Intense market competition.
Author | Zhou Zhiyu
In March, the new energy MPV segment welcomed a "super launch month".
XPeng X9 electric version, Voyah Dreamer Champion Edition, and Mercedes-Benz VLE made their debuts one after another, while ZhiJie V9, Arcfox WenDao V9, and Leapmotor D99 are ready to launch. The smoke of competition rises again in the 300,000-yuan family MPV market.
Over the past three years, domestic brands have launched fierce attacks on joint-venture fuel-powered MPVs, using new energy as their spear and intelligence as their shield. According to the 2025 new energy MPV sales ranking, Denza D9, Voyah Dreamer, and Weilai Alpine ranked in the top three. The high-end MPV market, once dominated by GL8, Odyssey, and Sienna, has undergone significant changes.
Now, joint-venture brands have begun to fight back, and autonomous driving has become the decisive factor in this battle.
Wall Street News learned that multiple automakers, including Voyah, XPeng Motors, and GAC, are accelerating the mass production and implementation of L3-level autonomous driving. Lu Fang, Chairman of Voyah Automobile, revealed to Wall Street News that Voyah’s L3 test vehicles have completed over 110,000 kilometers of real-road testing. "We will soon launch a vehicle with L3-level architecture," he said.
From competing on space to an arms race in autonomous driving, the dimensions of competition in the MPV segment are undergoing fundamental changes. In the second half of the red ocean elimination round, the reshuffle is far from over.
Shift in offensive and defensive dynamics between domestic and joint-venture brands
China's MPV market is experiencing a profound shift in power.
In 2000, SAIC-GM introduced the Buick GL8, marking the beginning of China's MPV market 1.0 era. For more than two decades thereafter, GL8 almost became synonymous with "business MPV," while joint-venture brands firmly controlled the pricing and discourse power in the high-end MPV market.
The turning point occurred in 2022. That year, domestic brands leveraged new energy to launch a head-on assault against joint-venture fuel-powered MPVs. According to the "New Energy MPV Market Insight Report" released by CATARC Testing & Certification Co., Ltd., the new energy penetration rate in the MPV market surged from 9% in 2022 to 49% in 2025. In just three years, new energy MPVs evolved from niche products to mainstream market players.
The once-dominant Buick GL8, despite maintaining a volume of over 110,000 units with the addition of the Luzun PHEV and Lushang models, has seen its gasoline-powered version experience a sales decline for two consecutive years.
"When we were developing the Lantu Dreamer, we believed that China's new energy vehicle market lacked an MPV. We aimed to secure a position with a high-end new energy MPV developed independently by China, rather than allowing users to rely solely on joint-venture gasoline MPVs," Lu Fang recalled to Wall Street News.
Now, this goal has been achieved in stages. Lu Fang offered a broader assessment: "The '15th Five-Year Plan' will be a year of profound change in the ratio between new energy vehicles and traditional gasoline vehicles, as well as a year of significant shifts in the positioning of domestic brands versus foreign luxury brands."
In his view, foreign luxury brands have fallen behind leading domestic models in both product quality and functionality. "We can now compete directly with foreign-brand vehicles; we must seize this opportunity."
However, joint ventures will not surrender without a fight.
Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows that gasoline MPV sales declined by 13.9% year-on-year during the same period. In response to this trend, the joint venture camp is accelerating its transition to electrification. The Buick Zhijing Shijia model was launched at the end of last year, starting at 4.39 million yuan, directly targeting the high-end configurations of Tengshi D9 and Lantu Dreamer. The all-electric version of the Buick Zhijing Shijia also began pre-sales in early March, featuring a 900V architecture. Mercedes-Benz's all-new electric VLE made its global debut on March 10, while Toyota's Sienna extended-range version is also in preparation.
At the same time, Huawei's ecosystem entry is reshaping the competitive landscape. Harmony Intelligence's first MPV, the ZhiJie V9, is positioned as a mid-to-large-sized luxury new energy MPV in the 500,000-yuan range and will be launched this spring.
