- The Li i8 is Li Auto's first all-electric SUV and second all-electric model after the Li Mega MPV.
- Li Auto CEO said last week that the company would have more than 15,000 superchargers by the time the Li i8 is released.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) will launch the Li i8 in July, its first all-electric SUV (sport utility vehicle) and second all-electric model after the Li Mega MPV (multi-purpose vehicle).
The company today shared the first teaser video of the Li i8 on Weibo, where it said the model will be released in July.
Li Auto announced its first all-electric SUV was named Li i8 and released the first official images to start warming up for the model on February 25.
The company 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 battery electric vehicle (BEV) from Li Auto.
Li Auto had originally 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 primarily due to the fact that the Li Mega was not performing as well as Li Auto's management had expected, which also negatively impacted sales of the L-series models.
Li Auto aims to have more than 2,500 self-operated supercharging stations with more than 15,000 superchargers built nationwide by the time the Li i8 is released, Li Xiang, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, said on February 26.
This would allow Li Auto's BEV users to stop having charging anxiety, he said at the time.
On February 28, Li Auto put its 1,873rd supercharging station into operation, bringing the number of supercharging piles to more than 10,000.
The company delivered 26,263 vehicles in February, up 29.69 percent from 20,251 a year earlier, but down 12.24 percent from 29,927 in January, according to data it released on March 1.
In January-February, Li Auto delivered 56,190 vehicles, up 9.29 percent from 51,416 in the same period last year.
The company will report its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024 before the US markets open on Friday, March 14.
Li Auto to update existing models in May, bringing smart driving hardware upgrades
Related posts on CnEVPost
