China EV Daily (August 2): Leapmotor in talks with Jetta, Xpeng VP departs, Huawei plans high-end MPV, IM LS6 pricing revealed
[Leapmotor] On August 2, according to a report by Cailian Press, reporters learned from informed sources that following Xpeng, Volkswagen’s Jetta brand is in talks with Leapmotor. The report said that FAW has already issued internal documents, and if the cooperation is successful, Jetta will focus on the economy-type electric vehicle market and will move its marketing company to Hangzhou like FAW Audi. The insider revealed: “Different from the cooperation between Volkswagen and Xpeng, FAW-Volkswagen is likely to ‘buy out’ a generation of platform technology from Leapmotor.” In addition, an insider from FAW-Volkswagen stated that the company did indeed have contact with Leapmotor, but did not know the specific situation; Leapmotor declined to comment. — Cailian Press
[Xpeng] On August 2, it was reported that Xinzhou Wu, vice president of Xpeng’s self-driving division, will leave Xpeng and join Nvidia, a GPU chip company, to take up a position at the “global vice president” level, reporting to Jensen Huang. Regarding this, He Xiaopeng, the chairman of Xpeng Motors, and Wu Xinzhou himself confirmed this on Weibo today, citing family and multiple reasons; Dr. Li Liyun will take over subsequently. — IT Home
[Huawei] Recently, Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities, posted that Huawei is cooperating with JAC Motors to develop a high-end MPV priced at about 1 million yuan (139,000 USD), which is expected to be mass-produced in the second quarter of 2024, with a sales target of about 50,000 units after one year of launch. — Jiemian News
[IM Motor] On August 2, according to automotive blogger @电动星球小新, IM LS6 is divided into four versions, priced at 189,900 yuan (26,400 USD) / 209,900 yuan (29,180 USD) / 249,900 yuan (34,700 USD) / 269,900 yuan (37,500 USD) respectively, and will start blind orders at the Chengdu Auto Show in August. According to the official pre-heating information, this new car will make its debut at the Chengdu Auto Show (August/September).
