Li Auto Mega Deep Dive
Yeah let it out that’s that’s coming in that’s the intro I think that’s the intro to the video uh so yeah will welcome again uh welcome to you and welcome to the viewers to Wills Boy chat where we talk about topics related to the Chinese car market indeed this
Episode we are going to be talking about one of probably the most exciting debut that we’ve both driven of 2024 so far as well as maybe a little bit about what we’ve been driving personally I’m Pagani hirra this guy’s been driving a Pagani HRA uh no uh I have not uh myself either
But we are going to talk about the Le Auto Mega yeah just for starter so we both went to the mega launch event uh which was in beautiful uh was it in s it was sna I go to to many laun I actually forgot where it was um so anyways Le
Auto Mega little background Le AO currently one of China’s if not trying his bestselling kind of new brand new Energy new brands yes right uh outselling xun out selling Neo but they were doing it with RS extended range hybrids Bas range extended EVS I keep seeing people like
Throwings eev reev yes um neither is great to be honest but either way what was what was great was the customer response to them and they sold like hot cakes by the standards of these small new companies and then lots of other companies decided you know what we’re
Struggling s an EV so we should also get a erev platform on the go right and so a number of them have started also selling ervs the uh growing Trend and growing amount of voices saying that actually guys it’s phv It’s A phv revolution is a
Topic for another day um but it is a good one the mega however unlike their previous models m is pure electric they’re first yes so their first pure electric model a wild looking MPV with styling that is borderline dystopian yes it’s very futuristic and sci-fi-ish sci-fi-ish if you ask domestic audiences
Here in China they’ll tell you that the New Meme now is it looks like a coffin yeah but don’t say too much about that because apparently the auto was uh looking into legal action against so what I was saying was recording someone else and you can’t get in trouble for
That legally but that was you know that’s the thing that people were saying I personally don’t really see that no I don’t know that’s a cultural thing I don’t know if Chinese coffins look different to Western coffins but I based on the photos I was shown by people it
Was like here’s the Le here’s the mega here’s a coffin and I was like looks like a coffin that I can I’ve seen before that doesn’t really look the same but regardless in order to avoid any sort of legal action being placed against us let’s just continue by saying
That I am quite a fan of the design and the the real thing about the exterior design and addition to looking wiki wiki wild is that it has an incredibly low not just for an MPV but for any vehicle coefficient to drag which is uh 0.215 you nailed it you passed the test
But uh when we saw it in the Wind Tunnel it was 0. 2145 oh really yes when they did it for us they got to 0.215 so okay this is actually funny this is a little this is a little like behind the scenes we will
And I also we both went to uh on separate days sadly to City of chong ching uh for a preview event for the Mega basically Le AO said this car is so amazing there’s so much to talk about that we want you to come a at the time
It was going to be weeks or a month before the actual launch event yes to to see it what have the designer talk to you very nice guy shout out to Ben bomb um and then we’re going to like give you all the Insight we’re going to take you
Into a wind tunnel in this test center so the whole point was you know that making this fabulous claim they’re like no no no we’re going to prove it to you so we’re going to take you there you’re going to see for yourself in the Wind Tunnel that they use in China supposedly
This is the place or one of the place in China where manufacturers go to validate this kind of stuff it is a huge validation Center and testing center so the person who is you know while we were there there was lots of other car brands cars underneath I they put our they put
All of our phones into for the Mega one for the Mega so we couldn’t take any pictures of the mega at the time they put all our funds into one of those what do they call uh whatever bags yeah the Privacy bags wander bags or something but it’s a
Privacy bag right so you can’t take any photos you can still use your phone and one of the other reasons was because there were so many like test vehicles and vehicles being crashed and stuff that were in this big parking lot nearby but they went and showed us this and
That we were able to see in the Wind Tunnel right it in action big number on the screen 0 point 0.215 and there was a collective gasp among the among the audience that I was with um and so that’s pretty amazing it’s lower than a Porsche Tian lower than a Tesla Model 3
Yes um and it is the lowest drag coefficient for any MPV yes in currently in existence well probably any car that that size anyway right I would say so yeah there’s there’s been a just a SP there’s a couple of cars that gone under two uh uh point2 recently uh under point
