If we were to name the most prominent player among the new carmakers this year, it would undoubtedly be Li Xiang, with no other contenders.
The reason is quite straightforward: Ideal Motors currently boasts impressive sales figures and profits. To describe Ideal Motors today as "strong and robust" would not be an exaggeration. Adding to this is the founder Li Xiang, who is known for his high-profile style and recently announced plans to push the sales of the Ideal L7 to over 20.000 units in October. Indeed, Ideal Motors is enjoying an impressive moment.
However, despite the soaring sales of Ideal Motors, there are still some issues worth pondering. For instance, has the old model, the Ideal ONE, truly exited the stage of history? It seems unlikely.
Recently, a friend of mine reached out to consult me about buying a car, and it turned out he was considering the Ideal ONE. This left me quite puzzled: How can a discontinued car still be available for purchase as new? After a detailed conversation, I learned that Ideal Motors' official channels still offer the Ideal ONE for order, but at a new price of 269.800 yuan, not the previous 300.000 yuan-plus. According to Ideal's sales staff, this price is negotiable if one is sincere, and there are several exterior color options available.
Hearing this, I’m sure many of you, like me, find it a bit hard to believe. If you’ve been following Ideal Motors, you might recall that in September 2022. the Ideal ONE was still the only model from the company. Yet, Ideal Motors suddenly announced a price drop and the cessation of production. This led to a surge of complaints from owners seeking to protect their rights.
Nonetheless, for Ideal Motors, which had already committed to the L-series products, the discontinuation of the ONE in October 2022 was inevitable. Normally, when a car model is officially discontinued, it doesn’t mean the old model will be immediately taken off the shelves. Often, there are some “leftover stocks” that need to be sold. Typically, manufacturers will use various channels to clear out old models in the 1-2 months following the launch of new models.
However, considering that the Ideal ONE was discontinued over six months ago, it’s quite unusual to still find old models on sale now. It’s hard to accept that these are simply "stock cars." Most people would be skeptical of this explanation.
To verify this, I called a local Ideal Motors retail center. According to the staff, there are still Ideal ONE models available at the store, but they are reportedly “the last batch nationwide.” Additionally, the price is uniformly set at 269.800 yuan. When I inquired about the production dates, the salespeople were cautious and did not provide specific dates but indicated that the cars were produced between August and October. This implies that no further production occurred after the official discontinuation announcement in October of the previous year. Whether this is true remains unverified. If anyone has recently bought an Ideal ONE, it would be worth checking the production date on your vehicle’s nameplate.
Since we cannot provide concrete proof at this time, we can only rely on Ideal Motors' claim: the current Ideal ONE models are indeed leftover stock from last year. Data shows that in April, the Ideal ONE had 2.226 units delivered. Based on a monthly average of 2.000 units, this means Ideal Motors sold over 10.000 units of “stock” Ideal ONEs after announcing the discontinuation in October. The volume of stock is beyond imagination.
Typically, when a new car model is introduced, manufacturers significantly reduce the production of older models. So why is there such a large quantity of stock remaining if we consider the officially announced discontinuation time? One likely explanation is that due to the competitive car market last year, Ideal Motors advanced the launch date for the L-series products, which led to the early discontinuation of the ONE model. However, with production plans already set, they had no choice but to continue producing the soon-to-be-discontinued ONE model as the main product.
Besides this possibility, why do you think the Ideal ONE is still available for sale six months after its discontinuation? Feel free to share more perspectives.
