IM Motors confirmed on September 2, 2026, that presale for its next-generation LS6 SUV will open on September 10, positioning the redesigned five-seat crossover as the first product to carry the company's newly unveiled NEXT.2028 strategy into showrooms. The automaker is billing the car as a "land A320," a reference to the Airbus A320 that frames the SUV's design and engineering around commercial-aviation safety standards.IM Motors, a joint venture formed in December 2020 by SAIC Motor (SHA: 600104), Alibaba Group, and Zhangjiang Hi-Tech, first previewed the NEXT.2028 strategy at the Chengdu auto show on August 21, 2026, before releasing official images of the redesigned LS6 five days later. The company says three core technologies debuting on the LS6 will become standard across its future lineup rather than staying exclusive to flagship models, an approach it frames as pushing flagship-level technology down into the mainstream, roughly CNY 200,000, family SUV segment. The LS6 nameplate itself dates to October 2023, when IM Motors launched the original fastback SUV as a sportier, cheaper alternative to its larger LS7 sibling, pitched against the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y and notable at launch for a claimed 0.23 drag coefficient. The nameplate has already been through one full redesign since, when the "new-generation" LS6 that IM Motors is now updating again arrived at the 2025 Chengdu auto show, adding extended-range powertrains and a "Hengxing" 1.5-liter range extender to the existing all-electric lineup. The car being previewed this September is effectively a second, faster-than-usual refresh of that redesign, built specifically to headline the NEXT.2028 push rather than to replace an aging platform.The first pillar is a new NEO tri-electric architecture covering the drive unit, thermal management, electrical system, and software. IM Motors says the architecture's new "Hurricane" motor series improves overall efficiency by 2.8% while cutting weight by 8%, and that its 800V high-voltage platform can recharge the battery to 80% capacity in roughly five minutes.The second pillar is what IM Motors calls a full linear-control, or by-wire, chassis, which the company presents as the vehicle's route to "aviation-grade" safety. It says the steering system meets a 10FIT aviation-level reliability standard with triple redundancy, and that the chassis reacts within 20 milliseconds, faster than a human driver's reflexes, shifting the system from reacting to a driver's inputs toward proactively intervening on its own.An official IM Motors teaser graphic released ahead of the September 10, 2026 presale event; the automaker has not yet published photos of the finished exterior or cabin. (IM Motors)The third pillar, an AI agent IM Motors calls "IM Claw," is designed to execute multi-step tasks from a single spoken command, such as planning a route with multiple pickup stops, rather than functioning as a conventional voice assistant. The company says an upcoming driver-assistance system, IM AD ZETA, will draw on world-model technology from Momenta and claims three to four times the parameters and twenty times the performance of current mainstream systems, though that comparison has not been independently verified. IM Motors has separately been testing a steer-by-wire prototype without a conventional steering wheel, a project it has linked to the same full linear-control chassis work, though that vehicle is a separate test mule rather than a preview of the production LS6's cabin.Inside, IM Motors is positioning every seat as a "super first-class" position, with two flagship options it says are exclusive within the segment: a Danish Bang & Olufsen sound system and 4D mechanical massage seats. The redesigned dashboard reportedly drops the outgoing model's fish-shaped display for a dual-screen layout that the company says frees up close to 90% of usable interior space, part of a cabin IM Motors describes as reworked around comfort and what it calls emotional value for families.IM Motors' promotional close-up of the Bang & Olufsen speaker, one of two features it says are segment-exclusive on the new LS6. (IM Motors)IM Motors has not yet disclosed pricing or detailed specifications for the redesigned LS6; both are expected at the September 10 presale event, and the company has asked buyers to "wait together" for the numbers. The current-generation LS6, which remains on sale, is listed on Yiche at CNY 224,900 to 284,900 (c. $33,500 to $42,400).That model, itself billed as a "new generation" when it launched, debuted at the 2025 Chengdu auto show with presale orders topping 48,000 units and went on sale that September starting at CNY 197,900 (c. $29,400), with extended-range trims running to CNY 269,900 (c. $40,200); the range-extended version offers 450 km (280 miles) of CLTC pure-electric range and up to 1,502 km (933 miles) combined, while the dual-motor electric version covers 310 km (193 miles) on a 15-minute 800V fast charge. That launch drew 10,000 firm orders within 27 minutes. The redesigned LS6 arrives as IM Motors is posting its strongest growth since its 2020 founding. The automaker delivered 40,087 vehicles in the first half of 2026, up 58% year over year, after selling 81,017 units in full-year 2025, a 23.68% increase that the company says brought it to profitability on a fully allocated cost basis for the first time. The current LS6 has been the volume driver behind that growth, alongside the L7 sedan and LS7 SUV, with the larger LS9 flagship added to the lineup in mid-2026.IM Motors' aviation framing echoes a broader push across China's EV industry to borrow language and engineering references from aerospace to signal safety credentials in a market where by-wire steering and braking systems are still new enough to draw regulatory scrutiny. Rivals in the CNY 200,000 SUV bracket, including Li Auto, AITO, and Zeekr, have all leaned on similar full-family, tech-flagship positioning over the past year, making the segment IM Motors is targeting one of the most contested in the Chinese market rather than an easy on-ramp for a mid-sized automaker.Whether the "land A320" pitch translates into the kind of order volume the outgoing LS6 generated in its first half hour will become clear only once IM Motors names an actual price on September 10. The company has given itself little room for a soft launch: it is asking buyers to judge a redesigned five-seat SUV on an aviation safety metaphor and two specific luxury features, the B&O sound system and the massage seats, before it has said what any of it costs.Conversion rate: 1 USD = 6.72083 CNY as of September 1, 2026.