Li MEGA can reach a 400 km range with just 9 minutes and 30 seconds of charging time
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Category: Li Auto
"We are confident that it will be the No. 1 seller of all passenger cars priced at RMB 500,000 ($70,160) or more, regardless of energy form and regardless of body form," Li Auto said.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) announced the naming of its first battery electric vehicle (BEV) model and set an ambitious goal for its sales.
Li Auto's first BEV, its super flagship model, has been officially named Li MEGA and is expected to be released by the end of 2023, the company announced today at its first Family Tech Day event held at its facility in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.
"We are confident that it will be the No. 1 seller of all passenger cars priced at RMB 500,000 ($70,160) or more, regardless of energy form and regardless of body form," the company said.
Li MEGA will break the traditional perception that high-end pure electric vehicles cannot be hot sellers, Li Auto said.
Li Auto currently has three models on sale, the five-seat Li L7, and the six-seat Li L8 and Li L9, all of which are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), essentially plug-in hybrids.
The Li MEGA will be Li Auto's first foray into the BEV market, and it will be an MPV (multi-purpose vehicle, or van) model, according to information it previously shared.
By 2025, Li Auto's product array will include one super flagship model, five EREVs, and five BEVs, it said on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18.
By then, Li Auto's models for the market priced above RMB 200,000 will fully meet the needs of family users, the company previously said.
Li Auto models currently on sale have a starting price range of RMB 319,800 to RMB 459,800.
Li Auto's first all-electric model will be the world's first to feature CATL's 4C Qilin Battery, it said on April 18.
C refers to the battery's charge multiplier, and 4C means that the pack can theoretically be fully charged in a quarter of an hour.
Notably, Li Auto began today's Family Tech Day event by introducing its 5C charging solution, which it said allows for charging power of more than 500 kW.
Li Auto has developed its own 800 V high-voltage all-electric platform and will mass-produce 5C all-electric vehicles, it said.
The company has optimized the battery at the system level to take fuller advantage of the battery's 5C charging multiplier, giving vehicles a range of 400 kilometers in 9 minutes and 30 seconds and 600 kilometers in 22 minutes of charging.
As a comparison, Tesla's latest V3 Supercharger has a peak charging power of 250 kW and can charge the vehicle with up to about 250 km of range in 15 minutes at peak power.
Li Auto will fast-track the deployment of the 5C supercharging network, completing more than 300 supercharging stations by the end of this year and more than 3,000 by 2025, it said.
Li Auto did not say whether Li MEGA will use that 5C solution, but said that with mass deliveries of its 5C BEV models, more Chinese households will enjoy the high-voltage, pure-electric technology that will replace fuel-powered vehicles on a large scale.
The company unveiled its auto-charging robot at today's event, saying it will provide an energy replenishment experience that goes far beyond refueling.
Li Auto's vehicles will automatically drive to charging spaces and park themselves, and the charging robot can automatically connect, charge and settle with the vehicle through visual recognition.
Li Auto also announced its progress on advanced driver assistance systems, saying it will open internal testing of City NOA (Navigation on ADAS) in Beijing and Shanghai this month.
In the second half of the year, Li Auto will open up the commute NOA feature and make City NOA available in more cities, it said.
For the commute NOA feature, vehicles can be activated for simple routes in less than 1 week and trained for more complex routes in 2-3 weeks.
Li Auto estimates that commute NOA can cover more than 95 percent of commuting scenarios, making the vehicle a "dedicated elevator" for owners.
The company said its City NOA is the first in China that doesn't rely on high-precision maps, and with the help of AI big models, will achieve driving performance close to that of a human driver.
Li Auto also unveiled the progress of its in-car voice assistant, Lixiang Tongxue, at today's event, saying it built Mind GPT, a cognitive big model, to make the feature even smarter.
With the help of Mind GPT, Lixiang Tongxue can turn into a teacher for users, a professional car butler, an expert in teaching drawing and programming, Li Auto said.
In addition to its technological advances, Li Auto announced that its 400,000th vehicle rolled off the assembly line today.
Li Auto delivered a record 28,277 vehicles in May, bringing cumulative deliveries to 363,876.
