The family car segment priced between 150,000 and 200,000 yuan has welcomed a contender with the potential to disrupt the market. On September 19, NIO's new brand, Lido, launched its first model—the Lido L60—with the standard range version featuring a 60 kWh battery priced at 206,900 yuan, and the long-range version with an 85 kWh battery set at 235,900 yuan.
With the BaaS battery rental scheme, the price of this car drops to as low as 149,900 yuan. This striking figure that undercuts the entry-level pricing for medium-sized smart electric SUVs is something no brand new to the market could typically achieve. However, because it is Lido, built on a decade of structural development by NIO, it can afford to be this audacious.
According to NIO founder Li Bin, the orders for the L60 surged right after its launch, and their primary focus now is on rapidly increasing production capacity. Their plan is to deliver 5,000 new Lido cars in October, reach 10,000 by December, and climb to at least 16,000 by January of next year, aiming for 20,000 deliveries by March.
The confidence behind a 36-day, 20,000-kilometer test
Before the new car launch event kicked off, the proud owner of Lido's very first car, number 0000001, Summer Qinghua, who is also the head of user services and operations for Lido Auto, stepped out of a newly minted morning orange Lido L60. He had just completed a journey encircling China in the Lido L60.
From the moment the first Lido L60 rolled off the production line at NIO's Hefei F2 plant, he has been driving it for 36 days, traversing the vast expanses of China, with a total journey exceeding 20,000 kilometers.
Along the way, Summer slept under the stars, cooked in the wilderness, enjoyed tea at a herdsman’s home, and faced unexpected situations. For instance, while passing through the fog between Wenzhou and Fuzhou, the Lido L60's smart driving system maintained its composure. When NIO Chairman Li Bin asked him how he managed not to lose weight, he replied, “I actually gained weight,” because “the L60’s seats are just too comfortable.”
As the head of user services, Summer personally validated this new brand and car's product, service, and infrastructure. His experiences were not staged nor scripted; they were genuine encounters in actual usage.
In today’s era, where producing cars is akin to making consumer goods, it’s common for new cars to roll out with various imperfections disguised as "OTA" updates. It’s rare for a vehicle that has just come off the assembly line to be put directly through real-world tests. This scenario speaks volumes about Lido’s extraordinary confidence in product capability, manufacturing ability, and their service system—it's a unique assurance strongly backed by NIO’s established framework.
We believe this is more than just a genuine and successful promotional effort; it also demonstrates to the outside world that the moment this car was born, it was already impressively complete and ahead of its time.
Redefining the Family SUV
Whenever a new brand emerges, people often question whether the Chinese market really needs another one. This time, however, we propose a different question: Do the existing car brands meet all user needs? The obvious answer is no. This, in turn, effortlessly resolves the first question.
In the age of smart electric vehicles, technological iterations closely mirror Moore's Law, which has led many consumers to find that a "leading-edge" car quickly becomes an “old model.” Clearly, the long-standing technological accumulation within the automotive industry has not been effectively applied to the mass market.
Unlike the approach of “pleasing new users at the expense of older ones,” NIO's strategy targets different demographics by launching multiple brands, rationally leveraging its comprehensive technological reserve to maintain its brand's sophistication while achieving “technology for all” in the family market.
The Lido L60 debuts with seven globally leading technologies, maintaining a three to five-year lead, and becoming a mainstream offering within eight to ten years. In essence, it is designed to remain fresh and relevant, eliminating worries about a quick obsolescence after purchase.
However, the family SUV market is fiercely competitive. For instance, the world's best-selling Model Y stands as a significant challenge to the Lido L60. So, where does the latter’s competitiveness lie?
The answer is in its product strength.
Over its ten-year history, NIO has invested billions in research and development, and the Lido L60 can be seen as the culmination of this effort—a product that truly reflects a decade of refinement. The Lido L60 is a product of the “NT3.0 platform,” which means it even holds an edge over NIO.
From the onset of its design, Lido focused on the high-frequency scenarios of family vehicle usage. Therefore, safety, space, comfort, intelligent cabin, smart driving, and energy consumption—these core daily needs for most families—are where the Lido L60 excels.
First, let’s consider the intelligence aspect. The Lido L60 features the NT.Coconut intelligent system, built on NIO's comprehensive vehicle operating system, SkyOS. It is the first in the industry to integrate four domains: smart driving, intelligent cockpit, vehicle control, and vehicle connectivity, offering lower costs, reduced energy consumption, and increased computing power.
The revolutionary 900V silicon carbide architecture makes this possible. Within this framework, the entire electric system becomes lighter, more compact, and more efficient. This is why this medium-sized SUV achieves an impressive energy consumption rate of 12 kWh per 100 kilometers, which is comparable to that of many small electric vehicles. Previously, no one could have imagined that a 60 kWh battery could deliver a range of over 500 kilometers.
Additionally noteworthy is that the four-wheel-drive version of the Lido L60 consumes only 0.6 kWh more than the two-wheel-drive model per 100 kilometers, with just a 30-kilometer difference in comprehensive range—a remarkable feat among four-wheel-drive vehicles.
In terms of smart driving, the Lido L60 comes equipped with the OSD Lido Smart Driving System. Pay attention to two key points: this system is “standard across all versions” and is “ready to use upon delivery.” This is markedly different from manufacturers that require OTA updates for functionalities, treating different configurations differently, showcasing a clear commitment. As for chips and specific features, rest assured they’re up to par, with detailed parameters available in official documentation. Based on our prior usage experience, we can confidently say it is very user-friendly and desirable to operate.
