“Price it higher!” someone shouted from the audience when the price of the Xiangjie S9 was announced.
The Xiangjie S9 enters the fiercely competitive pure electric sedan market. According to the Passenger Car Association, from January to August this year, sales of C-segment pure electric sedans exceeded 340,000 units, up 75.6% year-over-year, leading the growth in the entire electric vehicle market. Additionally, during the same period, sales of sedans priced above 300,000 yuan (both fuel and new energy) reached 585,000 units.
Simply put, the “pie” of the luxury electric sedan market is still relatively small but has great growth potential.
With its positioning as a luxury flagship sedan and pricing between 399,800 to 449,800 yuan, the Xiangjie S9’s competitors are not the relatively weak fuel-powered vehicles in the same price range, but rather the likes of million-yuan BMW 7 Series, FAW Audi A8L, and Benz S-Class (hereafter referred to as “78S”). It must further explore the luxury electric sedan market as well. Therefore, this car must match the comfort and passenger space of the traditional fuel-powered models while surpassing them in driving experience and intelligent features.
Recently, after experiencing the Xiangjie S9 for a week, we found that the car holds stronger advantages in its electric systems and intelligence. The Xiangjie S9 is uniquely equipped with the HUAWEI ADS 3.0 advanced intelligent driving system and HarmonyOS intelligent cockpit.
So, is the Xiangjie S9 really “priced too low,” and can its product strength truly compare to the “78S”?
Real World Highway Range Over 600 km, How Does the Xiangjie S9 Achieve This?
In September of this year, we tested the city and highway range of the Xiangjie S9 Max. From a full charge, we traveled 627 km on the highway until both the displayed power percentage and range hit zero, with a displayed consumption of 14.2 kWh/100 km. Among models equipped with a 100 kWh battery, the Xiangjie S9 might just have the strongest extreme range capability.
Subsequently, we retested the energy consumption performance of the Xiangjie S9 Max in city settings, showing 14.5 kWh/100 km. For a car with a length of 5,160 mm and a wheelbase of 3,050 mm, such energy consumption data is commendable.
Why is the range of the Xiangjie S9 so strong? Is it simply because it lacks an extra motor? The reality is not that simple.
Nowadays, one of the core needs for buying a pure electric vehicle is still range anxiety. To achieve a longer range, there are two paths: either increase battery capacity or reduce energy consumption.
Clearly, rapidly advancing by merely enlarging the battery is challenging. On one hand, there’s the weight issue; on the other, the cost. Even apart from affecting vehicle handling and available interior space, increased battery weight can lead to higher energy consumption. This implies that when weight and battery capacity reach a balance point, further increasing capacity adversely affects range. Furthermore, larger batteries undoubtedly incur higher costs, compelling manufacturers to reduce other features at the same price point.
The AITO S9 comes standard with the Huawei Giant Whale 800V high-voltage battery platform with a capacity of 100 kWh. To achieve more extended range with limited battery capacity, the AITO S9 must focus on engineering advancements.
From the exterior, intelligent electronic side mirrors, concealed water channels, and 20-inch ten-spoke low-drag wheels are among the features optimizing the car’s aerodynamics, enabling the AITO S9 to maintain a luxurious flagship appearance while achieving a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.193.
Previously, many over 5-meter sedans compromised beautiful design or practical space to chase lower drag coefficients. Although achieving low drag, such sacrifices also degraded the driving experience.
Thanks to the AITO S9’s engineering progress, coupled with an excellent 800V battery platform and silicon carbide drivetrain, the AITO S9 can achieve greater range with lower energy consumption at high speeds.
Owing to the Huawei Giant Whale 800V high-voltage battery platform, the AITO S9 boasts robust charging capabilities. According to official figures, in conjunction with the 800V fast-charging platform, a 5-minute charge enhances the range by 200 km.
Over several days of real-world use with the AITO S9, there’s no anxiety about range or charging. Yet, for users, worry-free range and energy consumption in an electric vehicle are just the baseline expectation.
Are electric sedans uncomfortable?
In recent years, the new energy vehicle market has been thriving, particularly the SUV segment, which has surged rapidly. Yet, pure electric sedans seemingly remain a “no-go zone” for many manufacturers. Indeed, whenever a manufacturer launches a pure electric sedan priced over 300,000 yuan, the risk of a “flop” is notably high.
It’s not that consumers reject new energy; rather, the product strength of most sedans above 300,000 yuan remains lacking: seating is too high, obscuring view without sporty drive; rear seats uncomfortable like small benches; no headroom, and no sunshades… Even for vehicles from the same brand, consumers quickly realize they should opt for an SUV after one static showroom experience, without even a test drive.