You mean 0.22 yeah under 0.2 sedans that recently came out Galaxy E8 yeah uh and then the hyper GT is under there too I think there’s another one then I think is a hongchi I can’t remember but somebody just put out one yeah AR Fox Ark Fox Arc Fox just put out
One yeah it’s it’s a lot easier to do in the sedan right yes um but anyway so exterior styling aside the mega let’s go over the interior first cuz it’s interestingly compared to the exterior it’s arguably the quote least interesting part about it and the reason it’s the least interesting part is
Because it looks like or very similar to the interior of their wildly successful L Series right L7 L8 on there yeah which I can understand like in when I did my video I made fun of this that you know car reviewers weren’t particularly happy about it because we like new and shiny
Things to talk about right but it’s hard to deny when you selling so well this vehicle with that interior and people go we love the interior to then go we’re not we’re going to ignore our customers right and we’re going to do something new in the hopes that they’re going to
Like this as well right so you can call it a safe option you can call it a smart option you know they’ve been kind of dragged over the coals for it buto do it’s both right yeah why not both it’s it’s um it is we’ll go over some of the
Respects really quickly so I mean by we do mean it is on paper very very similar to especially L9 the flagship SUV so it’s twin 15.7 dual G4 LED screens super high Clarity da D um it’s got a high performance 8295 processor from Qualcomm
And the rear it’s got a um uh 17in 17in thank you but it’s an OLED screen yes it’s same fourth gem panel 3K with Dolby Vision Dolby Vision 15.7 in is the one in the L9 yeah yeah I mean what’s a right so it doesn’t the difference is
Not hugely noticeable um a quick aside well in a moment we will take a we minute to once we’ve gone over the the to talk about competitors so the interior space is probably the only the other not the only the other really huge highlight so the number that they it’s absolutely cartoonishly
Massive so the the number that they talk about or the which is really helpful is they say more leg space in the second row than a long wheelbase seven series yes I said an i7 in mind because that’s the one that originally what they said right at the chonging event they kept
Changing it and they realized oh we can get away with saying a long wheel base s so let’s do that and then the uh the third row leg room yeah is as big as a long wheelbase Five series which which if you don’t know like cuz in in China
Long wheel base like pretty much all the abbs do it the Audi Benz and the BMW and they they basically almost they’re almost the size so like a a Mercedes E-Class L is is nearly as long as a standard S-Class right and and so like if you’re if anybody’s watching and
Thinking like what the heck do you mean a five series long wheelbase that doesn’t it only exists in China yeah think about think about like an a regular S Series in your in your country and it’s somewhere near there right it’s nearer to that than it is a normal Five
Series and that’s the third row yes that’s a third row it’s a it’s uh insanely a sane amount of leg room to be sat in a third row yes and it’s not that it’s also the width of it as well it is absolutely right huge laterally like
Your shoulder room your hip room and stuff it feels like sitting in the second row yeah and then the second row also underneath the CU obviously in the second row has like captain seats right it’s got a cut out in the bottom for your feet to go under in in the third
Row absolutely and and leg rests yes right no no no but in the third row behind those second row seat oh it’s got a cut out in the bottom for your like a tunnel for your feet there’s place to put your feet so you can genuinely I I’m
I’m 59 1.75 m tall um you’re a bit shorter than I am and we are back there like yeah yeah do you know what I mean I feel like an 8-year-old back there in the back a couple of hours absolutely I mean sure I’d rather be in the second
Row but yeah because it’s got 16o massage in the first second first and second rows heated and cooled or heated and heated and ventilated uh heated by the way obviously meaning leg rests arm rests bottom and back and cough yeah yeah the leg rest yeah um and so uh
Interior wise that’s that’s kind of the gist of it very impressive but not wildly different than what we’ve seen from them before which was probably it’s a very functional interior extremely it’s meant you know Le Auto have one sole purpose and that is family orientated Vehicles right uh and I it
Fits that brief I guess it’s got the fridge as well you know a little factoid about the reason why the fridge goes up to I think is uh it goes up 50° 50° C about 132 F because when you store babies milk after you’ve made it that’s supposedly meant to be the temperature
