Li Bin, head of manufacturing at Li Auto, spoke at a delivery ceremony for the updated Li L6 in Changzhou, Jiangsu. Credit: Li Auto
- Li Auto manufacturing chief Li Bin handed over vehicles to owners at a delivery event in Changzhou.
- The new-generation Li L6 is priced at 249,800 yuan, unchanged from the previous model’s starting price.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) began the first deliveries of its new-generation Li L6 on Monday, 4 days after the model was officially launched on July 16.
The first owners took delivery in cities including Changzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo and Hangzhou, the company announced on Weibo.
Li Auto manufacturing chief Li Bin handed over vehicles to owners at the delivery event in Changzhou.
Li Auto has a manufacturing base in the eastern Chinese city in Jiangsu province, while its other plant is located in Beijing, where the company is headquartered.
The new-generation Li L6 is an extended-range SUV (sport utility vehicle) offered in a single Ultra trim, with a nationwide retail price of 249,800 yuan ($36,880).
The price is unchanged from the previous model’s starting price. Local media outlet Leiphone previously reported that rising memory-chip and lithium carbonate prices had increased the vehicle’s total production cost by more than 14,000 yuan per unit. Keeping the price unchanged means Li Auto is absorbing the additional costs.
Li Auto said customers who place orders by August 31 will be eligible for exclusive benefits worth 28,000 yuan.
The vehicle comes with all-wheel drive and Li Auto’s in-house-developed Mach M100 assisted-driving chip, which delivers 1,280 TOPS of computing power. It uses the same-generation chip as the new Li L9, which is priced at nearly 500,000 yuan.
Its new-generation battery, designed specifically for extended-range vehicles, has a capacity of 51 kWh and provides a CLTC battery-only range of 300 kilometers, 88 kilometers more than the previous model. With a full battery and fuel tank, the vehicle has a combined range of 1,250 kilometers.
The rapid start to deliveries of the new-generation Li L6 comes as demand for the outgoing model has slumped sharply. The model delivered just 915 units in June, down 94.44% year-on-year, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
Li L6 Monthly Deliveries 2024-2026
Month
2024
2025
2026
January
13,990
5,025
February
13,160
4,900
March
17,197
8,130
April
2,381
16,755
5,560
May
12,965
18,781
4,983
June
23,864
16,471
915
July
24,856
14,830
August
24,897
11,217
September
25,393
12,325
October
25,814
9,680
November
24,318
9,434
December
27,769
12,676
Li L6 monthly deliveries
2024
2025
2026
The weak deliveries were partly due to consumers holding off on purchases while waiting for the updated model.
As Li Auto’s entry-level model and one of its highest-selling vehicles historically, the Li L6 accounted for 41% of the company’s deliveries in 2025.
Li Auto is also facing pressure on both sales and profitability. The company delivered 30,895 vehicles in June, down 14.84% year-on-year, marking the second consecutive month of decline.
In the first quarter, the company unexpectedly posted a net loss of 2.3 billion yuan, while its gross margin fell to 7.9% from 20.5% a year earlier.
The L6 upgrade is a key step in Li Auto’s broader overhaul of its L-series extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) lineup.
The company launched the revamped Li L9 on May 15 and rolled out the new Li L8 on June 23, changing the model from a 6-seat layout to a 5-seat configuration.
Li Auto has yet to announce upgrade plans for the Li L7, the remaining model in the L series.
A team led by Deutsche Bank analyst Wang Bin previously said in a research note that the new-generation Li L6 could become a major sales driver for Li Auto.
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 = 6.7733 yuan)
