China NEV Daily Roundup — Sep 27: AITO M8 Debuts, iCAR V27 Long-Range Revealed, Golden-Week Launch Wave

China's "Golden September" peaks this week as the国庆 holiday nears. Today's roundup covers a major Huawei-aligned SUV debut, fresh range-extender specs from Chery, a packed launch calendar for next week, a fresh recall batch touching PHEV and BEV nameplates, Chinese brands scaling Thailand's EV hub, and the latest sales and charging-infrastructure data. Powertrains span BEV, PHEV and EREV throughout.

1. AITO M8 officially unveiled — BEV + EREV, L3-ready architecture

On September 27, Huawei's Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) and Seres formally unveiled the all-new AITO M8, a full-size family SUV built on a platform engineered for L3-class autonomous driving. It runs Huawei Qiankun ADS 5 with a new omni-directional perception stack and comes standard with an 896-line LiDAR. Two seating layouts (5- and 6-seat) are offered; the body measures 5,190 × 1,999 × 1,795 mm with a 3,105 mm wheelbase and a 200 km/h top speed.

Per the MIIT filing (batch 409), the M8 is offered in three powertrains: an EREV with an LFP battery, an EREV with an NMC battery, and a BEV dual-motor version (front 160 kW / rear 227 kW). WLTC drained-fuel consumption is listed at 0.18 L/100 km (NMC) and 0.22 L/100 km (LFP) for the range-extender variants. Pricing is not yet released — AITO will open presales on September 30, with final prices confirmed at that time.

Source: 腾讯/企鹅号 (gu.qq.com), Sep 27, 2026 — https://gu.qq.com/resources/shy/news/detail-v2/index.html?t=1#/index?_tentrees_trans=0&id=SN20260927171910951c5a9c

2. iCAR V27 long-range EREV specs revealed, launch set for Sep 30

Chery's iCAR brand published the battery and powertrain parameters of the iCAR V27 long-range edition on September 27. It carries a 51.2 kWh CATL LFP range-extender battery, delivering 300 km CLTC pure-electric range, with 6 kW external discharge and a 30%–80% fast charge in 17 minutes. The "Super Golden Range Extender" pairs a 1.5T dedicated range-extender engine with 45.79% thermal efficiency and a total drive power of 335 kW, rated at 3.71 kWh generated per litre of fuel. The long-range version launches on September 30; current V27 pricing (210 km / 200 km versions) runs ¥169,800–196,800 (≈$23.7k–$27.4k), with the long-range price to be confirmed at launch.

Source: 网通社 / 凤凰网汽车 (auto.ifeng.com), Sep 27, 2026 — https://auto.ifeng.com/c/8wlKYhuUB4C

3. Week 40 (Sep 28–Oct 4) launch preview: RX, V8, X700, ID.ERA 8X, new Roadster

Autohome's weekly preview lists a dense slate of upcoming debuts. Zhijie (Luxeed) RX has already opened presales at ¥299,800–399,800 (≈$41.8k–$55.8k) — a BEV with a four-LiDAR matrix and up to 852 km CLTC. Xiangjie (Stelato) V8 offers BEV (120 kWh, 775–830 km CLTC, 800V) and EREV (1.5T, 260–339 km WLTC electric) variants. Mengshi X700 and Volkswagen ID.ERA 8X — the latter an EREV with a 1.5T unit, 51.1/65.2 kWh packs, 340–400 km CLTC electric and 1,400–1,500 km combined range — are also queued. A new Tesla Roadster unveiling rounds out the week. These are upcoming/teaser items; final specs and prices land as each model goes on sale.