So originally was meant to be like 40° and someone pointed out that like baby’s milk or formula or bre needs to be stored at like 50 or something like this the ideal drinking temperature for the was the ideal like I believe storage temperature so they up the they Ed it so
So they could yeah and that’s a real compressor fridge as well yeah yeah it’s not it’s not just an air condition think some of the other ones that have fridges but they’re not compressed so when it’s like super hot when it get like 40° it
Won’t be able to keep stuff cold and if you’re running at zero is your minimum then you know obviously it’s going to be a little bit higher so let’s talk about the other thing that’s mega mega impressive about the mega that was not on purpose and I’m embarrassed
About it um this is their first leod’s first pure electric vehicle mhm but they really they brought the big guns didn’t they we’re talking 800 Vol architecture yes charging architecture 103 KW uh K I know the Chinese cheating it’s actually 102.7 Kow hour chilling battery
Sorry 102.7 uh net K I believe they call it which they got some push back about that catel didn’t they cuz it’s a Japanese word yeah don’t do that um so any so that’s the pack where basically you got the rows of cells and in Le ones they’ve
Got full plates for the air cooling between the rows of cells and if they can detect a cell temperature getting higher than they can direct more fluid down that row it allows for more as because again they talked about this when we went to the chonging pre-launch
Thingy I was really sad they didn’t have the battery model at the actual uh as was cuz it was really cool event yeah um the uh yeah so that the the the key thing with the the Chilean or Kieran battery pack seems to be the ability to cool now why is cooling important
Obviously cooling is important for efficiency for the battery getting the battery both up to the temperature it needs to be at to be optimally efficient and then also getting it back down to that keeping it and keeping it there especially when you are charging fast charging but it’s also keeping that
Constant across right right yeah so across the normally when you watch the so let’s talk about the the big metric that matters for this battery which is Le AO not only claims but we we both s yes it charge that’s not fair I’ll tell you my experience you tell me yours they
Say it can charge 500 km of range cltc of course China’s domestic in how long a little under 14 around 14 minutes I got you did I did I got from 11 to 84% like 11.7 to 84% and that was about 512 or 520 km of Range 14 minutes how
Long did it what did how long did it take I was to say do you remember what Le Auto said the range is cuz they 710 no no sorry sorry the the the the charging rate cuz they announced and they say publicly that it’s 12 minutes
Uh to add 500 kilm but then in the metor event they were telling us that actually actually the which is 5c it’s 12 minutes if it’s thir uh 30 to 40° orus 6 to 20 right so actually the 12 is not the Optimum charge speed it’s basically the equivalent of a manufacturer like
Porsche being like hey yes our engine makes 500 horsepower and we say that it means it makes 500 horsepower at the top of a mountain on the hottest day in on Earth uh versus what it’s torque is in or power is in optimal conditions so my my experience I didn’t I didn’t measure
Uh precisely but it was like we were just under 9% sorry just under 10% we went up to 80% and it was right around a 10- minute Mark right 10 minutes multiple media that were there got got well under 12 minutes for well under the 12 minute
Well under so it’s it’s legit I I consider that legit now caveats obviously like any other manufact this is the same for any charging infrastructure it it’s uh if someone else is charging they in a so leao superchargers right are the fast charging ones their fastest most up to
Date 5c level charging one of those that that’s gold they’ll have gold ones color then they’ll have the gray ones next to it silver Sil sorry silver um that are 2.5c 2.5c um and so do we want to take a time to talk about what c means so C is just
Like how many cycles it can do in an hour right so essentially what you do is you take 60 minutes or an hour and you divide by the number of C so for example 5 C is 60 divid 5 which means 12 yes so
4C is 60 divid 4 which is 15 me recharge a battery four four times in an hour is the idea or or charge it within it its peak rate right which normally 10 to 80% nowadays yeah um so anyways those battery those are ones are used for
Stuff like the the L Series cars which are which are plug in hybrids essentially um if someone is using one of the there’s only one charger there’s only one gun in the supercharger yes but if someone is using one of the nearby 2.5c Chargers you’re not going to get
The max you’re not going to get the charging not a moment and that’s not to pick on Le Auto because that’s true for every Tesla super charging station too and they charge up to 150 yes right yeah now now Leo did say to me that there
