IM

IM Pure Electric Vehicles: Reinventing the Future with Technology, Leading the World into a New Era

IM Automotive is a new user-oriented automotive science and innovation company jointly created by SAIC, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech and Alibaba Group. In 2018, SAIC launched the “L Project”, which integrates SAIC’s more than 60 years of car-making experience, Alibaba’s Internet ecosystem, and Zhangjiang Hi-Tech’s chip and software capabilities to create the IM brand. The birth of IM marks the comprehensive transformation of China’s largest automobile group into a high-end intelligent race track. In 2020, IM Automotive was formally established in Shanghai, which takes “the realizer of travel change in the era of intelligence” as its corporate vision, and seeks for a more advanced intelligent driving solution to create a better way of travel in the future. The birth of IM car will certainly leave a colorful mark on the scroll of China’s automobile industry.

As a high-end intelligent electric brand of SAIC Group, its production base brings together top vehicle manufacturing technologies and redefines the standard of automotive smart manufacturing in the new energy era with digitization and sustainability at its core.IM Automotive’s intelligent smart manufacturing base is located in Nanjing, which is also the sole global production base for IM L7 car(IM l7 EV) and IM LS7 pure electric models. The plant is equipped with a super stamping workshop, an all-aluminum welding workshop, a nano-scale painting workshop and a digital twin assembly workshop. Taking the stamping workshop as an example, the Nanjing plant adopts the production line of German Schuler’s 8100-ton servo press, and the coverage rate of aluminum alloy exceeds 30%, which can realize the coexistence of lightweight and high rigidity of the body. The AI quality inspection system introduced inside can scan vehicle parts in real time, and the recognition rate of defects can reach 99.99% with an error of only ±0.2mm. The welding workshop adopts aerospace grade linking process, 528 robots can realize 100% automated welding operation, 3D vision guidance system can make the splicing gap of the body less than 0.5mm. the whole production process adopts 5G+ industrial internet technology, which can realize real-time traceability of the assembly data of more than 2,000 pieces of each car. It is also equipped with “silent quality control” technology, which is the world’s first quality control technology using acoustic cameras with a sensitivity of 0.1 dB. In addition to the vehicle manufacturing bases in China, IM Automotive is establishing cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and Thailand in Southeast Asia in the mode of technical cooperation and KD assembly exploration, laying the foundation for future overseas production.

IM car adopts a “1+3+N” globalized R&D system, with IM’s core R&D center located in Shanghai, and the R&D headquarter is mainly responsible for the development of vehicle platforms and cross-regional synergy and integration, including leading the iteration of the “Nebula” pure electric platform and the CTC battery chassis integration project. IM European Engineering Center is located in Munich, Germany, which mainly focuses on the field of automotive high-performance electric and chassis technology; Silicon Valley, the United States of America’s research center is mainly responsible for joint research with Stanford University, Waymo, vehicle intelligent driving and car networking technology; Yokohama, Japan’s New Energy Materials Laboratory focuses on researching vehicle batteries and lightweight, and Panasonic joint development of solid electrolyte interface membrane modification technology, and so on.

Core benefits of IM’s pure electric models include:

1. Digital Chassis: The IM pure electric vehicle is paired with the Spirit Lizard digital chassis, which is one of IM’s core technologies. Its four-wheel steering system can achieve a maximum steering angle of 12° at the rear wheels, and the combination of air suspension and electromagnetic damping enables a vehicle with a body length of 5M to achieve the smallest turning radius. Its chassis control module supports independent upgrading, which can realize dynamic adjustment of suspension stiffness or torque distribution. In the extreme scenarios of the Smart Driving Competition, the Smart Car equipped with the Spirit Lizard Digital Chassis passed various complex scenarios with “zero takeover”, and was awarded the benchmark of “safety first”.
2. 800V high-voltage platform: All IM models are equipped with the 800V high-voltage architecture as standard, and with the Ningde Times battery cell, it is possible to achieve a 70% increase in power in 12 minutes of charging; the vehicle’s 100km power consumption is as low as 11.8kWh, with a range achievement rate of over 90%. Taking IM LS6 4WD version as an example, its peak power reaches 579kW, peak torque is 800Nm, zero 100km acceleration takes only 2.74 seconds, and top speed is 308km/h.
3. Intelligent Driving System: IM cars are equipped with IM AD 3.0, jointly developed with Momenta, which integrates a traditional single module into a single one, thus increasing the iterative updating speed of the system by three times. It builds safety boundaries through the “long and short-term memory mode”, and when the vehicle encounters a high-speed tire blowout, blind zone avoidance, etc., the response speed is 10 times faster than the traditional one.

IM’s pure electric models currently on sale include: IM L6, IM LS6, IM L7, IM LS7

IM LS7 is the flagship pure electric SUV under IM brand, the front face of the vehicle adopts the iconic “Starlight Pupil” LED fluorescent lamps, which supports dynamic welcome light language and is highly recognizable; the active air intake grille optimizes heat dissipation efficacy when driving. The active grille optimizes heat dissipation while driving. The top is equipped with NVIDIA Orin chip and LIDAR, and the hidden layout enhances the overall aesthetics. The side of the body is a coupe-style SUV streamline shape, sliding back roof plus frameless doors to enhance the overall sense of sportiness, so that the vehicle’s driving wind resistance is reduced to 0.268. The LED taillights running through the rear support the dynamic flowing water steering effect, and the liftable rear wing can be automatically raised at high speeds to enhance downforce. The interior of the vehicle has a 39-inch liftable giant screen, which is the world’s first 4K OLED Ultra HD screen that runs through the main passenger car and can support split-screen display. The seats are made of semi-aniline leather and support 16-way power adjustment and massage function, and the zero-gravity passenger seat also supports 121° recline mode. The IM LS7 is paired with the IM AD advanced assistance system, which supports city NOA (including traffic light recognition, automatic lane change function, etc.), memory parking, and vehicle remote summoning. The ultra-fast charging technology can replenish 200km of energy in 5 minutes, and the matching 100kWh battery can realize a vehicle range of 660km. The chassis design of air suspension and CDC electromagnetic damping supports 5-gear height adjustment, which is comparable to the driving experience of a supercar.

IM cars are sold to Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and other countries and regions through high-end positioning, technological empowerment and localization strategy. In the automotive industry, the whole series of IM has passed the safety tests of CNCAP, E-NCAP, CIRCAP and other domestic and international authoritative organizations, IM L6 model has won the “2025 China Heart” Top 10 New Energy Vehicle Powertrain, and the Lizard Digital Chassis has won the Red Dot Design Award in Germany, among other honors.

IM Auto is a model of the transformation of Chinese brands from “products going overseas” to “systems going overseas”, which redefines the globalization path of brands with its own strength, and leads Chinese auto brands to the center of the world stage with its advanced technology and rigorous industry.