Li Auto desires a transformation

Author | Chai Xuchen

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

After a year of delays, Li Auto's first pure electric SUV has finally arrived.

On the evening of July 29, Li Auto held a large-scale launch event for the i8 in Beijing, attended by thousands, where Chairman Li Xiang stated that this was the largest venue and the biggest launch event in the history of Li Auto.

Li Xiang spoke for an hour and a half, covering topics from product features, safety, and supercharging networks to the VLA driver model and Li Auto's Agent. However, the day after the launch, Li Auto's stock price in Hong Kong fell by more than 13%, with a market value evaporating by over HKD 30 billion.

The market logic is clear and brutal; investors urgently need a "hit" product to reverse the decline in sales, yet Li Xiang focused on preaching the technology of "pure electric + AI" at the launch.

Internally, expectations for the i series are not high, with projections of only a few tens of thousands of units this year. Behind this, Li Xiang is brewing a transformation at a time when competition is fiercest.

Turning against the trend stems from Li Auto's current growth dilemma—its self-created "refrigerator, color TV, big sofa + range extender + nesting dolls" golden formula has quickly turned into a red ocean under competitors' imitation. Li Xiang has chosen to undergo a strategic reshuffle to cope with the saturated market.

The outcome of this gamble is unknown, but it is undoubtedly the most resolute answer that this ten-year-old company can make to secure a ticket to the "final circle."

The Big Surprise Takes the Stage

The Li Auto i8 is a "strange" vehicle. Li Xiang himself jokingly said, "At first glance, I thought it was ugly," but its positioning is exceptionally clear: a new species that combines "the spacious comfort of an MPV, the strong off-road capability of an SUV, and the driving experience of a sedan."

As Li Auto's first shot in the pure electric battlefield, the i8 has an extraordinary mission. Li Xiang's introduction of the i8 was half about the product itself and half about AI.

To meet the core needs of family users, the i8 remains a six-seat model and claims that the comfort of the third row surpasses many MPVs. At the same time, it comes standard with dual-chamber air suspension to balance off-road performance and urban driving handling.

A nanny car + Mercedes G + BMW i7, this is the ultimate form of the i8 in Li Xiang's mind. "A main vehicle for family users needs to have no shortcomings, rather than relying on a single point to excel," said Liu Jie, President of Li Auto's product line, to Wall Street Journal.

However, this "wanting it all" in the physical world may not be enough to support Li Auto's second growth curve; the narrative of AI is the core of Li Xiang's heavy bet for the second half.

In the face of the AI agent wave, the i8 directly introduces dual intelligent agents—the VLA driver model and Li Auto's MindGPT.

With the launch of VLA, Li Auto's intelligent driving claims to have evolved from an end-to-end imitation of human "copying" to an "experienced driver" that can think independently, remember, and communicate, capable of handling continuous tasks and even remembering users' driving preferences; while the evolved Li Auto's intelligent agent can complete life services such as ordering food and making payments during interactions, establishing "exclusive memories" to become a "capable assistant." "Experienced driver" + "wise helper," Li Xiang has taken the first step towards realizing the vision of "Silicon-based family." This story is of great value to Li Auto.

Last year, when Apple announced it would abandon car manufacturing to focus on AI, Li Xiang believed it was a wise move. He stated that even if Apple achieved great success in car manufacturing, it could only add $2 trillion to its market value; conversely, if it successfully developed consumer-facing AI products, it could grow into a $10 trillion company.

At this point, Li Auto's ambition can no longer be hidden—it aims to grow into a tech giant, and the i8 is the first key vehicle to realize its AI vision.

Painful Reflection

Behind this heavyweight release lies a rather tortuous experience for Li Auto.

The i8 was already in the planning stage as early as 2021, and according to the plan, it was supposed to go into mass production in August last year, beginning to contribute incremental value to Li Auto.

However, after the MEGA was launched in March last year, it encountered a public relations storm, compounded by the lukewarm reception of the 2024 L series, leading to an unprecedented backlash against Li Auto's reputation. Internally, the launch of the i series was delayed, and modifications were made to the exterior to align with mainstream aesthetics, with the cost of this adjustment amounting to approximately 2 billion yuan.

Such sunk costs are still meaningful for Li Auto. The i8 is the opening work of Li Auto's second curve, carrying the task of revitalizing internal morale and repairing the impact of the MEGA, and naturally, external expectations are high.

However, strangely, the i8 seems to have deviated from the narrative of "refrigerators, color TVs, and big sofas," lacking the benchmark of beating the million-dollar BBA and not featuring many emotional stories, nor is it keen on piling up "black technology." The final price range of 321,800 to 369,800 yuan is also at odds with the current fierce price war.

Li Auto does not seem eager to push for high volumes in its pure electric series, with internal sales expectations for this year only in the tens of thousands. Management stated that the overall sales of pure electric models are not the most important; the key is whether the products can truly meet user needs. Li Xiang bluntly stated that the VLA large model and the Li Auto class intelligent agent equipped in the i8 need more time to prove their value.

In the industry’s view, Li Auto has become an outlier.

The company, which excels at boosting sales and "climbing the charts," has turned itself into an "outsider" in a restless market, telling a story of long-termism; and the once outspoken "King of Weibo," Li Xiang, has not only tempered his sharpness but also appeared in interviews to explain his past "boastful remarks," asking everyone to help "debunk rumors."