There may be plans later to upgrade the amount of power going to the overall stations and therefore they right they might be able to mitigate some of that but right now the reality is that yes yes um and so from charging perspective it’s a it’s it’s it’s a the fastest
Charging EV in the world world at the moment right yes I mean the fast charging production eeve it’s so fast that they have two decimal places to show you as the it is really funny um I’m sure we’ve got footage if you guys have haven’t seen it already they’ll put
It up because the the they do it the P he means like the battery the state of charge doesn’t just go 11 12 13 it goes 11 point and then two decimal places and so it just you can watch it go and it’s very very satisfying um so let’s talk a
Bit about how it actually drives were you how about I putting this were you actually were is there anything about it that you were surprised no yeah no me either that’s not a bad thing no no no it’s not bad it’s one of those things though like it’s they’re
Consistent M right it’s not a bad thing right um and it’s an MPV like I wasn’t expecting huge driving Dynamics over and above them to claim things like it’s more comfortable right but I mean that’s very hard to kind of if you’re not driving side by side back to back back
Over exactly the same road is very hard to know small differences in the issue for us in every review right is is I can say like I feel like this is you know if you ask me like oh does this car drive better than that car well the one of
Those cars you mentioned I drove a week ago one of them I drove a year and a half ago yes and the honest answer is go watch what I said at that time yeah yeah but keep in mind that I didn’t drive the other car at that time so um I would say
Yeah nothing super surprising about it let’s let’s talk a bit about the specs so it’s a 400 watts kilow kilowatts sorry watts would not be impressive it’s got the power of a toaster um so it’s 400 Kow or around 550 horsepower um I think it’s 650 wa wait wait wait can we
Just take a minute I know it’s not the first one but the fact that we just gloss over the fact it’s a 550 horsepower MP dual motor dual motor power train there’s only one trim level is an important thing we should mention at this point they will probably
Eventually release a pro pro version of the max is the top spec I don’t think you will get an air no there cuz there’s no air on the L9 the flagship SUV versus versus on the other L Series Vehicles it’s the l l L8 Max Pro air L7 d d d so
Um 0 to 100 km per hour 62 miles per hour five and 5.7 seconds or 5.5.5 um so ridiculously more than fast enough fast MPV in the world absolutely not we will talk about there’s there’s there’s there there’s F also ridiculous yes it is there’s other fvs that are a full
Second faster 200 so I would also agree with you that there was nothing about it that surprised me it was very comfortable the dual chamber air suspension I I think again as best as I can recall from having driven an L prob it’s probably better it will better yes
Yes now the L9 for 2024 also gets the upgraded suspension now a me Point buying the old one second hand it is um and so dual chamber yeah dual chamber air suspension CDC um the body control was pretty good body control is pretty good why a lot lower than I thought it
Was going to be it is pretty low and the weight is really low that huge battery pack yeah so yeah driving driving impressions are good now that brings us into let’s talk about some of its competitors mainly there’s two that I want to talk about one of which I’ve
Driven one of which you driven so why don’t you talk a bit first about the 00009 and9 mean the MPV that is as fast from Z to 100 as a Ford Focus RS yes the zikra 009 which has a dual motor power Trin making it’s actually it’s like it’s
It’s it 400 plus kilowatts because it’s not that much more than the it’s not but it’s I honestly think that LE Auto could make the mega faster to 100 so the Mega’s got like quite an efficient power TR it’s 15.9 kilowatt hours hours per per 100 K yeah so um yeah the zika’s
Definitely for some reason they went with the idea of more more performance or power I mean it’s kind of ridiculous to drive it’s it’s funny it’s so funny right to pull away at the lights at that kind of speed but um completely unnecessary in an MPV utterly utterly I think I think honestly
Le AO made the decision with their l- series vehicles that the 0 to 100 km per hour times are going to be around mid 5 seconds and they think that’s fast enough and I utterly completely agree the mega is a little bit faster than those and they can’t AR those R are they
Rated at 5.7 they’re like 5 point I think I thought some of them were like 5.4 but I maybe 526 seconds which is obviously way fast enough for any MPV or family SUV so the z09 right so um it’s I wouldn’t say it’s traditional styling but it’s definitely for more
Hold on a minute hold on a minute you wouldn’t say that traditional no but wow what a bold statement but his his profile is far more you know this kind of three box yes um MPV like an alard like well I would say yeah it’s almost more like your American kind of mpvs
