This is an IM L6, a Chinese electric sports sedan with distinctive boomerang-shaped headlights. It has a lidar on the roof and a millimeter-wave radar under the license plate. I met the pretty sedan in the far south of the Chinese capotal Beijing.
About IM
IM is a Chinese New Energy Vehicle (NEV) brand, founded in 2020 and based in Shanghai. IM stands for “Intelligence in Motion”. The Chinese name is 智己 (Zhìjǐ). IM’s owner is IM Motors (智己汽车), a joint venture formed by SAIC Motor (54%), Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group (18%), and Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, a major high-tech industrial and innovation hub in Shanghai.
SAIC is the manufacturer of IM’s cars, so there’s a SAIC badge on the car. It reads: 上汽集团 (Shàngqì Jítuán), which translates to SAIC Group. IM sells a range of five models, including the new IM LS9 SUV, the first IM with an EREV powertrain. The other models are fully electric. The brand does reasonably well. In January 2026, it sold 4750 cars in China, good for the 52nd spot in the brand-sales ranking.
The IM L6
The IM L6 is a fastback sedan, launched in 2024 with a facelift in 2025. The car in the photos is a pre-facelift example. The IM L6 features a sporty design with flowing, rounded lines. It has a short, low hood, hidden door handles, a sloping roofline, and notably wide hips. The car has pretty 19-inch dark gray alloy wheels with red brake calipers.
The rear looks quite wild, with a small rear window, a huge integrated duck tail spoiler, and a wide darkened light bar thereunder. The bumper is very wide, with black inserts that pretend to be cooling ducts.
The interior
IM’s interiors are special, to put it mildly. The dash has a similar soft-flowing design as the car’s exterior. The wide leather seats look luxurious, even with the aftermarket seat covers.
IM is the only Chinese car maker that continues to fit yoke-steering wheels as standard. However, it seems the Chinese regulator will soon put an end to that. In the IM6, the yoke allows for a low dashboard, which, in turn, allows for an unobstructed view on the road.
The 26.3-inch 4K screen atop the dashboard combines the driver’s display and the infotainment. The 10.5-inch screen in the middle controls the air conditioning and the car’s main settings. Below the screen is a single 50W wireless phone charger and two cupholders. Under the screen section is a large storage area – big enough, of course, for a box of tissues.
The IM L6 has a giant panoramic sunroof, but it is closed in the photo. There’s enough legroom, but headroom is tight due to the sloping roofline. It also seems very dark in the back. The side windows are small, and the rear window is even smaller. Another tissue box lies lonely on the bench. The L6 has a 21-speaker audio system; IM doesn’t specify the output.
Specifications of the IM L6
IM offers various motors and batteries in the L6. The car in the photos is the IM L6 Max Standard, the base model of the range. It has a single-motor rear-wheel drive powertrain with an output of 216 kW (294 hp) and 450 Nm. IM claims a 200 km/h top speed and a 0-100 accelaration in 5.6 seconds.
The 75 kWh CALB LFP battery makes for a 618-kilometer range. The L6 Max Standard has a 400V architecture, so 10-80% charging takes a leisurely 25 minutes.
The L2 ADAS is impressive, even with this base-spec model. It has 11 cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars, 3 millimeter-wave radars, and a lidar. This enables the L6 to drive itself on the highway, park autonomously, and it also has a valet function.
Price of the IM L6
The boomerang headlights are even crazier when seen from above; multilayered, large, and running all the way to the front fenders. The IM logo is huge. In 2024, the IM L6 Max Standard sold for 204.900 yuan, about $25.5K in 2024 exchange rates. That’s good value for money, but the competition in this segment is fierce. Its main competitors in 2024 were the Tesla Model 3 and the Xiaomi SU7.