Source: 汽车之家 (autohome.com.cn), Sep 27, 2026 — https://www.autohome.com.cn/news/202609/1317457.html

4. Fresh recall batch: BMW imports, Land Rover Defender PHEV, Stellantis 4xe, BYD, NIO

China's market regulator published a new recall wave. BMW (China) will recall 7,081 imported 5/7/8 Series cars (built 2021–2025) from November 1 over driveshaft-to-differential spline wear that can cut rear-axle power. Jaguar Land Rover is recalling 3 imported 2022 Land Rover Defender plug-in hybrids immediately over high-voltage-battery thermal-overload risk — a PHEV safety action. The same batch also covers Stellantis Wrangler 4xe (979) and Grand Cherokee 4xe (1,178) PHEVs over engine sand-contamination, BYD Tang (≈142,900) and Qin (40,316) over brake-pedal limiter pads, and NIO Firefly (686) BEVs over a steering-column sensor issue. All fixes are free of charge.

Sources: 重庆日报 (cqrb.cn), Sep 24, 2026 — https://www.cqrb.cn/caijingzonghe/2026-09-24/2783567_pc.html ; 新浪财经 (sina.com.cn), Sep 27, 2026 — https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1708533224_65d625e801901muqg.html

5. Chinese automakers power Thailand's EV hub — $3B invested, 150k units Jan–Aug

A September 27 report highlights how Chinese brands are reshaping Southeast Asia's auto industry: seven Chinese automakers have invested over $3 billion in Thai plants, with Changan alone linking 40+ local suppliers and bringing 10 core suppliers to Thailand. Thailand's NEV output reached 150,000 units in January–August 2026, up from just 70,000 over the prior 12 months. The IEA's Global EV Outlook 2026 projects ~23 million global EV sales (~30% of new cars) this year. The dynamic underscores China's shift from exporter to local-manufacturing partner across emerging markets.

Source: 腾讯新闻 (gu.qq.com), Sep 27, 2026 — https://gu.qq.com/resources/shy/news/detail-v2/index.html?t=1#/index?_tentrees_trans=0&id=SN20260927134340b63cdf8a

6. Sales & infrastructure: CPCA August actuals, September penetration forecast, charging network

CPCA's latest report (August data, released in September) shows NEV wholesale concentration deepening — 19 makers topped 10,000 units, led by BYD 432,684, Geely 173,675, Chery 115,245, Leapmotor 103,129, Tesla China 86,166, Li Auto 37,679, XPeng 39,107 and Xiaomi 30,153. On the retail side, BYD led at 233,943, Geely 110,560 and Leapmotor 84,874. Narrowed PHEV remained strong. For September, industry forecasts point to ~1.11 million NEV retail units and a record ~65.7% penetration. On infrastructure, China's charging network hit 24.223 million connectors by end-August (+39.6% YoY), including 5.16 million public units.

Sources: 乘用车市场信息联席分会 / MarkLines (marklines.com), Sep 2026 — https://www.marklines.com/cn/report/cpca083_202609 ; 网通社 (news18a.com), Sep 18, 2026 — https://www.news18a.com/news/storys_297974.html ; 国家能源局, Sep 23, 2026.

Also this week (brief tracking)

Earlier launches this week — Li Auto i6 (BEV), Lynk & Co 07 EM-P (PHEV), Hongqi H9 reservation (PHEV), BYD Da Han dated for Oct 13, Hongqi G919 presale (EREV), Beijing BJ40 EREV Black Edition, Tesla Semi — were covered in our Sep 25–26 roundups and are not re-headlined here; no major new developments were reported today.

Image credits: This roundup uses EV & Auto Club brand-placeholder cover imagery only. No official manufacturer photos were sourced at publish time; per our editorial policy, AI-generated imagery is not used to represent real production vehicles.

China Angle: A Chinese author's note — China's NEV market now spans every powertrain (BEV, PHEV, EREV), and the same brands (BYD, Chery/iCAR, Huawei-aligned AITO/Zhijie/Xiangjie, NIO) are the ones exporting platforms and localizing production in markets like Thailand, making today's domestic launches directly relevant to overseas buyers.

Tags: electricvehicles, EV, china