Brick Factory: popular cars from China are under lockdown
Dealers claim to be blocking premium Lixiang hybrids. We are talking about cars delivered to Russia through unofficial channels. When updating, such a Lixiang turns into a "brick". The officials, however, say there is no problem, whether this is the case was investigated by Izvestia.
They stop getting in touch
Avtovernisazh, a company engaged in the supply of various cars to Russia using alternative schemes, warned about the blocking of Lixiang hybrids. According to the report, we are talking about Lixiang hybrids, released in May this year. After the SIM card is installed, when trying to update the firmware to version 7.4 at the time of completion of the update, all units except lidar stop communicating.
The dealer claims that this version of the software provides functionality to combat "gray" imports, and it has not been properly tested.
"The factory itself is preparing an update to OTA 7.4.1, which will fix the problem of acidification for those cars that have not yet been updated to 7.4, but, alas, it will not help already acidified cars. Will they remove the lock altogether or not? We don't have any direct answers to these questions. We are also 90% sure that in the OTA from 7.4.1, these cars will not be activated outside of China," Avtoversage said in a statement (the punctuation and spelling of the original are preserved). According to the dealer, the specialists managed to make the cars go, but the multimedia unit remains disabled. They promise to find a solution soon, but for now, Lixiang owners are advised to forget about the update, even if it is downloaded and ready for installation.
They are already working on a solution.
Irina Frank, CEO of Frank Auto, confirmed in an interview with Izvestia that cars manufactured in 2025 and with firmware version 7.4 outside of China are indeed blocked, regardless of whether the SIM card is soldered or not.
— As Lixiang's Director of International Relations informed us, the company is already working on a solution that will allow authorized dealers to eliminate this blockage. The tool is expected to be ready around the end of July 2025. After that, car owners will be able to contact dealers to fully unlock the vehicle's functions," Irina Frank said.
"This can't be happening."
The Sinomach Auto concern, which carries out official deliveries of Lixiang cars to the Russian market, told Izvestia that they are studying the situation.
— Our technical experts say that this cannot be the case. The question is about the installer's qualifications. This cannot happen at our dealers," said Alexey Kozhukhov, Sinomach Auto's official representative in Russia.
He promised that cars purchased through authorized dealers will not be blocked. In addition, they are guaranteed regardless of the year of manufacture.
The official alternative
Sergey Melyukh, director of Avilon Electro, said that his company has not yet encountered a blockage during software updates. He expressed confidence that if such a thing happens, the problem will be resolved promptly. At the same time, he noted that currently official Lixiangs are also imported by alternative means. OTTs on them is tentatively expected in the fall.
Nikolay Ivanov, Director of the New Cars Department at Rolf, also confirmed this information.
— Yes, now we are indeed importing cars that are supplied under the alternative import scheme, the OTC has not yet been received. And there is no exact data on when it will appear. There is a forecast that by October, but for now it's just a forecast," he said.
Wallet or lock
Auto expert and ex-President of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association (ROAD) Oleg Moseev recalled that Sinomach Auto had previously stated that unofficially imported cars would be blocked.
— We have distributors who do not belong to the manufacturer and work quite normally, this is a global practice. Another thing is that they must have such an agreement with the manufacturer, which allows them to give a factory warranty and import cars officially, to a legal entity. And here it turns out that cars are imported to an individual. The warranty is not a manufacturer's warranty. At the same time, they declare that they will block something," Moseev said.
Such actions by the automaker can be considered as efforts to control distribution and protect the interests of the official dealer network, experts say. "Gray" cars sell much cheaper than the official ones.
Earlier, Sinomach Auto said that owners of Li Auto cars imported to Russia using alternative schemes will be able to link their car to a personal master account, which will allow them to receive service from authorized dealers. This procedure will be free for a short time, but then you will have to pay for it.
Kulibins won't help
It was expected that with the arrival of an official distributor, all the "gray" cars would start to "nightmare," says Anton Shaparin, vice president of the National Automobile Union (NAS).
— It is absolutely clear that the distributor simply cannot withstand the competition in the conditions of the existence of the "gray" stream, it will be much more expensive. Its added value for many citizens, who believe that a warranty on electric vehicles is not necessary and they also do not particularly need to be serviced, is small in this configuration. Therefore, I suspect that, apart from coercion, the distributor and the head office have no other tools. What kind of coercion can there be with an electric car that is always connected to the Internet? Of course, these are blockages," Shaparin believes. However, he doubted that it would be possible to bypass the locks.
— Everyone traditionally believes that our Kulibins are the most Kulibin Kulibins in the world. Android phones were hacked at one time, root access was obtained. Now the Chinese have blocked all opportunities for this, and no one is even trying anymore, because the costs are huge, the result is not obvious," the expert said.
Nevertheless, Nikolai Ivanov said that his company has learned how to fully work with Lixiang brand software.
"When working with software, we also face more serious challenges, I'm talking about products from European brands, but our specialists also find solutions there," Nikolai Ivanov added.
More talk than problems
Lixiang is not the only Chinese brand that uses a similar mechanism, Irina Frank recalls. A similar practice is used, for example, at Zeekr, however, there is also the possibility of removing the lock — both through authorized dealers and through independent specialists. ROX also considered the possibility of implementing a similar system.
There is a lot more talk about such locks than the problems that owners face in reality, Nikolai Ivanov notes.
— We can recall the Zeekr brand. Some time ago, it was reported that cars of this brand will turn almost into a "brick". As you know, nothing like this has happened," he said.
While the European market is a priority for Chinese manufacturers of electric vehicles and hybrids, they will not officially come to Russia, Oleg Moseev notes.
— They claim to be blocked, but they don't do much. They understand that they need the Russian market. Therefore, there is no need to be rude to the consumer," the expert believes.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
