my country's automotive industry is currently undergoing structural adjustment, with rapid advancements in electrification and intelligent technologies accelerating the reshaping of consumer spending and user decision-making. For SAIC-GM's Buick brand, entering the era of intelligent electric vehicles, only by reshaping its brand value through intelligent technology can it gain a competitive edge in future markets. To this end, Buick launched its new high-end new energy vehicle sub-brand, "Venice," this year, marking the first step in its joint venture new energy vehicle offensive. On September 15th, the highly anticipated first product under the "Venice" brand, the Venice L7 new energy smart luxury sedan, made its national debut, generating enthusiastic responses.
The Buick Zenith L7 is Buick's first mass-produced sedan, built on the million-yuan "Xiaoyao" architecture, drawing on a century of Buick brand heritage and billions of yuan in investment. Equipped with cutting-edge Chinese technology, it blends luxury with an intelligent experience. With its powerful "True Dragon" extended-range engine, industry-leading intelligent driving technology and intelligent cabin experience, and exceptional luxury, it not only competes with leading new energy vehicle competitors but also meets the diverse needs of mainstream new energy luxury sedans in the 200,000-300,000 RMB price range.
As mentioned earlier, Buick L7 takes the route of "technological background + luxury and intelligence".
First, let's consider the technical aspects. SAIC-GM invested tens of billions of yuan in the "Xiaoyao" architecture, providing a first-class technical foundation for the Zhijing L7. Developed 100% independently by a Chinese team, the "Xiaoyao" architecture is the first joint venture automaker to establish itself in the Chinese market and develop a fully integrated new energy vehicle architecture for the era of electrification and intelligence. It represents a new level of domestically developed capabilities and technological advancement, and empowers the Zhijing L7 with a world-class new energy power and intelligent experience. The "Xiaoyao" architecture integrates four key technologies: powertrain, chassis, assisted driving, and intelligent cabin. The powertrain domain features not only the advanced Autoneng 2.0 battery and electric drive technology, but also the industry-leading "True Dragon" range-extending system, delivering ultra-long driving range, ultra-low fuel consumption, seamless performance from full to low battery, and ultimate battery safety.
The fundamental reason users choose extended-range vehicles is to "completely say goodbye to mileage and refueling anxiety." The Buick Zhijing L7's "True Dragon" range-extending system delivers an exceptional 302km of pure electric range and over 1,400km of combined range. With a weekly recharge, frequent refueling is a breeze, making long-distance travel a breeze. Furthermore, it boasts a class-leading 5.9-second 0-600km acceleration and an excellent 0.5L/100km combined fuel consumption. Furthermore, to address the jitter and noise concerns associated with engine engagement, the Zhijing L7's range-extending system incorporates advanced Quiet Drive technology and dedicated acoustic accessories, reducing engine engagement noise to less than 0.5dB, achieving a truly quiet, smooth, and seamless experience. Furthermore, its dedicated AUTO 2.0 hybrid high-performance battery not only supports 130kW fast charging but has also been rigorously tested for 800,000km, earning it the title of "long-life battery." The Buick Zhijing L7 strives for "equal lifespan between vehicle and battery," transforming technological advancements into a trusted, high-quality product and value experience, ensuring peace of mind.
Therefore, the true dragon extended range of Zhijing L7, with its ultra-long driving range, ultra-low fuel consumption, one-stop service for full and low power, and a "true" electric experience of thousands of miles without feeling the low power, perfectly solves the industry pain points of the current extended-range power technology, and has become a major "killer weapon" for it to dare to claim to be a "super extended-range luxury car".
Not only that, Buick L7 has a full range of intelligent experiences from smart cabin to smart driving, which has made up for the previous shortcomings and can compete with the intelligent experience of mainstream new forces models, completely breaking the inherent prejudice of users that joint venture cars are backward in intelligence.
Buick's L7 assisted driving system is at the forefront of the industry's highly anticipated assisted driving technology. Buick and Momenta have collaborated to leverage their "strongest driving muscle" to embrace their "strongest driving brain," delivering the all-new "Free and Easy Smart Driving" assisted driving system, which better understands Chinese roads and the Chinese people. The L7 is the world's first to feature the Momenta R6 flywheel model, powered by end-to-end reinforcement learning. Transforming itself into an "AI driving master," it offers comprehensive assisted driving features, including seamless city No-Apparent Assisted Driving (NOAA) and industry-leading "One-Touch Parking" (Non-Stop Parking). It combines the experience and wisdom of a seasoned driver with the precision of a top-tier racer, and boasts the ability to continuously evolve, delivering a supremely safe, smooth, and efficient travel experience.