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Li Auto says confident it will outsell German luxury brands in China in 2024
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The price of the Li L9 without LiDAR could be at least RMB 40,000 less than the Li L9 Max at RMB 459,800.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
When Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) launched its flagship SUV, the Li L9, a year ago, it was only offered in the Max variant. Now, a lower-priced version may not be far off from release.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on June 15 the latest batch of models that will soon be allowed to be sold, as well as details on configuration changes to some existing models, with a Li Auto model included in the latter.
The public can submit feedback between June 16 and June 25.
The model number for the Li Auto vehicle is LXA6520SHEVX4, which is the same as the model number in the previous filing for the Li L9.
In the model's latest filing, LiDAR becomes optional, while other information remains the same.
Li Auto's naming of its models is similar to Apple's naming of the iPhone, using Max, Pro, and Air to distinguish different versions of the same model.
On June 21, 2022, Li Auto launched the Li L9, the company's second model after the Li ONE SUV.
Li Auto founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang mentioned the model name Li L9 Max at the end of the launch event at the time when announcing the price, implying that the company could launch other variants based on it in the future, a report by CnEVPost at the time noted.
The other two Li Auto models currently on sale are the Li L8 and Li L7, both offered in Max, Pro and Air versions, with only the Max version equipped with a roof-mounted LiDAR supplied by Hesai Technology.
Both the Max version of the Li L8 and Li L7 cost RMB 40,000 ($5,620) more than the Pro version, while the Pro version is RMB 20,000 more expensive than both Air versions.
This means that the Li L9 without LiDAR, which may be launched in the future, will cost at least RMB 40,000 less than the Max version at RMB 459,800.
The current Max version of Li Auto vehicles use two Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chips as the cockpit chip, while its assisted driving system is based on two Nvidia Orin X chips, with a total computing power of 508 TOPS.
The Li L8 Pro's cockpit uses two Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chips and uses one Horizon Robotics Journey 5 chip in the assisted driving system.
The cockpits of the Li L8 Air, Li L7 Pro, and Li L7 Air all use one Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip for the cockpit and one Journey 5 chip for the assisted driving system.
Li Auto says confident it will outsell German luxury brands in China in 2024
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Li Auto CEO looks down on local peers, arguing that their sales are so low that they don't deserve to be taken seriously.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI), the buzzy Chinese car-making startup, has set an ambitious goal -- to outsell German luxury brands in 2024.
"With the delivery of the all-electric model and next year's Li L6, we are confident that we will surpass BBA in our total sales in 2024," the company said on Weibo yesterday while sharing insurance registration figures for last week.
"BBA" in China refers to German luxury brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, and Li Auto appears to be aiming to outsell one of those three brands in China next year, though it didn't specify.
For reference, BMW Brilliance, BMW's joint venture in China, had retail sales of 653,976 units in 2022, essentially unchanged from 651,236 units in 2021 and ranked 14th in the China Passenger Car Association's (CPCA) top 15 sales ranking.
BYD and FAW-Volkswagen are the top two in the ranking, with 1,804,624 and 1,779,077 units sold in 2022, respectively. Mercedes-Benz and Audi did not make the list.
From January to May this year, BMW Brilliance's retail sales were 274,763 units, up 9.1 percent from 251,880 units in the same period last year, placing it at No. 9 in the CPCA's latest top 10 sales ranking. Mercedes-Benz and Audi are still not on the list.
Li Auto yesterday shared vehicle insurance registration figures showing it sold 8,400 vehicles in the week of June 5 to June 11, bringing the cumulative sales so far this month to 11,900.
As of June 11, Li Auto had sold more SUVs than any of the "BBA" brands in China this month with just three SUVs, it said.
All of Li Auto's models currently on sale are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), essentially plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), including the five-seat Li L7 and the six-seat Li L9 and Li L8.
The company is expected to launch its first all-electric model by the end of the year, which will be an MPV (multi-purpose vehicle, or van) powered by the latest Qilin Battery from Chinese power cell giant CATL.
On September 22, 2022, in a warm-up for the Li L8's launch in a few days, Li Auto said it will also launch the Li L6, a midsize five-seat SUV priced within RMB 300,000 yuan ($41,850).
