- The i-series will be Li Auto's all-electric SUVs and will form Li Auto's model matrix with the L-series and Li Mega.
- The reveal of the Li i8 has fueled investor optimism, with Li Auto's Hong Kong-traded shares up 11 percent at press time.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) is starting to warm up for its first all-electric SUV (sport utility vehicle), which is expected to intensify competition in China's battery electric vehicle (BEV) sector and test whether the company can replicate its past success in the BEV segment.
The company announced on its social media platforms today that its first all-electric SUV is the Li i8.
Li Auto shared 2 images that put the Li i8 alongside the Li L9 and Li Mega showing their front and rear ends.
Li Auto is one of the major extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) players in China and currently sells mainly L-series extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), including the Li L6, Li L7, Li L8, and Li L9, all of which are SUVs.
On March 1, 2024, the Li Mega MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) was launched, the first BEV model from Li Auto.
The company had planned to launch more BEVs in the second half of 2024, but announced in an earnings call last May 20 that it was delaying that plan until the first half of 2025.
The delay was largely due to the Li Mega's performance falling well short of Li Auto management's expectations and negatively impacting sales of the L-series models.
A Li Auto executive had said in the early days after the Li Mega's launch that the BEV would challenge sales of 8,000 units per month.
However, except for deliveries of more than 3,000 in the month of its launch, monthly deliveries of the Li Mega since have largely been under 1,000 units, contributing about 2 percent to Li Auto's total monthly deliveries, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
Li Auto's founder, chairman, and CEO Li Xiang released an internal letter in late March 2024 saying that the company had mistakenly treated the commercial validation period as a period of rapid growth with the Li Mega, and that this strategic miscalculation was essentially the cause of the model's issues.
During the earnings call last May, Li Auto management said the company would not release more all-electric SUVs during 2024; they would be rolled out in the first half of 2025.
The company said in last February's earnings call that it planned to release three all-electric SUV models in the second half of 2024.
A sufficient number of self-operated superchargers is necessary to sell all-electric SUVs at this stage, Li Auto management said last May.
The right time for Li Auto to bring its all-electric products to market will be when it reaches a number of self-operated superchargers similar to that of Tesla China, the company said at the time.
In the meantime, Li Auto needs to upgrade and add stores with more booths, its management said.
The company has significantly ramped up construction of its own charging facilities in the past year, and as of now it has 1,862 supercharging stations, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
In 2025, Li Auto expects to have more than 5,000 supercharging stations, covering 90 percent of main highway routes, and 90 percent of core urban areas in Tier 4 and more developed cities, the company said on March 8 last year.
Li Auto has enjoyed rapid growth over the past two years, largely because its bet on EREVs proved to be the right one.
In 2024, Li Auto delivered 500,508 vehicles, the highest among the major new car-making forces.
In the BEV space, Li Auto still has to prove that it can replicate its past successes, as it will begin to face the challenges faced by other peers, including range anxiety and high battery prices.
Nonetheless, the announcement of the Li i8 has already stirred optimism among investors.
As of this writing, Li Auto's Hong Kong-traded shares were up about 11 percent to HK$118.1, bringing its year-to-date gain to 24 percent.
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