Li Auto (including the press conference transcript): i6 orders are booming, why is the stock price still 'sell on the news'?
On Friday night, $Li Auto(LI.US) released its third pure electric model, the i6, following the Mega and i8. This model is expected to carry the burden of sales volume. Compared to the complete failure of Mega and the product configuration mistakes of i8, the i6 has learned from past experiences in terms of product configuration and pricing strategy.
1) Single Explosive Product Strategy: The i6 does not have Pro or Max versions. Advanced features are offered as optional configurations; for example, four-wheel drive is optional, a color TV is optional, and a refrigerator is optional. However, the entire series comes standard with CATL lithium iron phosphate batteries, 800-volt high-voltage fast charging, NVIDIA Thor-U chip for intelligent hardware, and a Hesai LiDAR.
2) Same Price for Gas and Electric? Electric is Cheaper: $LI AUTO-W(02015.HK) previously promoted electric vehicles as an additional power choice for L series car owners, adhering to a strategy of the same price for gas and electric. The official pricing for the Li i6 is indeed set at the same price as the extended-range L6—249,800 yuan—to express the product strategy of offering an additional power choice for the same model.
In reality, as the i6 is tasked with sales volume, and with the previous two pure electric cars already "stalling," the i6 is being heavily promoted:
a. To make way for the i6, the L6 currently offers only low-interest loans, with no significant other discounts;
b. Although the i6's high-end features appear to be optional, at the current stage, ordering includes a free refrigerator worth 5,000 yuan, a free dual-chamber air suspension worth 15,000 yuan, and free electric suction doors worth 5,000 yuan. On top of these three gifts, there is an additional cash discount of 10,000 yuan (equivalent to the value of an additional large rear-seat color TV).
Thus, after these operations, the refrigerator and large color TV criticized in the i8 are now available for free with purchase. Essentially, buying the high-end version for 239,800 yuan includes features originally only available in the high-end model, effectively resulting in a price reduction.
Of course, this sales approach results in the i6 being cheaper than the L6, rather than the same price. This is similar to the operation after the i8's price adjustment, making it cheaper than the L8, but done more thoroughly. In other words, Li Auto is actually increasing configurations while reducing prices to boost pure electric product sales. Li Auto is truly striving to sell pure electric vehicles!
3) Pricing and Marketing Strategy Targeting Model Y and YU 7
Among new energy SUV models priced between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan, Model Y and YU7 rank first and second, with single-car sales between 20,000 and 40,000 units. Compared to these two cars, the starting price of the Li i6 is lower, but the standard CATL battery offers higher range, and Li Auto has already built the largest number of charging stations among domestic car companies. Coupled with the current free configuration and cash discounts, as well as Li Auto's decent intelligent driving level (compared to the reduced intelligent driving hardware configuration of the L90 and Xiaomi's relatively weak intelligent software capability), the product configuration is indeed more attractive.
In terms of total orders, with the signing of Yi Yangqianxi (Li Auto's first use of a spokesperson), the Li i6 achieved over 20,000 orders within four hours of its release, according to media reports. Currently, there are only 7,000 units of the i6 available, and if ramp-up goes smoothly, the planned production capacity for November and December is about 23,000 to 25,000 units per month, with an official target of monthly sales exceeding 10,000 units. However, given the current sales plan, considering that many L6 orders should also be converted into pure electric orders, the i6 has a chance to reach monthly sales of 10,000 and even challenge 20,000.
Of course, the more important summary at present is the sustainability of orders, and the market currently has two main concerns:
a. The current benefits of the i6 are based on a limited-time offer of 35,000 yuan in free options and a 10,000 yuan cash discount. After the promotional activities, the i6 seems to be just an ordinary car in the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan range.
b. As a model tasked with sales volume, there are still voices of doubt, challenging the aesthetic design of the shark body;
c. The APP shows an order delivery time of 1-5 weeks, suggesting that the depth of orders is not yet sufficient.
Therefore, the result after the i6 release is that Li Auto is influencing orders to be hot, but the stock price is "dying upon exposure." Looking at Li Auto's stock price trend this year, after the failure of the i8, funds have lost hope in Li Auto this year. Of course, with the i6 release imminent, there will indeed be some speculative funds, but on the night of the i6 release, most of the speculative funds have already withdrawn.
Looking at the present, for funds to continue to hold on to Li Auto, the core focus is on three points:
a. How sustainable are the i6 orders?
