IM Motors, SAIC's premium electric brand, has brought the pure-electric version of the LS8 to market, adding a battery-electric option alongside the four range-extended trims already on sale at 261,800 to 311,800 yuan. The electric car was announced to open pre-sales on 29 October.
Photo: Alexander-93 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Illustrative: IM LS6, showing IM Motors' SUV design language
One motor, and CATL cells across the board
Filing documents show a single rear motor producing 300 kW, paired with a ternary-lithium pack from CATL. IM is making standard CATL cells a selling point for the whole electric line, alongside three other pieces of the brand's core drivetrain package: the NEO Hurricane motor, Efficiency Master 3.0 thermal management and a full-domain heat management system.
- Body: 5,085 x 2,000 x 1,807 mm, wheelbase 3,060 mm
- Motor: single unit, 300 kW maximum output
- Battery: CATL ternary lithium, standard
- Chassis: wire-controlled Lingxi chassis, standard; 20-, 21- and 22-inch wheels available
520-line lidar and 700 TOPS
The hardware follows the range-extended car. A 520-line long-range lidar works with 11 high-definition cameras and multiple millimetre-wave and ultrasonic radars, and supports the brand's "intelligent gaze" function, which concentrates perception resolution on key areas ahead of the car. Compute comes from an Nvidia Thor chip rated at 700 TOPS, with 64 GB of LPDDR5X memory and 273 GB/s of bandwidth, leaving headroom for later over-the-air updates.
On the software side, the car runs IM AD ZETA, an end-to-end large model developed with Momenta, delivering highway NOA, city NOA and full-scene automated parking.
Photo: Alexander-93 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Illustrative: IM SUV, showing the brand's design language
Three screens across two rows
The cabin carries over the range-extended layout and is offered in five- and six-seat form. Up front there is a 27.1-inch 5K MiniLED central screen and a 15.6-inch 3K passenger screen; the second row gets a 21.5-inch 4K ceiling screen. A Qualcomm 8295P chip runs the system. All seats are trimmed in Nappa leather, and both front seats combine a zero-gravity mode with 4D mechanical massage.
Styling follows the family template shared with the range-extended car: a full-width star-ring light bar, a closed front panel with the brand logo on the leading edge of the bonnet, hidden door handles and a full-width tail light.
Where it sits
The LS8 is IM's mid-to-large SUV, positioned above the LS6 in size and aimed at buyers who want flagship cabin hardware without moving to a full-size model. The range-extended versions already cover 261,800 to 311,800 yuan with 52 kWh and 66 kWh packs; the electric version's pricing is the main open question, and how IM positions it against the extended-range cars will determine whether the LS8 can add volume or simply split it.