As it eats into the German luxury carmaker's market, Li Auto is continuing to learn from the strengths of these established luxury brands.
"In the offensive ground game, the role models are of course the BBA, which are the best sellers in the market priced at RMB 300,000 and up. we learned from them how to open 4S stores, how to choose locations, and reduce customer acquisition costs to 1/5 of stores located in malls," Li Auto founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang said on Weibo yesterday.
Li Auto also learned from these German luxury car companies how to operate in Shanghai, which does not offer free NEV license plates for EREVs, and boosted the company's sales in Shanghai to a peak in 2022 in one month's time, he said.
Before this year, Shanghai offered free license plates to consumers who bought NEVs, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as well as PHEVs.
Starting this year, only consumers who purchase BEVs will receive free license plates in Shanghai, while PHEVs, including EREVs, will not be eligible for the benefit.
In Li Auto's view, its only competitors are German luxury car companies, and local brands are not worth mentioning.
After the company shared its insurance figures for last week yesterday, it was accused by a Weibo user of the move as a continued attack on its local peers.
In response to the Weibo user, Li said that the sales of these local peers are so low that they are not worth mentioning, and that its core focus has always been on the market where BBA is located.
Li used the Chinese saying "three watermelons and two dates (仨瓜俩枣)" to describe the sales of its local counterparts, implying that they were too far behind Li Auto.
Li Auto's two main peers, NIO (NYSE: NIO) and XPeng (NYSE: XPEV), both registered around 1,500 units of insurance last week, with 2,800 and 2,200 units from June 1 to June 11, respectively.
It is worth noting that both NIO and XPeng currently offer only BEVs, a fast-growing but currently small market in China.
In January-May, China's passenger vehicle retail sales were 7.63 million units, with NEVs contributing 2.42 million units, or 31.7 percent, according to the CPCA's figures.
BEVs sold 1.64 million units from January to May, contributing 21.5 percent of all passenger car sales.
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From June 1-11, NIO sold 2,800 units and Tesla 26,000 units.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) continued to flex its muscles, showing strong sales last week while its two local peers, NIO (NYSE: NIO) and XPeng (NYSE: XPEV), remained weak.
For the week of June 5 to June 11, Li Auto sold a record 8,400 units, the company said today on Weibo.
That's far more than other new car-making brands and more than the second, third and fourth places on the list combined, it said, adding that Li Auto had sold 11,900 units this month as of June 11.
Li Auto continues to rank in the top five luxury brands sold in the Chinese market and is the highest-ranked Chinese brand on the list, it said.
The company has maintained its focus on premium family customers and has made a strong showing in the segment with its L series models, it said.
With the company's all-electric model and the delivery of the Li L6 next year, Li Auto is confident it will surpass one of the German luxury brands BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi in total sales in 2024, it said.
Li Auto did not explain on what basis that weekly sales were tallied, but apparently, they were insurance registrations. The company had suspended sharing those numbers in May, but has later resumed sharing them.
All of the models Li Auto is currently selling are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), essentially plug-in hybrids, including the five-seat Li L7 and the six-seat Li L9 and Li L8.
The EREV maker guided a month ago for second-quarter deliveries of between 76,000 and 81,000 units, meaning June deliveries are expected to be between 22,042 and 27,042 units, considering it delivered 25,681 and 28,277 units in April and May, respectively.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) sold 16,400 units last week, putting the June 1-11 cumulative total at 26,000, according to Li Auto. In the previous week, May 29-June 4, Tesla's figure was 14,500 units.
NIO (NYSE: NIO) had 1,500 units last week and 2,800 units this month as of June 11. Its figure for the previous week was 1,700 units.
XPeng (NYSE: XPEV) was at 1,500 units last week and 2,200 units for the month as of June 11. XPeng's figure for the previous week was 2,100 units.
Zeekr was at 1,500 units last week and 2,400 units this month as of June 11. Its figure for the previous week was 2,100 units.
Leapmotor was 3,000 units last week and 4,400 units this month as of June 11. Its figure for the previous week was 3,400 units.
Neta was at 1,900 units last week and 2,800 units this month through June 11. Its figure for the previous week was 2,900 units.