This stability is partly concerned with whether the limited-time promotions for the i6 will disappear after a while. Dolphin Research tends to believe that the company is currently fully committed to boosting pure electric sales, while the L system hybrid products are already old, facing weakened competitiveness against competitors. From the current pricing strategy, Li Auto has strategically chosen pure electric sales, even if the gross margin behind pure electric sales is lower.
Therefore, in the absence of other particularly strong cards, if i6 sales weaken due to the withdrawal of promotions, Dolphin Research tends to believe that Li Auto will continue to use other forms of promotions or incentives to stimulate i6 deliveries. There is no need to worry too much about the withdrawal or significant reduction of promotions.
b. Will there be new cars next year?
According to company plans, next year there will be the pure electric i9 (targeting the L9), and the new i7 priced between 300,000 and 400,000 yuan, focusing on the balance of sportiness and space; in the hybrid series, the L7, 8, and 9 will undergo major revisions with "big battery, small fuel tank" to increase pure electric range by 300 kilometers; the L6 will further lower the L series price to the 200,000 yuan range through single-motor configuration.
c. When will intelligent driving be effective?
In the short term, it is still difficult. The success of the L90 with reduced intelligent driving hardware shows that in China's vast market, when intelligent driving product strength has not significantly improved, it is not a top priority for everyone when purchasing a car.
In other words, after the i6 release, funds that still want to speculate must have more firm beliefs to be willing to continue holding the stock price. Pure new car speculative funds will run away if there are no signs of a major explosion.
After all, in the short term, Li Auto is indeed in a painful transition period, and pure electric is a war that must be won. To achieve this goal, even if the i6 sells well, it still faces bleeding gross margins. Up to now, the "three foolish car companies" Nio, XPeng, and Li Auto, driven by supply, are all experiencing or have experienced the pain of transition—XPeng's organizational iteration, Nio's product reshaping, and Li Auto's pure electric relay.
Among these three companies, Li Auto, as the company with the fastest organizational response, strong financial planning ability, and sufficient cash flow, is already the most outstanding in terms of management quality. This transition is actually a necessary cost for Li Auto:
a). Relying solely on the L series cannot secure its future position;
b). The strategic focus has shifted to pure electric, even if successful, it will face bleeding gross margins;
The combined reality of these two results is that even if pure electric sells well but does not explode, the gross margin will move down; and if all the pure electric cards are lost, it will mean further downward valuation. This choice means that even if pure electric succeeds, it is a success that injures itself by 800. Clearly, in this summary situation, Li Auto has chosen to sacrifice the extended range to ensure pure electric success.
As for this i6, compared to the previous Mega and i8, it is already a fairly good pricing and marketing strategy after a quick organizational response. Of course, with the pressure on L series sales, Dolphin Research believes that if the i6 cannot stabilize at monthly sales of 15,000 or more, Li Auto will still face significant pressure this year. Since the major revision of the L series next year will have to wait until 2026, by 2026, Li Auto will have the hope of gradually emerging with both pure electric and extended range.
Before this, Li Auto's investment is still in closely following i6 orders, building positions at a safe bottom, and waiting for Li Auto's potential marginal upward movement in 2026. The so-called safe price is still at the time of the i8 version adjustment, as Dolphin Research published a review, Li Auto's stock price should fall to around $20 to provide a sufficient safety cushion. At this price, Li Auto still appears to be a cash-rich asset with upward options in intelligent driving, while both the L and i series are unlikely to deteriorate further.
Essentially, during this transition period, Li Auto does not have as severe organizational issues as XPeng, nor as severe a focus dispersion, organizational chaos, and product confusion as Nio. Li Auto's organizational issues are not significant, and it is more about product trial and error until the problem is found.
Specifically:
I. Pricing and Configuration Strategy
"Standard configuration is top configuration," offering only one model and one price, providing users with 300,000 to 400,000 yuan level product strength, avoiding choice difficulties.
Official Price: 249,800 yuan
a. Standard Configuration List:
Three Electric: Standard 87.3-degree 5C battery, rear-wheel drive version CLTC range of 720 kilometers.
Comfort: Standard unique soft Nappa leather seats, 5-seat heating, 4-seat ventilation, front-row ten-point massage, panoramic sunroof and electric sunshade, second-row side window sunshade, even standard second-row queen seat.