Thus, over the past few years, the best-selling 400,000-yuan class pure electric sedan has been arguably just the NIO ET7, whereas among Chinese brands, the IM L7, and in overseas brands like the Benz EQE and BMW i5, numerous manufacturers and models have failed to invigorate the luxury electric sedan market.With the entry of the Xiangjie S9, one of the objectives is to change the misconception that all fully electric sedans are uncomfortable and sell poorly.
On one hand, it is precisely positioned as a luxury model. On the other hand, it addresses almost all the “bad habits” of previous new energy sedans, incorporating Huawei’s intelligent solutions.
Based on these two concepts, the Xiangjie S9 was born.
In the rear, the Xiangjie S9 boasts the industry’s first mass-produced zero-gravity seats, five electric sunshades, two manual sunshades, a rear projection screen, and laser projection. When looking at traditional brands, these luxurious features of the Xiangjie S9 target the “78S,” while features like the rear projection screen, unique to Hongmeng Smart Mobility, cannot be selected even with additional cost on the “78S.”
Especially the zero-gravity seats, which are ingeniously designed. By pressing a button on the door panel, the front seats fold, and the rear seat back reclines, making full use of the interior space for a highly comfortable seating position.
Before this, no sedan was equipped with zero-gravity seats in the rear.
Moreover, engineering-wise, the giant whale battery co-developed by Huawei and CATL has a thickness of 117 mm, a reduction of 16.4%. This ensures the vertical space inside the car, eliminating the rear bench seats.
Thus, the Xiangjie S9 has eliminated almost all the “bad habits” of previous new energy sedans. At the same time, it doesn’t lack any luxury features; the rear central armrest’s cool and warm box, Comfort Cloud skin-friendly seats layered with 10 materials, NAPPA leather, and natural wood materials are high-grade materials visible and tangible within the car.
However, Huawei’s definition of luxury doesn’t stop at the hardware level but is a combination of software and hardware.
Upon pressing the one-button privacy button on the rear door panel, the electric sunshades automatically close, while the projection screen descends automatically, creating a private space in the rear. With the built-in super privacy mode, pressing it disables the in-car microphones and cameras, allowing front and back rows to use accounts independently, ensuring personal data isn’t retained in the car. There is also a one-touch Privacy Sound Shield, where headrest speakers in the driver’s seat play counter-sound waves of the rear seat conversation to isolate the sound between front and back.
These functions are quite novel for the entire luxury car industry. After all, the simplest way to ensure the driver drives well is to put a wall between the front and rear seats and pay a hefty selection fee. Who would have thought to use software to solve this problem?Nowadays, in the models equipped with HarmonyOS Smart Driving, both the AITO M9 and Virtus S9 feature the Privacy Acoustics Shield. This is quite practical for business travel scenarios.
4 million RMB was once the entry price of the “56E,” but now this threshold is dropping continuously. However, the product capabilities of new and old models haven’t changed much—10 years ago, they were 0-100 km/h in 7 seconds, and they won’t give you 5 seconds now. Since there is no change in configuration and the entry price has lowered, it only signifies stronger competition. Among the competitors, the Virtus S9 holds a position.
In fact, the Virtus S9 is not only competing with traditional fuel vehicles but also facing a significant challenge with its counterparts in the same pure electric category. If hardware doesn’t win, it’s about showcasing its trump card—ADS 3.0.
Debuting ADS 3.0, Urban Smart Driving Upgraded
As a major annual version upgrade, the debut model equipped with ADS 3.0 is the Virtus S9. Based on drivability nationwide, ADS 3.0 extends the boundaries of smart driving, achieving valet parking among commercialized features. In addition, it upgrades the all-round active safety capabilities, including AEB with a larger speed range.
From a hardware perspective, ADS 3.0 capitalizes on existing hardware fully, relying on multi-dimensional perception, end-to-end neural networks, and human-like intelligent driving as its foundation.
With the same 192-line LiDAR, 11 cameras, and 3 millimeter-wave radars, how does it sense more information from the road? ADS 3.0 enhances its capabilities by adding road and environmental perception to existing hardware.
The core of ADS 3.0 is the end-to-end neural network, architecturally distinct from its predecessors. Two years ago, ADS 1.0 used BEV; last year’s ADS 2.0 integrated BEV with GOD, and ADS 3.0 upgrades to the GOD Perception Neural Network, signifying a major advancement. The GOD network can not only identify road structures and target obstacles but also interpret scenes with 3D perception.
Additionally, the architecture includes an instinctive safety network. Huawei engineers discovered during testing that while the end-to-end network had a high upper limit, AI quirks could result in a low lower limit. The instinctive safety network acts as a safeguard for AI, responding in safety scenarios with a 200 ms decision cycle—three times faster than other networks. Finally, the PVD decision neural network contributes to form the end-to-end neural brain of ADS 3.0.At the driving level, ADS 3.0 can handle complex road conditions while ensuring smooth and safe driving.