By 2026, the premium new energy MPV market will face unprecedented internal competition pressure. "300,000 yuan for a high-end configuration, 350,000 yuan without compromise, and 400,000 yuan for a flagship model with fully upgraded product capabilities" will define the new market landscape.
Shao Mingfeng, CBO of Lantu Automobile, has a clear understanding of this. He told Wall Street News that Lantu's strategy is to "be the ones drawing the track," because "those who draw the track know when to turn faster."
This battle of shifting dynamics is entering its most intense phase.
The battle for L3 has begun.
As space, comfort, and configurations gradually converge, intelligent driving is becoming a new variable in MPV competition.
Shao Mingfeng succinctly captured the core logic of this round of competition: "In the past, MPVs were driven by chauffeurs and ridden by bosses; now, more families have fathers driving and the whole family riding. We aim to achieve equitable comfort and technological equity, so fathers no longer have to sacrifice themselves."
This indicates that the product definition of MPVs is extending from a "passenger perspective" to a "driver perspective." Advanced intelligent driving is no longer just an optional feature but a necessity for addressing driver fatigue during long journeys. Shao Mingfeng shared his personal experience: "This Lunar New Year, I drove 1,400 kilometers round-trip, approximately 16 hours, and honestly, I didn't feel tired at all."
Under this logic, various automakers are emphasizing intelligent driving. The 2026 XPeng X9 all-electric version comes standard with Turing chips, delivering a maximum effective computing power of 2,250 TOPS, with AEB functionality extended to a top speed of 130 km/h. The岚图梦想家 Champion Edition becomes the only MPV in the 300,000-yuan range equipped with Huawei's Qiankun Intelligent Driving ADS4. The智界 V9 is even outfitted with four LiDAR sensors, including a high-precision main radar with 500 lines.
But the bigger variable is L3.
For the first time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has approved the commercial operation of L3-level autonomous driving, with two models passing the approval process: the长安深蓝 SL03 and the极狐阿尔法 S6. This marks the first time China has allowed vehicles to take over driving tasks under specific conditions. 2026 will truly become the 'mass production year' for L3 autonomous driving.
XPeng Motors has obtained an L3 autonomous driving road test license in Guangzhou and announced that it will launch a mass-production model in 2026 with both hardware and software meeting L4 standards. Li Auto released its next-generation autonomous driving architecture, MindVLA, last year and plans to begin mass production this year.
According to Wall Street News,岚图汽车 revealed that it released its first vehicle architecture designed for conditional L3 autonomous driving in April last year. Currently, L3 test vehicles are extensively operating on the roads of Wuhan, having completed over 110,000 kilometers of real-road testing and more than 900,000 kilometers of simulated testing.
Lu Fang described his experience testing the L3 prototype to Wall Street News: "I was testing this car, yet it felt like I wasn't driving it at all. Wherever I wanted to go, I just had to say it, and the car would drive itself from the parking spot to the destination and then return autonomously. That's the level we're at."
He revealed that LM will soon launch models with L3-level architecture, including the soon-to-be-released Taishan Ultra and a future model codenamed "Zhufeng." "Its software, hardware, and five major safety redundancies already meet the requirements of such an architecture."
Huawei ADS 4.0 will further expand to large-scale commercial use of L3 for highways and urban areas, meaning MPV models equipped with Huawei's autonomous driving system will be the first to gain L3 capabilities.
"Competition in the industry truly begins at the L3 stage," emphasized Zhang Yongwei, chairman of the China EV100 Association, stating that whoever secures an L3 intelligent advantage will hold the initiative in future competition within the automotive industry.
This war of intelligent driving in MPVs has just begun. According to institutional analysis, 2026 will be the pivotal year for L3 conditional autonomous driving to transition from concept to mass production. Dongxing Securities predicts that the penetration rate of L3-level and above assisted driving will reach 11%. As L3 moves from concept to mass production and high-level intelligent driving transitions from premium configurations to standard features, players lacking intelligent driving strategies will face accelerated elimination.
In this arms race of intelligent driving, no one can afford to slow down.