Chassis: Standard all-aluminum suspension, 4 hydraulic bushings, millisecond response CDC shock absorbers
Quietness: Double-layer laminated glass, quiet tires, and 20Hz active noise reduction MEGA-level quiet technology.
Cabin: Standard Qualcomm 8295P chip, front-row 3K dual screens, 16.8-inch HD head-up display, and 20-speaker premium audio system.
Intelligent Driving: The entire series is equipped with Li Auto AD Max system powered by NVIDIA Orin-X chip, and all functions of the VLA driver model are free for life.
b. Optional Configuration
c. First Sale Exclusive Benefits
Applicable to: Users who place orders before October 31, 2025.
Benefit Content (Total Value 35,000 yuan): Free gift of 5,000 yuan worth of quiet electric suction doors. Free gift of 5,000 yuan worth of compressor cold and warm refrigerator. Free gift of 15,000 yuan worth of dual-chamber magic carpet air suspension. Additional 10,000 yuan cash discount.
d. Order Delivery Process
II. Design Philosophy
"Shark" Body Design: Streamlined (streamlined integrated body, two-tone body), large, agile, achieving reduced wind resistance (high-speed energy consumption reduced by 20%), large space (short front overhang and forward A-pillar), strong handling, and extreme safety.
III. Third Living Space
3.1 Interior Space and Comfort Innovation
Quietness: The vehicle first creates an extremely quiet "noise reduction cocoon": up to 95% of the vehicle's area undergoes refined noise reduction treatment, even the small triangular windows use double-layer laminated soundproof glass to ensure complete isolation from external disturbances.
Comfort: 1) The seats use seven layers of composite materials, more than the Maybach S-Class; 2) The "recliner mode" for the front passenger seat allows for large-angle reclining, with independent adjustment of headrest and neck pillow, ensuring perfect body support; 3) The rear seat can open "queen seat mode," with privacy curtains and long-haired carpet, creating an exclusive resting space. The most disruptive feature is the "single bed mode," which can transform the seats into two flat single beds without additional mattresses with one click, integrating seat massage and heating functions, even allowing users to make micro-adjustments through the "old waist button" while lying down, pushing the resting experience to the extreme.
Entertainment: 21.4-inch 3K HD rear entertainment screen and the same platinum sound system as Maybach, while the innovative multifunctional coffee table can connect to accessories like lamps, creating a warm atmosphere.
Privacy: Finally, the unique "lover space" function allows the vehicle to "hide" with one click, combined with the car's external cameras that can be called at any time, perfectly balancing user privacy and security.
3.2 Expandability and Storage Capacity: "Mobile Garage" Realization
"Mobile Garage": Equipped with complete factory trailer qualifications and provides a trailer package including reinforced rear crash beam and standard interface, optional for 3,000 yuan, allowing users to easily unlock the fun of towing RVs or motorcycles.
"Bicycle Rack": To enhance outdoor sports experience, Li Auto has also customized a bicycle rack deeply integrated with the vehicle system in collaboration with Yamaha, which can not only synchronize vehicle signal lights in real-time and display status in the vehicle system, but its clever folding design also ensures that the trunk can still be opened normally when loading bicycles.
"Super Large Storage": Super large trunk, and innovatively added "loading mode" and "lifting mode" through air suspension to raise and lower the vehicle body, greatly facilitating the transportation of heavy objects. A huge organized storage compartment is hidden under the trunk, with layered storage kits to meet the ultimate needs of storage enthusiasts. In addition, the cleverly designed front trunk can be opened with a light tap, and its small cover and low opening make it easy to use even in narrow parking spaces, and it is thoughtfully equipped with a drain plug for easy cleaning.
"Roof Rack": The factory roof rack is perfectly adapted to the vehicle's streamlined design and has undergone strict NVH optimization to ensure low wind noise, and after installation, the vehicle height can still maintain the same as the standard version of Li i6, ensuring that the vehicle can freely enter and exit city garages while expanding functions.
IV. Core Technology Strategic Layout
4.1 Core Three Electric Technology: Pursuing Extreme Energy Efficiency and All-Weather Performance
Self-developed Motor: The first mass-produced motor with a comprehensive efficiency exceeding 93%, self-developed from the motor assembly to the core silicon carbide (SiC) chip; the i6 innovatively features the industry's first self-developed silicon carbide chip with a hexagonal microstructure, which alone can increase the vehicle's range by about 30 kilometers.