With those kind of and odyssey and stuff I don’t no like do you remember the old school ones that were made from Vans basically oh like a Chevy Astro right probably or a Ford big or big for the big for Trans thing or something that
Right ah yes the the the Ram proas or whatever so but yeah so it looks like that right yes yes yes as opposed to that right um and uh it’s definitely business focused um it’s got you know the tables for you doing your work on yes they come
Out of the armrest yeah come out of the armrest thank you and uh it’s got like a it’s got like a camera so the entertainment screen in the back you can use it for video conference calling yeah so you know that’s a little feature that that has um the front passenger seat is
Like a baron prison compared to everything else I mean in front of you is just a huge piece of just plastic and you’ve basically got the you I mean I can’t remember but I don’t remember it having much more than the third row space or or in terms of
Features right well you can touch the center screen but that’s yeah that’s it yes yes so the driver has a much better setup there uh it’s that’s definitely a backseat Rider right keeping in mind that obviously you haven’t driven the z9 in a year um would you say that the
Driving Experience is how does it compare to the mega it’s more boatlike more wallowing yeah it looks higher up I mean it’s yeah nose lifting when you accelerate dramatic I love the sense of drama but I mean it’s it’s super you know power they’s say power for front
End yes yes I it’s statement front end yeah I I have always been one like definitely was one of those people that came out I saw the pictures and I almost wept yes uh Mr fear uh also sadness optional extra to get that massive chrome grill it is you can option a body
Color one which that’s the standard you got to pay more for the Chrome that’s what I’m saying the the body color one ISS awesome with the body color like all blacked out they look sick hard disagree I think if you’re going to go for it you
Absolutely should go for it out go go home you should get the chrome grill you should get the lightest color so it really you get like a black sorry see like a color where it really contrasts but so you would say that the m 9 feels more like
A um a a business shuttle versus a family MPV yes oh yeah yeah yeah it’s definitely far far more business orientated um and a bit confusing because of how quick it is I don’t there is a rear motor version right that’s only like 7 second 100% that’s what I would buy but
I I’m now I’m going to talk about the other competitor that comes to mind and that’s the xun X9 yeah uh really quickly the price range generally speaking for but the top model of the Deco is like around Mega’s price or at least it was at launch it was around that 600,000 R&B
Uh we hav’t talked about how much the mega is the Mega is a single spec 560,000 R&B which is around 78,000 USD so that that means that it really competes price-wise with the z9 in terms of Chinese branded all electric mpvs right underneath that in the price
Category but as I’m going to argue not really in any other category is the xun X9 yes so xun X9 it is I was going to say it’s xun’s MPV yes of course it’s xun’s MPV um it is a it doesn’t have the dramatic styling of
The 9 or the uh Z no the zero is a Zer the mega mega yes and so there is going to be a certain amount of people that are just like I got to have that there’s like there’s some kind of like just go to have something special the the X9
Does look cool I think it looks almost like a coupe a coupe MPV that’s why I said in my video have you ever seen a coupe MPV here’s one like I don’t think anyone’s done it stole that line without thinking about it uh from your video um
But great minds think alike when they steal from each other um and so the X9 interior wise I would say it’s more or less on par with the with the styling wise styling wise I don’t think material wise I wouldn’t agree I actually think the are probably better there is more
Plastic going on in in parts of the the X9 it’s not egregious it’s just no well because it costs about $115,000 well the top spec with all the features X9 costs around 420 to 430,000 RMB which is about it’s like almost 20,000 USD less than the mega and so yes
The material quality wise I would agree the mega is better uh in terms of interior features one of the one of the batteries on the one of the cameras ran into batteries so I’m going to try to start where I just was right so you were talking about the X9 talking about the
X9 and so material material quality wise obviously I I agree with you it does not go up to the mega standard in terms of all the trim pieces and stuff inside um in terms of performance it has actually I think on paper more power than the
Than or no it’s 370 kilow something like that um 0 to 100 is 5.7 seconds go slug oh it’s dog slow right H and we’re very serious about that we’re not at all kidding we think it’s just terrible but um so more or less is more less very