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Li Auto's poster hints that it may announce developments related to its assisted driving system NOA, and a battery that supports ultra-fast charging. | Li Auto US | Li Auto HK
NIO (NYSE: NIO) and XPeng (NYSE: XPEV) both have their own signature annual events, NIO Day and 1024 Tech Day, respectively and now Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) is creating a similar one.
Li Auto will hold its first Family Tech Day event on Saturday, June 17, starting at 20:00, the extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) maker announced on its social media accounts yesterday.
The company's poster yesterday mentioned the words "5C" and "NOA," hinting that it may announce progress on a battery that supports ultra-fast charging, as well as its NOA (Navigation on ADAS) system.
"Li Auto's Family Tech Day launch ushers in the era of dual-energy," its poster reads.
Li Auto has been targeting family users, and the three SUV models currently on sale -- Li L7, Li L8 and Li L9 -- are designed to cater to such groups.
On April 18, Li Auto unveiled its all-electric solution on the first day of the Shanghai auto show, saying that the company has officially entered the dual-energy era, a phase in which the EREV and battery electric vehicle (BEV) product lines are developing in parallel.
The company's all-electric solution is based on an 800 V high-voltage platform that enables a BEV to get 400 kilometers of range on a 10-minute charge, it said at the time.
By 2025, Li Auto's product array will include a super flagship model, five EREVs, and five BEVs, it said.
Li Auto's first all-electric model will be the world's first to feature CATL's 4C Qilin Battery, it said at the launch in April. The model is expected to be an MPV to be released by the end of the year.
C refers to the battery's charging multiplier, and 4C means that the pack can theoretically be fully charged in a quarter of an hour.
It's worth noting that when Li Auto previewed its Family Tech Day on May 31, it poster showed text that included "4C".
In the poster released yesterday, that text was changed to "5C," perhaps implying that it will use a faster-charging CATL battery.
In terms of assisted driving software, Li Auto announced its latest generation of assisted driving system, AD Max 3.0, on April 18, and said the software will be free for life.
Li Auto's current assisted driving systems include AD Max and AD Pro. AD Max 2.0 is powered by NVIDIA's Orin X chip and Hesai's LiDAR, while AD Pro 2.0 is powered by Horizon Robotics' Journey 5 chip.
AD Max 3.0's all-scenario NOA will begin internal testing this quarter and will cover more than 100 cities by the end of the year, Li Auto previously said.
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NIO and XPeng both saw net losses in the first quarter, while Li Auto posted net income.
With the release of NIO's (NYSE: NIO) financial results, the trio of US-listed Chinese electric vehicles all reported first-quarter earnings.
With this article, we try to give readers a quick look at how the financials of NIO, XPeng (NYSE: XPEV), and Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) compare in a few charts.
It should be noted that NIO and XPeng currently offer only battery electric vehicles (BEVs), a fast-growing but small market in China that currently accounts for about 30 percent of all passenger car sales.
Li Auto's full range of vehicles are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), essentially plug-in hybrids, targeting a much larger market.
In terms of quarterly deliveries, all three companies are essentially continuing to grow in 2020-2021.
In the first quarter of 2022 so far, NIO and XPeng have had a weak delivery performance, while Li Auto's has continued to grow, especially in the last two quarters.
In the first quarter of the year, Li Auto delivered 52,584 vehicles, while NIO and XPeng delivered 31,041 and 18,230, respectively.
Since all three companies derive their revenue primarily from car sales, the change in deliveries essentially corresponds to the change in revenue.
In the first quarter, Li Auto's revenue was RMB 18.8 billion, NIO was RMB 10.7 billion and XPeng was RMB 4.03 billion.
Their gross margins have been relatively stable over the past two years, with NIO and XPeng declining significantly over the past two quarters due to promotional activities.
Li Auto's gross margin has rebounded over the past two quarters after seeing a decline in the third quarter of last year.
NIO and XPeng has been continuing to face net losses while Li Auto has been profitable for multiple quarters.
In the first quarter, NIO had a net loss of RMB 4.74 billion, XPeng had a net loss of RMB 2.34 billion, and Li Auto achieved net income of RMB 934 million.