The Buick Zhijing L7 is also the world's first to be equipped with Qualcomm's latest-generation SA8775P automotive-grade chip, featuring a computing power of up to 72 TOPS specifically designed for the smart cockpit. This delivers ultra-high-definition displays and a deeply natural interactive experience, ensuring responsive and smooth operation of the vehicle's computer systems. This automotive-grade chip also offers exceptional safety performance, offering enhanced stability in extreme operating conditions ranging from -40°C to 125°C. It also supports rapid iteration of smart cockpit features, enabling the "intelligent growth" of the vehicle's computer system experience. The multi-screen intelligent digital cockpit is also a highlight of the Zhijing L7. It features a leading 50-inch panoramic AR-HUD with a wide display and industry-leading clarity, brightness, and color. It seamlessly integrates over 15 sets of driving information with real-world road conditions, providing users with ultra-high-definition displays and a convenient and secure travel experience. The driver's seat is equipped with a 10.25-inch full LCD instrument panel and a 15.6-inch intelligent central control screen. These dual screens offer rich information and a stylish UI design, while also providing dedicated driver and passenger screens for each, ensuring both driving safety and online entertainment. The car also features a low-energy Sentry Mode, which utilizes a high-definition camera covering the entire perimeter of the vehicle and a high-precision IMU sensor for coordinated perception and three levels of dynamic risk classification.
In terms of exterior design, the Buick L7 draws on the design philosophy of the ELECTRA-L concept car, incorporating the wisdom, agility, and calmness of water into its body shape. The front fascia features a frameless active grille and galaxy starry sky wing-shaped headlights, exuding a luxurious style that meets the aesthetic needs of today's mainstream users. On the side of the vehicle, the shapes and lines showcase flowing potential, and the light and shadow of the vehicle body diffuse like ripples as the angle changes, highlighting its beauty and tension. The fastback is elegant, and the 20-inch starlight turbofan wheels are unique in shape. At the same time, designs such as the hidden electric door handles not only enhance the youthful and fashionable feel, but also reduce wind resistance. The rear of the vehicle features through-type star-track floating light wing-shaped taillights that echo the headlights. At the same time, the intelligent driving small blue light design is added to the interior of the light group, further enhancing the vehicle's recognition.
The Buick L7 boasts the generous dimensions of a C-class mid-to-large sedan, measuring 5032mm in length, 1952mm in width, and 1500mm in height, respectively, with a 3000mm wheelbase. This provides ample passenger space: the Buick L7's cabin measures 1.14m tall, with front and rear passenger lengths of 1.91m and an average effective shoulder room of 1.37m. The rear seat is 607mm clear of the ground, ensuring easy entry and exit for passengers. The trunk easily accommodates two 28-inch suitcases or two 24-inch suitcases plus one 20-inch suitcase, rivaling the overall space of a mid-to-large executive sedan, comfortably seating five.
In terms of interior, the Buick L7's main color scheme breaks away from the traditional black and gray, adopting dark blue, warm orange, and noble purple as the main themes to enhance emotional expression and personality recognition, and the overall look is more modern, light, and stylish. The new underwater floating island design aesthetic cabin, through the interweaving of smooth lines and curves, creates an experience of being surrounded by waves. The floating leaf-style floating center console adopts a suspended design to form a variety of staggered spaces, combining practicality with simple elegance. 270° luxurious soft covering and "diamond pattern" decoration enhance the high-end and elegant atmosphere of the cabin. The lake island-style top control, the ripple door panel control buttons, and the crystal-like underwater ceiling lights all use the same aquatic ripple texture design in details, further enhancing the aesthetic image of the "floating island".
The Buick L7 also offers remarkable comfort. The passenger seat features the first dual 120-degree zero-gravity seats with a 103mm four-way power leg rest. These seats can be opened and closed with voice commands, a screen, or physical buttons, allowing for one-touch reclining and sleeping. The vehicle also features four fully functional floating seats, all upholstered in Nappa leather, using maternity-grade pearl cotton and Surflex, a slow-rebound triple comfort pad. A 610mm center armrest with an intelligent touchpad further enhances ride comfort.
The Buick L7 boasts a premium audio system, featuring Buick Sound's theater-grade luxury digital audio system with 27 speakers and a peak power of 2,000W. It also features four headrest speakers with three adjustable playback modes. Combined with 6mm double-layered front-row silent glass, ultra-quiet sealing strips, and over 80% high-grade acoustic cladding, the cabin boasts a library-level quietness of 22 decibels.
Final Thoughts
The Buick L7 boasts three industry-first technologies: the powerful "True Dragon" range-extender, delivering a "one-stop, 1,000-mile electric driving experience"; first-of-its-kind driver assistance, featuring the "Free and Easy Intelligent Driving" system and a large Momenta R6 flywheel model, delivering an assisted driving experience surpassing even experienced drivers; and a superior intelligent cabin, featuring Qualcomm's latest-generation SA8775P chip, delivering the most advanced AI-powered digital cockpit. We believe it will disrupt the mainstream new energy sedan market in the 200,000-300,000 yuan price range, reshape the competitive landscape among joint venture brands in the new energy sector, and define a new benchmark for intelligent luxury sedan value in the new energy era.
Through the national debut of Buick L7, we can see that it is another "sword" of Buick in the new energy intelligent era. Relying on its profound brand heritage and technological reserves, it deeply integrates local self-research capabilities and full-scene adaptation capabilities to comprehensively make up for the shortcomings of intelligence and attack the leading camp of new energy, thereby achieving a breakthrough for the brand.