Much on the same level as the M gun charging infrastructure wise no it does not have it does not charge 500 km in 12 minutes but it charges like almost as fast as that so it’s it’s 4C I think is it 4C well let’s just put it this way
It’s at least 3.5 it’s at least 3.5c it’s it’s not one of those things where we’re talking about a night and day difference between charging speeds and if it’s 3.5c as well that means that there there’s plenty of charges from third parties out there right now right that could deliver those speed as
Opposed to having to go to a designated Neo super or sorry Le Auto supercharger um so and it’s also again almost $20,000 less and so then we come to where come one other thing interior features wise because I almost mentioned this when we were talking about the Mega specs the
Mega has a 17inch G4 OLED rear screen it’s it’s it’s like like like I don’t really know that much about screens but when I quickly looked it up it was like most oleds oleds that you getting they’re not the newest fourth generation like it’s kind of a crazy thing to put
Into a car right um so yeah and so the one in the uh xong I think it’s HD or it’s like 2K or something like that yeah the most so the front screen is always 2K so I I can’t remember the the the rear one whether
It’s 2K or HD it’s not 3K right it’s not 3K it’s not it’s 21 in so it’s noticeably larger I don’t even I don’t know for sure that it’s OLED I know I know looking at it it’s not as good as the one in the Le AO so we’re talking
About a smaller screen in Le Auto but a higher quality screen yeah there’s difference between buying you know you can go out and you can buy a xiaomi huge xiaomi TV for much cheaper than you could buy a Sony uh 8K TV right you can
Go buy a 4K xiaomi TV you go buy a Sony 4K OLED TV the Sony’s going to be way smaller right it’s a tradeoff at that point right and the trade-off in between the xang and the mega when people talk about size is like that much and and you’re also
Looking at it from the second row so I would say the difference is frankly I don’t I don’t consider the 21in screen in the x 21 21 I don’t I don’t consider it to be that big an advantage yeah but it’s but it’s like oh interesting it’s
Bigger sure um but you have to keep in mind the quality so the area where I think the xun outdoes the mega and I can’t wait you should be driving the X9 soon so I want to hear thoughts about it later is in the driving Dynamics the
Most important thing about an MPV the most important right after absolutely and I will tell you there are certain areas in which I think that it’s better that do not matter steering feel you know I thought that the way that they the steering felt much more direct than
The mega much more connected to what the heck the wheels were doing right um for an MPV obviously but what really really changes the div driving dynamics of the X9 is the fact that it has standard rear steer yeah how many degrees is it oh sh do you
Remember is this a test no it’s put it this way it’s enough that it has a turning radi even though it’s as long as almost as long as a Chevy Tahoe has a turning radius of like something crazy like a Ford Fiesta or something like that’s that’s an exaggeration but it has
A shing radius of of a I think it’s like a Honda Fit or a Civic no it’s a Civic it has a turning radius of a Civic okay right so you areas where does zer not does Z not have ster I can’t know I don’t let’s just say areas where the
Mega insert in post yeah the areas of the uh areas where the mega would have to do a three-point turn the X9 you’re good you’re done I was I was negotiating it through parking lots and was like oh wow oh I can just go up the ramp and
That made it feel much more so maneuverable at low speeds and parking lots and tight situations but then also on the road as well I felt like I could really you know thread the needle withing traffic just like an absolute monster I was a menace um and so and
Then also when it comes to the air suspension also dual chamber uh the Mega’s very comfortable yes but I don’t is it more comfortable than the X9 by any perceivable amount I I don’t believe so yeah okay I don’t believe it is um look it could be
It could be by like a couple of decb or a bit quieter all decb well let’s give the mega the credit the mega is again some some edifying facts here the mega is the world’s quietest MPV they say they they say that the third row yes uh nvh right noise vibration harshness
Basically the sound levels are lower than the second row of a Maybach S-Class right and the only reason that that that row is by the way significantly uh louder than the second and first row is because there is no acoustic glass on the uh back wind screen right rear rear windscreen the
Only piece of glass in that car that doesn’t have dual dual pain even even the overhead is also the huge overhead glass is dual pain and all the side and front glasses dual pan yeah um or double pan glass um so no I don’t think the X9 has the same levels of that