NIO Q1 earnings miss expectations, gross margin drops to 1.5%
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Li Auto's Beijing plant is expected to see its first vehicle roll off the line by September, a local media report said in March. | Li Auto US | Li Auto HK
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Li Auto's (NASDAQ: LI) Beijing plant, which is expected to be used first to produce its first all-electric model, doesn't appear to be far from the start of production.
Li Auto's plant in Beijing's Shunyi district is expected to be ready for production in August, and the company's first all-electric model, internally codenamed W01, will be built there, local media outlet Meiren Auto reported today.
The extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) maker is conducting mass hiring for the plant, though many candidates will need to start work in August after the plant's production lines are installed, according to the report.
The plant currently has more than 50 people on the shop floor, including more than 20 welders and 30 final assembly workers, the report said, citing a person already on board.
Li Auto, when asked about the plant, did not deny the report, saying the company is indeed actively preparing for the plant, according to the National Business Daily report.
The plant was originally Hyundai's first factory in China, but production had been halted since April 2019.
Li Auto began building its own facility based on the plant in October 2021, with a total area of 270,000 square meters for conversion and expansion and a total project investment of more than 6 billion yuan ($843 million), with production scheduled to begin in late 2023, according to a government announcement at the time.
Upon reaching production, the plant will achieve an annual capacity of 100,000 units of pure-play electric vehicles, the Shunyi district government said in the announcement at the time.
On March 15, an article posted on a WeChat account owned by local media outlet Beijing Daily said the Li Auto Beijing plant is expected to see its first vehicle roll off the line by September this year.
The Beijing plant is used to produce all-electric models with a design capacity of 100,000 units per year, Li Auto management said in a call with analysts following the company's first-quarter earnings announcement on May 10, adding that the company will optimize its production lines and production efforts in the future in response to more model launches and demand.
Li Auto's plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, has two production lines, one of which is used to produce the Li L9 and Li L8, with a capacity of 20,000 to 25,000 vehicles per month in double-shift production, its management said during the call.
The other line, which produces the Li L7 and Li L8, is currently a single-shift line with a capacity of 10,000 to 12,000 per month. Further capacity can be ramped up later, depending on the demand for deliveries, the company said.
Li Auto delivered 28,277 vehicles in May, up 145.97 percent year-on-year and up 10.11 percent from April, the third consecutive month to exceed the 20,000-unit mark.
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Li Auto is preparing to open so-called "central stores" in select Chinese cities, moving away from its current model of opening only experience stores in shopping malls, local media said.
(Image credit: Li Auto)
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) is said to be opening larger stores that resemble traditional dealership stores as part of an effort to expand its sales network.
The extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) maker is preparing to open so-called "central stores" in some Chinese cities, moving away from its existing model of opening only experience stores in shopping malls, local auto media outlet Yiche said in a report today.
These larger stores, similar to traditional car dealership stores, would offer a more comprehensive range of services, the report said, citing unnamed industry sources.
Li Auto is seeking proposals from supporters for sites to build such stores in 26 priority cities, including four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen -- and smaller cities including Nantong, Xinyang and Yangzhou, according to an image in the report.
Li Auto's requirements for venues are to be located in automotive markets, with luxury brands in around them preferred, and an area of 700-1500 square meters, according to the image.
For Li Auto, its original stores located in shopping malls seem to be inadequate as more models become available.
The company currently sells three models -- the five-seat Li L7, the six-seat Li L8 and the Li L9 -- all of them SUVs. It is expected to launch its first all-electric model, which will be an MPV, by the end of the year.
In terms of its retail store network, Li Auto was continuing to add new retail centers as it launches multiple models, the company's management said in a May 10 analyst call following its first-quarter earnings announcement.
Li Auto is also working quickly on store upgrades, replacing stores that used to be small with larger stores that support multiple models, the company said at the time.
Since the launch of Li L9 last June, Li Auto has optimized a total of nearly 50 existing stores and added more than 50 new stores through location changes and space expansions, the company previously said.
Li Auto opened 16 new retail stores and expanded two stores in May, according to information it announced on June 5.
As of May 31, 2023, Li Auto had 314 retail centers in China, covering 124 cities. It has 319 after-sales repair centers and authorized sheet metal spray centers, covering 222 cities.
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Fourth consecutive week of slight growth for Nio.
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