Low Temperature Range: The highest 70% low temperature range retention rate in the same class.
First, at the motor level, through self-developed lubricant additive formulas, significantly reducing operating resistance under low temperature conditions;
Second, at the battery level, successfully developed the industry's lowest internal resistance (0.36mΩ) lithium iron phosphate battery, its excellent low temperature performance fundamentally solves the winter shortcomings of traditional iron lithium batteries;
Finally, with a high-efficiency thermal management system with an efficiency of up to 300% (i.e., 1 kWh can generate 3 kWh of heat), providing ample heat sources for the entire vehicle.
These three key technologies packaged together ultimately increase the valuable low temperature range of the Li i6 by more than 50 kilometers.
4.2 5C Supercharging Ecosystem: Solving Charging Speed and Battery Life Anxiety
5C Supercharging Ecosystem: "Charge for 10 minutes, range of 500 kilometers," the entire series is equipped with the industry's unique "dual breathing" thermal management system. This system mimics the breathing pattern during intense human exercise, intelligently calling both air conditioning and water cooling radiators to cool the battery, with cooling efficiency far exceeding the industry's conventional single radiator solution.
Charging Network: Built over 3,300 self-operated supercharging stations, ranking first among domestic car companies, and surpassing Tesla, with dense coverage averaging less than 150 kilometers per supercharging station. Achieving "fast and smooth" charging experience, during busy periods such as holidays, charging stations can intelligently allocate power, ensuring Li Auto pure electric models enjoy up to 400kW maximum charging power, allowing owners to truly achieve "arrive late, leave early" extreme energy replenishment experience.
4.3 Comprehensive Safety Protection: Exceeding Industry Standards
The Li i6's vehicle-level test conditions exceed the industry average by more than twice to ensure reliability in various extreme situations.
a. Occupant Protection: Focus on passengers of different sizes such as women and children, its internal safety standards cover a wider range of heights than industry standard dummies, with targeted protection optimization.
b. Hardware Configuration: The i6 is the only model in its class equipped with three-chamber remote airbags and second-row side airbags, and has the largest airbag volume, aiming to provide the most comprehensive collision protection.
V. AI Empowerment
5.1 Deep Emotional and Personalized Interaction—Li Auto's Little Desk Mate
Real-time Dialogue Model (MindGPT-4o): Three core capabilities of ultra-long memory, ultra-low latency, and high expressiveness language generation, capable of smooth and deep communication like a real person. Its highlight is its strong situational adaptability and personalization ability.
First, it has 7 built-in communication roles that can flexibly switch according to different communication scenarios, whether chatting with friends, making a girlfriend happy, or telling stories to children, it can handle it with ease;
Second, it is also the industry's only "main dialect model," supporting 6 mainstream dialects such as Cantonese, Sichuan dialect, Shaanxi dialect, Henan dialect, Northeast dialect, and Shanghai dialect, truly achieving "same voice and tone" friendly dialogue with users, greatly enhancing the naturalness and emotional connection of interaction.
5.2 From "Task Master" to "AI Programming"
Li Auto i6 pushes user-defined experience to the extreme, achieving a leap from simple "task master" to more advanced "AI programming." Through
"Task Master": Users only need to describe in natural language to easily create complex automated tasks with multiple steps and multiple device linkage, such as "When I get in the car, turn on seat massage and play my favorite music." This feature has been deeply integrated into users' daily driving lives, with data showing that users have spontaneously created over 13.12 million tasks, with daily execution times reaching 42.51 million times.
"AI Programming": Further unleashes users' creativity, allowing users to directly modify or create vehicle system desktop cards through dialogue, AI can understand instructions and generate and run corresponding code in real-time. This marks a new dimension of interaction between users and vehicles, from using limited preset tools to directly creating programs through unlimited imagination.
AI Image Generation: Also supports users in generating personalized images, turning the front passenger screen into a "art frame" that can be changed at any time, making every trip full of novelty.
5.3 Life Assistant
"Life Assistant": Li Auto's classmate can achieve cross-application calls, greatly simplifying daily operations. Taking parking lot QR code payment as an example, users no longer need to take out their phones, Li Auto's classmate can directly call the car's external camera to recognize the QR code and automatically launch the Alipay mini program to complete the payment, reducing the process from two minutes to just 10 seconds, improving efficiency by more than ten times.