No but do that many customers are that many customers going to drive it and think g g will CR is loud in here I don’t think so so I mean my retort to most of this online is that I don’t think are you are you really Cross Shopping a vehicle that’s 15
$20,000 less expensive it’s a fair question like like I can I I completely agree and I understand what people say I I agree with it’s better value for money and that you get many of the many similar features for a lot less yes uh I wouldn’t say that the features are quote
Unquote better in the ex9 for Less money I don’t agree with that no no sure the gravity sofas they’re cool oh yeah it does have it does have zero gravity reclining you can only get them on the top model though and you have to pay
Extra see but that I was I’ve been the person I’ve been quoting for for the very top model with all the extras and still that much cheaper but you you’re absolutely right and the mega only has uh the mega only has a reclining seats it doesn’t have the bottom doesn’t tilt
Up yes yes so I agree with you there it’s somewhat similar to it’s not exactly the same but I I realize it’s there’s a certain amount of the same argument people have it’s like well why would you ever buy a BMW X5 when the Ford Explorer is just so nice yeah
Exactly no why would you buy why would you buy an Audi A6 it’s basically a vw% right like yeah yeah yeah right so like we know that you know for xang on on the G9 you know they pushed up their pricing and that was a little bit hairy
For them Le Auto has pushed up their pricing over the L9 um so so let’s talk about that let’s going be the just to wrap up this whole discussion really quickly let’s talk about the very initial very initial very early Market response in addition to the conversations about maybe looking a
Little bit like a coffin to certain certain parties not us but certain parties um but to say you can’t judge what the Lee mega looks like on photos or videos because its presence in real life is just something else 150% way better in person one of those cards most almost
Every car on earth is better in person that car is for sure better in person the market response so this is this is my understanding this unconfirmed rumors yes this is the the the the word on the street and maybe somebody from leot who sees this wants to provide some
Clarifying information or something in the comment section hey I’m just letting him know we’re welcome to you know we’re welcome to hear whistleblowers uh if they want to deny this or they want to add some qualifications or something but basically when this car really after the Press launch happened right uh and prior
To the oh sorry another press launch sorry the press conference the big launch event where they had Lee Young the founder of Lee Auto on stage like this is look at this look at that um they hadn’t showed the interior previous to that only the exterior yeah
Right so we were embargoed on the interior but not the exterior when we filmed once it came out for whatever reason we can we can guess later but they apparently lost like let’s say let’s say they had some 13 14 15,000 pre-orders on the car right uh refundable pre-order
Down payments about 5,000 5,000 about 800 900 bucks uh USD they had 10,000 people go I’m out yeah allegedly yeah so they were down to more like 3,000 and something orders yes and you know obviously that’s not the result that they wanted they wanted for them to say like we jumped another 10,000
Overnight yeah now a lot of people looked at that and were like it’s dead in the water it’s going to be a failure I don’t think that’s true I don’t think it’s true I think like one people saying like oh you know it’s because of the
Price it’s not because of the price we all knew they told us that it was going to be between 500 600,000 the same thing with the l n it it’s going to be 400 to 500,000 it came right in around that middle Mark right okay this is Middle
High and the L now was middle low but around it so people knew what the price was it’s not the price um yes I think some people turned off by the fact the interior maybe wasn’t quote unquote new right as Cutting Edge as provocative as interesting as the exterior if you had
Seen it a previous yes and I also think that you know what I think also car reviewers are somewhat to blame because the way we like to talk about things you know we like whatever is the newest shiniest toy on the block that’s got some Fantastical oh look the seats fall
Back that’s way better than the seats falling forwards and it’s you know and then when when it does the X9 has got more space in the back it’s like when are you carrying two people in the second row and then needing 2,000 liters of space like how many bags do these
People have going to the airport like like yes I I get it yes on paper yes it beats out that but we’re playing top trumps here like practicality uh so I think one is in showrooms and people start walking around and getting in it and driving it
I think they may sell some the screen is a good example as you said it yes people go like well the screen in the X9 is bigger but the quality of the screen in the in the uh Mega is much higher and you can really see it in person and the
