CITIC Construction Investment: Passenger vehicle prosperity continues to recover; facelift and new models show a trend of "price increases and more features"

People’s Finance Network, April 3 — In a research report from CICC Jianxi, it said that from March 1 to 22, 1.08M units were wholesaled, up 62% month-on-month compared with the same period last month. The signal of a bottoming out in market conditions has become clear. For the AITO M6 and the Seres/?? Z7/Z7T preorders, both come standard with a 896-line LiDAR; the rollout of advanced intelligent driving is accelerating. Xiaoma’s 2026 goal is 3,000 Robotaxis, with a plan to enter 20 cities in China and an overseas footprint in Croatia, the UAE, Luxembourg, South Korea, and more. Wenwei’s 2025 Robotaxi revenue was 150 million yuan, up 209.6% year over year; it has already been deployed in 12 countries and more than 40 cities, and the industry’s trend toward commercialization and scale-out continues to advance. This year, several facelifted and next-generation models have shown a “price increase with added features” trend, such as BYD’s new batteries plus fast charging with flash charging; the AITO M9 and Zunjie S800 adding LiDAR; Xiaomi upgrading its batteries, motors, and computing power; and low-end trims filling in LiDAR while high-end trims add an optical-sensing panoramic canopy. Driven by the “anti-price-war” approach and “proportional subsidies,” average prices of passenger vehicles are expected to stabilize and rebound.