Space-wise, a length of over 4.8 meters allows for a wheelbase of 2950 mm, with effective legroom of 160 mm in the second row and a headspace of 1010 mm, setting a precedent in this segment. To illustrate, three individuals each 1.8 meters tall can sit comfortably in the back seat, enjoying ample space. The optimization of space utilization also benefits from the inherent advantages of the leading-edge architecture.
Concerning comfort, the Lido L60's seats feature a very thick composite surface, soft to the touch while providing ample support, making the middle rear seat—which is typically the least desirable—feel surprisingly “equitable in comfort.” Additionally, the front passenger seat not only boasts comfortable and adjustable reclining but also seamlessly connects with the rear seats to form a spacious “chaise lounge.”
The aforementioned attributes are not merely isolated features sprung from random ideas; they represent a systematic design based on the actual needs of family users and are the best exemplification of NIO’s decade-long technology accumulation. In this regard, stating that the Lido L60 redefines the family SUV is indeed fitting.
Lido + NIO: 1+1 > 2
For consumers, the emergence of a groundbreaking family SUV is undoubtedly exhilarating, but for NIO as a company, Lido holds even deeper significance.
With the penetration rate of new energy vehicles surpassing 50% for two consecutive months, the competition in the smart electric field continues to intensify. Both traditional automakers and emerging players must adopt a “two-pronged” approach to survive, focusing on volume to ensure basic revenue while also enhancing profit margins through premium offerings. Launching multiple brands is more effective when the underlying system capability is robust, leading to a synergistic effect where 1+1 > 2; otherwise, it merely adds another layer of business. Lido is fundamentally backed by NIO’s deep technological reserves, service frameworks, and energy infrastructure built over the past decade.
For instance, the reason the Lido L60’s smart driving system was immediately functional upon launch is due to the technological foundation and real data accumulated by NIO itself. Furthermore, the speed at which Lido can utilize over 300 battery swap stations and plans to connect to over 1,000 by year-end is reliant on the battery swap system NIO had been developing earlier. Additionally, Lido launched its first vehicle with over 350 service centers across more than 200 cities nationwide, largely benefiting from NIO’s decade-long service capabilities.
In terms of crucial manufacturing capability, NIO’s second factory in Hefei is equipped to produce multiple models on the same production line, providing Lido with flexible production capabilities. After all, while the Lido L60 is its debut vehicle, it is already the 12th vehicle within NIO’s smart manufacturing system.
Looking at it from another perspective, the birth of Lido also indirectly supports NIO, particularly in expanding sales and overall market share while aiding both parties in achieving breakeven. Moreover, Lido will also contribute to the continued growth of NIO’s system-embedded capabilities. Taking the battery swap system as an example, due to differences in battery specifications between Lido and NIO models, engineering adjustments are required for the swap stations, effectively creating a smaller system within a larger one. Once this adaptation is completed, it will diversify NIO’s battery swap network, allowing it to accommodate more vehicle models and battery types. It’s important to note that FAW, Changan, GAC, Geely, Chery, Jiangling, and the emerging power brand Extreme E have all joined NIO’s battery swap alliance. A robust battery swap system not only offers better adaptability to brands within the alliance but also fortifies its competitive edge and influence in the energy sector.
In conclusion, the relationship between Lido and NIO transcends the mere effective utilization of technological achievements; it is rooted in a foundational architecture and system that allow both entities to independently battle in the market while also benefiting mutually, facilitating quicker penetration into the consumer market, serving a broader range of users, and accelerating NIO’s journey towards its ultimate vision of "blue sky coming."
Finally
NIO’s vision is not just its own; it is a vision for the industry. The automotive sector has long reached a consensus that the biggest rivals for new energy vehicles are not their fellow competitors but rather internal combustion engine cars.
BYD, as the first automaker to officially announce the phasing out of fuel vehicles, has leveraged DMI technology to achieve lower fuel consumption levels than traditional vehicles; Huawei has entered the scene with its Harmony Intelligent Driving technology, promoting the industry’s transition from fuel to electric; NIO aims to apply cutting-edge intelligent and electric technologies to family cars through its new brand Lido, achieving a balance between user experience and technological cost, allowing mainstream families to enjoy the high-quality mobility experience brought about by advanced intelligent electric vehicles, thereby further accelerating the transition from fuel to electric.
Every effort made by Chinese brands serves to overturn the historical dominance of joint ventures and foreign brands in the automotive market.
The birth of the Lido L60 redefines the family SUV in the 200,000 yuan category, achieving unprecedented efficiency in the "three electric" systems, thus providing longer range, lower consumption, and faster charging; in terms of intelligence and comfort, it leaves its class rivals scrambling to keep up; and the BaaS scheme enables more users to access the value of technology at a lower threshold—after all, new technology only holds practical significance for the fuel-to-electric transition when it achieves widespread adoption.
Ultimately, the importance of new energy vehicles is not merely about swapping a license plate from blue to green, but rather about accelerating the industry's shift towards low-carbon green solutions, leveraging new avenues to enhance the application of energy and electronic information technology, and solidifying China’s entire industrial chain. In this process, the disruption of the historical dominance once held by joint ventures and foreign brands within the Chinese automotive sector is merely a natural progression.