Design as we said of the mega in person is very different than the one of the pictures so I think that will be to its Advantage so I I we we should say Le Auto really they went hard and said that they want to be the best selling vehicle over $500
So they want to beat the X5 they want to beat the BMW X5 long wheel base which is the China Market one right and China made one and yeah they want to they want to be there which means 8 to 10,000 units a month it’s hard which is very
Hard it’s very hard to do uh ask some like high-fi yeah exactly who’s in that PR who’s in that price rate but I think like we had this discussion before and I I said to you look if any other one of the startups came out and said this
About that car I would laugh in their face 100% I’m sorry to say it because there’s been big promises made about you know cars and how many they’re going to sell and they and they haven’t done it Le Auto so far has been the only one
That’s made very big claims of how many units they’re going to move of models and actually done it right they are a they sold uh were they was it a three or 400,000 units last year yes yeah 400,000 they way they they went way over their their their target actually right and
Their target for next year for 2024 is 800000 so look not going to be think that they’re going to do 8,000 on Mega I don’t know but I believe that they’ve at least warranted enough of a kind of wait and see right I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt because you know
This is not the boy that cried wolf right right um yeah so you know best luck to them to them and X punong as well you know because they both they both make great products and you know they both deserve to to do well I think
If if people want them then they’ll buy them the market will decide basically and so yeah I would say I just support what you said there and I think that if I I give Le Auto they have enough of a track record in recent times that I am
Willing to give them time to find their Market with this car and I am not prepared to go like it’s Dead on Arrival which a lot of people did and I think that’s a extremely premature and for Leo it goes more than just the mega what the
Mega proves is that they can make a half decent EV with a decent efficiency EV powertrain with good charging Tech so you know moving forwards we know they’re going to release more EVs and the mega proves that they do have the technology CU some people were talking about you
Know Leo only makes extended range EVS they don’t have the the ability to make an EV well I mean yeah yeah they do and they can make a pretty good one they can they can so I’m excited for the L6 essentially as a final note as a are
Basically this year we know that they’re going to be releasing it’s like three new models in addition to not including the mega three new models and I will say I’m calling my shot based on everything I’ve heard I think it’s just going to be EV versions of the L7 uh it’s going to
Be there’s the L6 I’m sorry which is their new their entry level SUV which is pure electric I think that’s going to absolutely eat up the market I think it’s going to go it’s going to be gangbusters uh and then there’s going to be the I think they’ll also release an
Electric version sorry in addition to the mega and the LC there’s three and then they’re going to I think just do an electric version of the L7 L yeah I heard something like uh uh M9 M8 and M7 were right quote unquote the rumored things but I hope I I hope they’re not
Just literally we remove the battery and engine and we put in a larger battery right and and just and maybe yeah I I but at the speed it almost feels like that might I from what I learned from from the designer and and from other people at the company is that like they
They say that oh no no our EV brand our EV cars which I think the E versions of these other cars are going to have a radically different styling yeah do I believe that well it might just be exterior right right oh it will just be
Exterior it will be exterior but yeah so we can look forward to that everyone who’s watching should obviously subscribe to our various channels and they uh can watch look forward to our reviews uh you may very well be doing some of these for the wheels boy Channel
Fingers crossed um and uh yeah but uh thank you for our lovely disc discussion and I think we can stop it there yeah next time next time my friend
We go in-depth on one of the most interesting debuts of 2024, the Li Auto Mega electric MPV.
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00:00- Intro
00:35- EREV or REEV?
02:01- Dystopian coffin design
05:49- Interior design (it’s basically an L9)
07:40- More legroom than BMW 7-Series LWB
11:12- 102.7-kWh Kirin battery pack
12:48- 500 km of range in 12 minutes
16:53- Driving dynamics
21:14- Mega vs Zeekr 009
25:18- Mega vs XPeng X9
31:55- Quieter than a Maybach S-Class
32:54- Price comparison
34:34- Negative market response vs high goals
40:55- What to expect from Li Auto in 2024
