo that he would send an Ideal L6 Max as a token of gratitude and recognition.

Image/Ideal L6

In fact, Ideal MEGA's initial launch failure cannot be entirely attributed to external criticism. Firsthand consumer experiences at the time also pointed out many shortcomings and defects of the new vehicle. For example, mechanical shortcomings such as the lack of rear-wheel steering and an excessively large turning radius, as well as high-speed energy consumption issues related to the pure electric architecture. In his post-mortem review, Li Xiang also admitted: "At this stage, selling mid-to-high-end pure electric SUVs requires a sufficient number of self-operated supercharging piles as a necessary condition. We believe that when the number of self-operated supercharging piles reaches a level similar to that of Tesla China, it will be the appropriate time to launch the product into the market." Additionally, Ideal MEGA's pricing strategy encountered competition from Xiaopeng's X9, a competitor launched during the same period.

A price difference of around 200,000 yuan meant that even the smallest flaw became an intolerable irritant in the eyes of consumers. Ultimately, data showed that Ideal MEGA's annual delivery volume in 2024 was 13,000 units, accounting for only 2.2% of the brand's total sales. Nevertheless, many consumers gradually discovered Li Xiang's talent as a product manager through their actual experience after purchasing the vehicle. Thoughtful details in various scenarios also garnered praise within niche circles, providing the confidence behind the current Ideal MEGA Ultra Smart Renewal Edition and Home Special Edition.

02

Pure Electric, High-End, and MPV

Why do Ideal and other new energy vehicle companies choose to focus on the MPV segment rather than continuing to delve into the mass market segments of SUVs and sedans? First, MPV models occupy a unique position and have specific demands in the automotive market. Although their market share accounts for only around 5% of the total, high-end MPV models often showcase an automaker's brand image and technological prowess. Moreover, there have been best-selling models like the Buick GL8 in the market, once known as SAIC's "cash cow." It not only brought substantial profits to the group but also enhanced Buick's reputation and influence in the high-end business vehicle sector.

Li Xiang has also personally crafted his own "GL8" for Ideal—the Ideal ONE. Since its launch in 2019, Ideal ONE has set many first records, such as being the first luxury Chinese brand model priced above 300,000 yuan to achieve over 10,000 deliveries in a single month; the first new force in China with sales of over 10,000 units for a single model; and the top-selling mid-to-large SUV model, including fuel vehicles, among others.

Image/Ideal ONE

Therefore, if Ideal MEGA can become as popular as Ideal ONE did initially, Ideal Auto will be able to establish a firm foothold in the high-end MPV market, attracting the attention and recognition of more high-net-worth individuals, laying a solid foundation for the brand's long-term development. However, Ideal's ambitious goals were not met by the harsh realities. Secondly, the multi-passenger scenarios of MPV models are highly compatible with Ideal Auto's ongoing focus on family vehicle needs.

As people's living standards improve, the demand for family travel is becoming increasingly diversified. More and more families hope to own a vehicle that can meet both daily commuting needs and various scenarios such as long-distance travel and family outings. Naturally, MPVs have become the ideal choice for family travel. Ideal MEGA, including its recently launched upgraded versions, emerged against this backdrop, attempting to bring more convenient, comfortable, and cozy travel experiences to family users through innovative design and intelligent configurations. However, during the year that Ideal MEGA languished, the market competitive landscape underwent tremendous changes.

In 2024, BYD's Denza D9 became the annual sales champion of MPVs with over 100,000 units sold, retaining its crown after overtaking Buick GL8 in 2023. Additionally, among the top 10 MPV sales in 2024, plug-in hybrid models occupied five spots, including Denza D9, Hovo Auto Dreamer, and GAC Aion E8, among other domestic models. These models addressed the range anxiety and fuel consumption issues of MPVs through plug-in hybrid technology. This is precisely one of the pain points that Ideal MEGA still needs to address.

Image Source/Auto Consumption Network

The entire MPV market, fueled by the multi-dimensional competition among new energy vehicle companies, is bidding farewell to its traditional positioning as a large-space utility vehicle and common commercial scenarios, evolving towards high-end, intelligent, and family-oriented features. Concerned about their declining status, established players like Buick GL8 have also chosen to embrace the changes of the times, proactively launching plug-in hybrid versions and even announcing the launch of pure electric versions to regain more discourse power. The refreshed Ideal MEGA will also face greater challenges.

03

A Makeup Exam for a Product Manager

Traditional automakers, under the industrial standard system, often focus more on technological iterations and easily overlook product definition. During Xiaomi's preliminary research phase for its vehicle manufacturing, Lei Jun visited various auto shows and couldn't help but exclaim, "What are you doing here? Isn't this just guessing?" Li Xiang, from his early days at Autohome to Ideal Auto, has always identified himself as a product manager. This may be one of the reasons why the two admire each other. However, unique advantages are not foolproof.

Ideal Auto's share price on the secondary market began a relentless decline after MEGA's launch, losing the equivalent of "1 NIO + 2 XPeng" in less than two months. As an angel investor, Wang Xing also sold his Hong Kong and U.S. shares of Ideal Auto within five years, cashing out more than 10 billion yuan. Investors across the ocean also jointly filed a lawsuit, accusing Ideal of exaggerating market demand and the effectiveness of its operational strategy when launching its first battery electric vehicle model, MEGA. Of course, similar class action lawsuits are common in the U.S. stock market and do not have a significant practical impact.

On the contrary, this rapid fall off the predetermined track has taught Ideal's team a lesson. "During our post-mortem review, we discovered that sales targets have no value to users; in their eyes, these are the company's own ideas and plans. They are more concerned about the product value that the brand can provide," summarized Liu Jie, President of Ideal Auto's Product Line. Thus, the two new Ideal MEGA models born under this philosophy retain the most controversial exterior design while choosing to focus on the pursuit of ultimate interior experience.

Among them, the Ultra Smart Renewal Edition has undergone significant upgrades in intelligent driving, equipped with NVIDIA's Thor-U chip, boasting a computing power of 700 TOPS and a 25% reduction in energy consumption; while the Home Special Edition places greater emphasis on the comfort and convenience of family travel, featuring innovative zero-gravity rotating seats, a suspended large table, and other configurations, creating various scenario modes such as the "great living room mode," distinguishing itself from peers in terms of spatial experience.

With Lei Jun's endorsement, upgraded product configurations, and the market's demand for high-end family vehicles, Ideal's new MEGA is expected to break free from the shackles of negative word-of-mouth and embark on a new journey. However, the intensity of market competition still cannot be underestimated. If Ideal wants to secure a place in the high-end pure electric MPV market, it must ask whether its competitors will allow it. In the long history of the automotive industry, every technological change and market transformation has been like a storm, impacting the survival and development of major automakers. Some automakers rise to prominence in these waves, becoming leaders of the times; others are washed ashore, gradually fading from people's sight.

As an important player in China's new energy vehicle sector, Ideal Auto's development journey will be full of ups and downs and challenges. References: Lei Feng Network, "Li Xiang Listens to Advice, MEGA Teaches Ideal Auto an Important Lesson"; Auto Community, "Trump's MAGA, Li Xiang's MEGA"; Financial News Vision, "Ideal MEGA Was Once Highly Controversial, Why Did Lei Jun Praise It?"; TrendSmart Trend, "The Cost of Idealism: MEGA, Waterloo, and Layoffs"

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