For instance, scenarios like navigating roundabouts, making narrow U-turns, and entering or exiting parking lots required manual intervention in ADS 2.0. However, with ADS 3.0, these scenarios are fully resolved.
In actual experience, ADS 3.0 allows starting from the roadside after setting navigation, without having to position the car in the middle of the street where lane lines are clearly needed to use the intelligent driving system. We have previously experienced the car-to-car intelligent driving system, which will be provided to users via OTA in the future.
For the parking feature, ADS 3.0 has three major upgrades: the official commercial use of valet parking, enhanced remote parking capabilities, and the ability to move the car remotely.
The valet parking function has seen small-scale application on ADS 2.0 models. In familiar parking lots, drivers can exit the vehicle in the parking area, and the car will find a spot autonomously. Before the driver needs to drive again, the car will return to the drop-off area for easy access. Additionally, the remote parking no longer relies on a Bluetooth key. Once the driver selects remote parking, they can leave the vehicle entirely to the car. Moreover, the option to move the car remotely is quite practical, allowing users to move the car via a mobile App from home, facilitating others’ travel.
During driving, the active safety features can prevent accidents in emergencies, with ADS 3.0’s omnidirectional active safety capabilities being upgraded as well.
The maximum effective range of AEB is 4 – 150 km/h, and it can accurately identify static and crossing pedestrians and vehicles. It now also includes the identification of diagonal pedestrians and two-wheelers. If the collision risk disappears after AEB activation, ADS 3.0 will stop decelerating to prevent rear-end collisions.
ADS 3.0’s lateral active safety capabilities have been upgraded, with a maximum effective range of 40 – 130 km/h. While driving on curves, it can accurately identify lateral obstacles like barriers, cones, curbs, pedestrians, and vehicles.
The rear also features active safety functions; during reversing at speeds from 1 to 60 km/h, it can detect pedestrians, two-wheelers, or vehicles, with the addition of children’s toy car recognition.
ADS 3.0 achieves comprehensive active safety and includes more detailed features, such as preventing unintended acceleration (with “please lift your foot” prompts), road-adaptive AEB (for slippery surfaces), and eAES automatic emergency avoidance (braking and steering combined).
In people’s car usage behavior, it generally follows the cycle of “parking-city-arterial roads-highways-city-parking.” ADS 3.0 tightens this chain, removing previous interruptions and enhancing overall journey safety. Notably, in ADS 3.0’s timeline, there is an important plan to initiate pilot testing for L3 intelligent driving on highways next year. When driving responsibility no longer rests on humans, it will mark another significant upgrade in intelligent driving.## The Challenge of Breaking into the Pure Electric Luxury Sedan Market
In the era of traditional fuel vehicles, the 400,000 RMB price level was a forbidden zone for Chinese brands. However, the widespread adoption of new energy vehicles has provided them the opportunity to aim higher. In the HarmonyOS ecosystem, the AITO M9 has successfully reached such heights. On September 30, the 100,000th AITO M9 was officially delivered, achieving this milestone in just 8 months.
The Harmony S9 is one of the “Double 9 Flagships,” bearing the responsibility of elevating the HarmonyOS brand. Moreover, the Harmony S9 and AITO M9 cater to completely different markets, making it more challenging to penetrate the luxury pure electric sedan segment beyond the 400,000 RMB mark compared to the SUV market.
On one hand, luxury flagship sedans often benefit from a strong brand halo effect. On the other hand, there’s hardly a breakout success in the 400,000 RMB luxury pure electric sedan category; sales are generally sluggish.
Yet, models like the AITO M9 and other high-end Chinese vehicles have appealed to users with well-defined products, ultimately becoming hits in niche segments.
Particularly the AITO M9, which has won over customers with Huawei’s intelligent solutions and superior driving experience. The same approach is likely to resonate with Harmony S9 users.
Among 400,000 RMB sedan customers, most don’t have personal chauffeurs but demand high rear-seat comfort. Therefore, features like Huawei ADS 3.0, zero-gravity rear seats, and a projection screen precisely meet these users’ needs. Currently, most companies developing advanced autonomous driving technology are still trying to catch up to Huawei’s six-month-old ADS 2.0 “nationwide driveability.” Meanwhile, Huawei is already advancing with its “spot-to-spot” smart driving, which many other automakers may have only just begun to consider.
The first half of 2024 witnessed a surge in new energy sedans, with domestic brands spanning the 100,000 to 350,000 RMB range, making the market intensely competitive and crowded with new entrants. Entering the market now presents mainly challenges with limited opportunities.
Faced with fierce competition, the Harmony S9’s entry into the luxury pure electric sedan market in the 400,000 RMB range brings significant challenges, but also greater opportunities. For domestic brands, this segment is still in its nascent stage. Converting the existing user base, expanding the market, and attracting more potential users are essential for the Harmony S9 to become a hit.
This article is a translation by AI of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.