The Asking M7 is again “stabbing in the back”, this ailment in smart cars needs treatment

Owners say they were blindsided by a hardware jump

Wenjie M7 (问界M7) owners have launched collective protests after it has been reported that Huawei (华为) announced an optional 896-line dual LiDAR package for the M7 just days after some buyers paid deposits for the 2026 model—orders that the company now says cannot be retrofitted or compensated. Reportedly, customers who asked sales staff on March 17 were explicitly told the car would not get the higher-resolution LiDAR; six days later Huawei unveiled the 896-line option at its spring event, a sensor the company claims has four times the perception capability of the previously promoted 192-line unit.

HarmonyOS Drive (鸿蒙智行) has reportedly told affected buyers that vehicles in the production queue before March 23 cannot be upgraded even for a fee, and no compensation scheme has been offered. Confusingly, owners note that sibling models face different rules: the M9 can allegedly be upgraded for a price and the M6 already ships with the higher-spec LiDAR, leaving M7 buyers feeling singled out. “Same money, one purchase day earlier and you get the short end,” one owner complained to reporters.

Bigger picture: a sector-wide “fast-iterate” problem

This episode is more than a brand spat. It has been reported that the M7 case echoes earlier stings—price cuts and configuration jumps have previously left early buyers facing steep depreciation—and mirrors complaints across China’s new-energy vehicle and tech-backed manufacturers such as NIO (蔚来), XPeng (小鹏) and Li Auto (理想). In China’s hyper-competitive smart-car market, companies increasingly treat vehicles like smartphones: software and hardware iterations compressed into months rather than the multi-year cycles of legacy automakers. Is rapid iteration a feature or a bug when it undercuts buyer trust?

Legal and regulatory voices warn of consequences. Lawyers say that if sales teams knowingly conceal imminent major改款 (model change) plans or make false “no change” assurances, that could amount to consumer fraud. Observers also point to a policy gap: there is no industry-wide “public notice” or “cooling” period for major configuration changes, leaving consumers with limited recourse when a purchase is rendered obsolete before delivery.

What needs to change

Fast upgrades accelerate capability, especially as geopolitical pressures and supply-chain constraints push Chinese firms to vertically integrate hardware and software. But technology progress cannot substitute for consumer protections. Analysts urge manufacturers to adopt clear announcement windows for major hardware changes, standardize paid upgrade paths or provide compensation to early buyers, and tighten sales disclosures. Otherwise, the race for the latest sensor or chip risks eroding the long-term user trust that the smart-car industry needs to survive its next, more mature phase.