The stark contrast has shown the changes in Li Xiang.

Outside, the market is fiercely competitive, with a battle of six pure electric SUVs about to break out. Tesla has launched the extended version of the Model Y L, Aito M8 pure electric version has opened for reservations, and LeDao L90 has even brought the price of mid-to-large SUVs down to the 200,000 yuan range.

At this moment, Li Auto urgently needs a new blockbuster to break the deadlock. After the "refrigerator, color TV, big sofa" and range-extended vehicles were replicated by competitors, Li Auto has become a victim of "homogenization," with sales growth increasingly reaching its peak.

In June this year, Li Auto's 14-month streak of year-on-year growth was ended, with total sales in the first half of the year declining by 24%, overtaken by Hongmeng Zhixing. Under competition, Li Auto's advantage in the high-end market has been eroded. The overall market share of the L7/L8/L9 series has dropped from 32% in the same period last year to 26% now, with the entry-level L6 becoming the main sales model, accounting for over 40% of sales As a result, Li Auto's net profit in the first quarter of this year fell by 81.7% quarter-on-quarter.

The market is eager to see Li Auto restart its growth. However, the story of the i series needs time to translate into sales, and the "moderate" Li Auto has made investors unable to see its former drive. Investors are clearly not buying into Li Auto's "delayed gratification." On the day after the i8 was launched, Li Auto's Hong Kong stock opened with a plunge, ultimately closing down 12.8%, and it has been hovering at low levels ever since.

At this moment, only Li Auto knows that the old path of "great efforts yield miracles" has come to an end. If it continues to be caught in the whirlpool of market competition, it is highly likely to become "indistinguishable from the crowd."

Returning to the Original Intention

After the MEGA incident, Li Xiang and the management team went through multiple reviews and ultimately found the crux: the entire company was hijacked by the desire for sales, sacrificing the user value and operational efficiency that Li Auto was originally best at.

The deeper reason behind this is that the tactics Li Auto learned from Huawei in the previous phase are no longer suitable for itself today.

Three years ago, faced with the aggressive attack of Aito, Li Auto, eager to boost sales, decided to "learn Huawei at a pixel level," fully injecting Huawei's PBC (Personal Business Commitment) performance model. In early 2023, Li Auto brought in Huawei executive Zou Liangjun to implement a racing mechanism across 26 battle zones, with departments fighting for resources and markets.

This high-pressure model once helped Li Auto train the entire organization into a high-execution "combat machine," achieving high sales growth for over a year. However, the side effects soon followed.

In the relentless pursuit of sales, last year, Li Auto's gross margin fell from 22% to 18.7%, and the sales expense per vehicle rose from 18,000 to 24,000, with brand premium being backfired by "exchanging price for volume." More seriously, PBC turned the organization into an "indicator machine," severely squeezing the space for innovation. The innovation team dared not make mistakes, the sales team frantically chased orders, and the management was led by sales figures.

Entering 2025, the significant fluctuations in sales and profits proved that the PBC management model had indeed failed. Li Auto urgently needed to find new growth points in the pure electric market, and the i series and AI strategy were crucial.

After reflecting on the pain, Li Auto began a comprehensive transformation. On the eve of the i8 launch, Li Auto initiated a major organizational overhaul. On June 27, Zou Liangjun stepped down as the head of Li Auto's sales service group to become a company advisor, while Ma Donghui took full control of the R&D, manufacturing supply, and sales service system. Sources close to Li Auto pointed out that the adjustments achieved a closed loop from front-end strategy to back-end operations.

More importantly, Li Auto announced the abandonment of Huawei's PBC performance assessment, returning to the OKR management model more suitable for the stage of innovative exploration, and preparing to further lower the annual sales target, completely transforming from barbaric expansion to precise operations.

Industry insiders pointed out that PBC is a contractual management driven by external rewards and punishments, aimed at fighting certain battles. In contrast, OKR is more like a system of exploration and challenge, driven by employees' self-actualization, suitable for fighting uncertain battles.

This aligns well with the current technology and AI-driven Li Auto. Under the Li Auto i series, the AI-driven intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit have become key differentiators. The commonality of these technologies is strong uncertainty: the supply chain and user acceptance are changing, while requiring high levels of collaboration From "control-oriented organization" to "evolutionary organization," from "desperately fulfilling KPIs" to cultivating "dynamic growth capabilities," Li Auto has shifted from pixel-level learning to untangling strong indicator-oriented PBC to regain its identity. This is largely to free itself to take on more challenging tasks in the AI race and to seek new blue oceans in a rapidly changing market.

The i8 was born in this new atmosphere. Li Xiang is determined to start from user needs, to gain insights into which types of user demands have not been met, and to develop products accordingly to explore new blue oceans, competing in areas with no competition. This is precisely the path Li Auto took in its early days.

As for whether this correction will allow Li Auto to find its own answer, it remains to be seen. However, Li Auto is adept at pulling itself back from the edge of the cliff. After returning to its original intentions, MEGA's sales have steadily rebounded from the trough. For Li Auto, the increase in sales of its pure electric series may just be a matter of time.

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