5.4 Open Ecosystem Collaboration—Multi-Agent Joint Work
Multi-Agent Joint Work Open Ecosystem:
The first collaboration is with KFC's "Little K Agent" linkage, when users order food through voice in the car, Li Auto's classmate will automatically coordinate with Little K, seamlessly completing a series of complex operations such as ordering, store location, and estimated arrival time synchronization.
This ultimately achieves the extreme experience of freshly prepared food when users drive to the "drive-thru restaurant." This innovation heralds a broader future, with more brand agents joining the ecosystem to provide users with smarter and more convenient services together with Li Auto's classmate.
In-car Entertainment: "Microphone-free Karaoke" function for more free entertainment, or using "Pet Mode" to safely solve the need to temporarily leave pets when getting out of the car, Li Auto i6 is committed to making technology serve better life moments.
VI. VLA Driver Model
6.1 Case
The VLA driver model has four core capabilities:
First is its strong spatial understanding ability, it can not only recognize obstacles but also "understand" the physical world like a human, showing deep understanding and precise human-like control in tests such as "snake-like bypassing manhole covers" and recognizing obscured traffic lights.
Second, it has chain thinking (Chain-of-Thought, CoT), capable of associating past, present, and future multidimensional information for comprehensive decision-making, performing like a "live map" when successfully challenging complex driving tasks like Beijing's Xizhimen overpass "maze."
Third, it has excellent human-like control and game ability, showing polite yielding, precise micro-control, and appropriate timing judgment when navigating narrow and crowded old alleys, facing complex games with pedestrians, non-motor vehicles, and oncoming cars, like an experienced driver.
Finally, its strong autonomous roaming and memory ability completely solves the problem of finding routes in large parking lots, it can autonomously patrol and build memory maps upon first entry, remembering floors, zones, charging stations, and even specific parking spaces, achieving navigation by memory, and automatically finding new parking spaces when the space is occupied.
6.2 Revolution in Interaction Methods: Communicative Private Driver
Human-Machine Interaction: Natural voice commands directly control vehicle driving behavior, such as issuing commands like "park by the roadside," "overtake the car in front," or "make a U-turn at the intersection," and the vehicle can understand and execute precisely. This innovation marks the future direction of assisted driving: it will no longer be a cold execution tool but will continue to learn and grow, ultimately becoming a "private driver" that understands user driving habits and can communicate deeply.
6.3 Safety
a. Insist on equipping all models with LiDAR, continuously breaking through the upper limit of safety capabilities;
b. The first in the industry to achieve "full-speed AEB" without speed limits, even at ultra-high speeds, automatic emergency braking remains effective;
c. "Full Automatic Emergency Steering (AES)" is also the industry's first system supporting continuous avoidance of pedestrians and vehicles at speeds of 130 km/h;
VII. Dynamic Performance and Handling
7.1 Excellent High-Speed Stability
Unlike other models, Li Auto insists on conducting international emergency avoidance tests at speeds not less than 130 km/h with the vehicle fully loaded, i6 test results 130.3 km/h. This data is also intuitively reflected in the driving experience, when the vehicle makes emergency directional changes at high speeds, the chassis can firmly "hold" the body, achieving no sliding or floating, giving the driver great confidence.
7.2 Third-Party Extreme Mountain Road Evaluation
Power and Acceleration: Thanks to its powerful 544 horsepower, 660 Nm of torque, lighter weight, and smaller body size, the i6's power response is extremely outstanding, its starting straight-line speed even surpasses Tesla Model Y Performance.
Handling and Suspension: The suspension system is carefully tuned, very suitable for mountain driving, the long travel design ensures that even on undulating and bouncing roads, the wheels can always stay close to the ground, adding new Mickey tires. The best handling feeling in the Li Auto i series, without exception.
7.3 Integration of Top Hardware and Self-Developed Software
Chassis Hardware: Dual-chamber air springs, CDC continuously variable damping shock absorbers, all-aluminum control arms, four hydraulic bushings, and intelligent four-wheel drive system in the leading combination of the same class.
Software and Tuning: The shock absorbers adopt the "large damping low compression" tuning method used in racing, combined with Li Auto's full-stack self-developed intelligent electronic control chassis system, ultimately achieving the best match between hardware and software, fully unleashing the potential of each component, jointly creating L6's precise and stable handling performance.
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