A Livis version of the Li L9 on display at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2026. Credit: CnEVPost
- Li Auto will work with Kazakhstan automotive group Allur to assemble vehicles, making Kazakhstan its first overseas production base.
- Li Auto plans to enter Europe’s battery electric vehicle market in the second half of this year.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) has brought its updated flagship SUV (sport utility vehicle), the Li L9, to Central Asia and plans to produce vehicles outside China for the first time as it accelerates its overseas expansion.
The new Li L9 has officially gone on sale in Kazakhstan, with the Ultra version priced at 43,990,000 Kazakhstani tenge ($92,830) and the higher-end Livis version at 51,900,000 tenge, the Chinese automaker announced Friday.
Li Auto has entered into a strategic partnership with Kazakh automotive group Allur, and the companies will begin local assembly of Li Auto vehicles at Allur’s plant in Kostanay.
Kazakhstan will therefore become the first country outside China to produce Li Auto vehicles, marking an important step in the company’s shift from exporting finished vehicles to localized overseas production.
The cooperation agreement was signed during a Kazakhstan-China roundtable meeting in Shanghai and witnessed by Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Ma Donghui, Li Auto’s co-founder, president and chief engineer, said Central Asia represents an important starting point for the company’s globalization, and that the partnership with Allur marks its transition from product exports to localized production.
Under the agreement, the companies will cooperate in local production, sales-channel expansion and service-network development.
Li Auto said localized production would shorten vehicle delivery times, help reduce purchase costs for local consumers and provide production capacity to support the company’s expansion into a broader range of overseas markets.
The new Li L9 is Li Auto’s first global model developed for overseas markets. The company has made targeted adjustments to the vehicle’s charging performance and thermal management systems to suit Kazakhstan’s climate, roads and charging infrastructure.
The vehicle is powered by Li Auto’s in-house developed third-generation extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) system, offering a WLTC battery-only range of 350 kilometers and a combined range of 1,370 kilometers.
It also features an 800-volt active suspension system, steer-by-wire and rear-wheel steering. Its intelligent cockpit is equipped with a 29-inch panoramic display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8797 chip.
Li Auto has partnered with Russian internet company Yandex and Chinese digital-mapping provider Amap to integrate navigation, real-time traffic information and entertainment services into the Kazakhstan version of the Li L9.
The infotainment system supports Yandex Maps, Yandex Music, Yandex Books and Yandex Video, while also offering built-in Spotify and Apple CarPlay support.
Li Auto is working with authorized dealers including Allur and Doscar to establish an official sales and service network in major cities including Almaty and Astana.
Customers who purchase through authorized channels will receive official warranties, certified maintenance and repairs, original spare parts, technical support and ongoing over-the-air software updates.
The company also announced today that cumulative deliveries of the Li L9 have surpassed 300,000 units. The model was first launched in June 2022 and deliveries began in late August that year, meaning it took 4 years to reach the milestone.
As of June 2026, the Li L9 ranked first in cumulative insurance registrations in China’s full-size SUV market, according to Li Auto.
Li Auto launched the new-generation Li L9 on May 15, bringing major updates to its flagship EREV.
The model is available in China in Ultra and higher-end Livis versions, with a starting price of 459,800 yuan ($67,680).
The company said at the time that an overseas-specific version of the Li L9 would be launched in the third quarter, initially entering markets in Central Asia and the Middle East.
The overseas version includes a dedicated Li Auto app, charging interfaces compatible with international markets and a localized infotainment system that can receive continuous OTA updates.
The updated model is helping the Li L9 regain sales momentum. Deliveries reached 6,106 units in June, up 24.79% year-on-year and 137.59% from May, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
In 2025, Li L9 deliveries fell 47.31% year-on-year to 45,214 units as more competing models equipped with larger battery packs entered the market.
Li L9 Monthly Deliveries 2024-2026
Month
2024
2025
2026
January
8,762
4,312
1,047
February
6,336
3,300
1,082
March
8,595
4,579
1,550
April
6,560
3,801
452
May
6,579
5,753
2,570
June
6,841
4,893
6,106
July
7,495
3,760
August
6,696
3,959
September
7,597
3,787
October
6,493
2,130
November
6,112
2,208
December
7,751
2,732
Li L9 monthly deliveries
2024
2025
2026
Li Auto has now entered markets including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Macao, China.
The company opened its first overseas retail center in Uzbekistan in October 2025 and entered Kazakhstan, Egypt and Azerbaijan in December of that year.
Li Auto plans to expand into Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar this year and has signed agreements with leading dealers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to accelerate its expansion in the Middle East.
The company plans to target family users in Central Asia and the Middle East with its L-series EREVs and enter Europe’s battery electric vehicle market in the second half of this year.
Li Auto also plans to introduce a right-hand-drive version of the Li Mega MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) in Asia-Pacific markets including Hong Kong and Singapore by the end of this year.
The Li i9 has a body length of 5,225 mm and a wheelbase of 3,168 mm, with a dual-motor layout and combined system power of 400 kW.
($1 = 6.7939 yuan, $1 = 473.88 Kazakh tenge)
Update: Based on Li Auto’s latest statement, additional details regarding local production in Kazakhstan have been added.
