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The latest target means that in the second half of the year, Li Auto will need to deliver an average of about 45,000 units per month.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) reportedly raised its sales target for the year, after seeing strong delivery growth over the past few months.
Li Auto recently raised its full-year sales target to 400,000 units from the original 300,000, local media outlet 36kr said in a report today, citing people familiar with the matter.
In addition to the overall sales target, Li Auto founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang also set targets for sales of specific models, according to the report.
He set a goal for the Li L7 to achieve 20,000 deliveries in a single month in October, and to keep deliveries of the more expensive Li L9 and Li L8 above 10,000 units, bringing overall deliveries to 40,000 units/month, the report said.
Assuming Li Auto delivers 30,000 vehicles in June, the latest target means that for the remaining six months, Li Auto would need to average about 45,000 deliveries per month to meet its goal, the report noted.
Li Auto has seen strong growth in the past few months, at a time when growth in China's new energy vehicle industry has slowed significantly.
It delivered a record 28,277 vehicles in May, the third consecutive month to surpass the 20,000-unit mark. From January to May, Li Auto's cumulative deliveries reached 106,542 units, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.
On June 17, the day of Li Auto's first Family Tech Day event, the Li L7 sold more than 1,000 units in a single day for the first time, Li said earlier this month.
Li Auto launched the Li L7, its first five-seat SUV, on February 8 and currently offers three versions with starting prices of RMB 319,800 ($44,200), RMB 339,800 and RMB 379,800, respectively.
All of the company's current models are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), with the other two being the higher-priced, six-seat Li L8 and Li L9.
The Li L7 was a model that was almost canceled during development, Li said on Weibo on June 18. He said he was quite determined to axe the model last September, but several other executives stopped him.
Most members of Li Auto's management team thought the company should set an annual sales target of 360,000 units at the beginning of the year, but he ultimately decided to set a budget target based on annual sales of 306,000 units, according to a June 18 Weibo post from Li.
"This was partly because I didn't think we could be too optimistic about the economic environment this year, and partly because we didn't meet our budget targets for all three years from 2020-2022," he said.
Li said the too-low targets he set led the company to place orders at suppliers at the beginning of the year that were clearly not keeping up with current sales, so several key components would take more than a quarter to reach the right capacity if production ramp-up began now.
Li Auto currently has two production lines in its Changzhou, Jiangsu plant, one for double-shift production and one for single-shift production. Li Auto will not be able to achieve 10,000 units/week capacity until the fourth quarter, when both of its lines will be on double-shift production, according to Li.
On May 10, Li Auto management said in a call with analysts after announcing its first-quarter earnings that the company was aiming to reach its goal of 30,000 units delivered in a single month in June.
Notably, the 36kr report mentioned that sales of Li Auto's cheaper Air version have been less than expected.
Li Auto had hoped that the Air version models would bring in 30 percent incremental sales, but Li said in its earnings call that the lineup only brought in 20 percent additional sales, the 36kr report noted.
To meet its sales targets, Li Auto will need new growth, and Li's approach was to launch the Li L9 Pro, the 36kr report said.
In a recent regulatory list from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Li Auto filed for the Li L9 model without LiDAR, the report noted.
The Li L9 Pro is likely to be priced at around RMB 419,800, which will help boost sales of the Li L9 and Li L8 to more than 20,000 units/month while improving the company's competitiveness in the price range above RMB 400,000, the report said.
In addition, with the launch of Nio's (NYSE: Nio) new ES6 and ET5 Touring, and an RMB 30,000 price cut across the company's model lineup, Li Auto will face stronger competition in the RMB 300,000 to 400,000 price range, according to the report.
Nio is aiming to double its sales this year compared to last year, implying full-year sales of about 240,000 units, according to previous comments from the company's management.
($1 = RMB 7.2345)
NIO keeps goal of doubling sales this year despite price war causing greater challenges
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GAC hopes Gove will be part of its integrated mobility solution in the future.
(Image credit: GAC)
Several automakers are exploring the field of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL), with automotive giant GAC Group being the latest.
GAC unveiled an eVTOL, called Gove, at a Tech Day event today, saying it has completed its maiden flight.
The name Gove is made up of the initials of the words GAC, On the Go, Vertical, and EV, and GAC hopes it will be part of its integrated mobility solutions in the future.
The eVTOL features a design in which the vehicle and chassis can be separated, with the two merging when driving on land and separating when flying in the air.
Gove is equipped with GAC's ADiGO-Pilot autonomous piloting system and has a dual backup multi-rotor flight system, GAC said.
GAC is joining forces with research institutes in the aerospace field to build a cooperative ecosystem for flight technology, and is committed to creating a safe and reliable air travel corridor, said Wu Jian, president of GAC research institute.
The demonstration of Gove flying car is just the starting point, in the future it will build up GAC's travel solution together with Ruqi Mobility and Robotaxi, said Wu.
It is worth noting that Gove is very similar in design to the form of an eVTOL demonstrated by another Chinese team at the end of last year.
Beijing Institute of Technology said on November 19, 2022, that one of their teams had unveiled a two-seat engineering prototype of a manned flying car, the world's first such product with a split design.
The flying car consists of three separate modules: an autonomous vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, an intelligent control cockpit, and an autopilot chassis, capable of driving on land and switching between airborne flight modes.
It is not clear if GAC's Gove is related to this product.
Over the past year, multiple teams have explored the eVTOL space, though the product form has largely been all-in-one.
A local company demonstrated an eVTOL shaped like a flying saucer at a low-altitude economy investment promotion event in Shenzhen, southern China, on June 3.
Xpeng Aeroht, a subsidiary of Xpeng, wants to make it possible to build a manned vehicle based on a car, and its X2 was tested on June 5 by flying over the Yellow River.
Ehang, for its part, is building an autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) close to a helicopter, and the company said last April that it received a pre-order for 100 EH216s from Indonesian airline Prestige Aviation.
On July 27, 2022, Volkswagen Group China unveiled its first eVTOL manned vehicle prototype, the V.MO, which is also close to a helicopter in appearance.
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The Denza N7 targets the market for conventional internal combustion engine vehicles priced around RMB 400,000.
(Image credit: Denza)
After months of warm-up, the launch date for the first SUV of BYD's premium new energy vehicle (NEV) brand Denza has been set.
The Denza N7 will officially launch on July 3, the brand announced today on Weibo.
The launch date is slightly delayed from previous plans, as Denza general manager of sales Zhao Changjiang said on May 30 that the Denza N7 will be officially launched in late June and deliveries will start in July.
Denza did not share any more information about the N7 today, although it has been warming up about the model for several months.
On March 6, Denza released the official images of the N7. A few days later, on March 9, the model appeared in a regulatory filing list.
The Denza N7 is a 5-seat SUV with a length, width and height of 4,860 mm, 1,935 mm and 1,602 mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2,940 mm, the regulatory filing shows.
The Denza N7 entering the list comes in four versions, including two single-motor versions and two dual-motor versions, the former with a peak motor power of 230 kW and the latter with an additional peak motor power of 160 kW.
Denza is a joint venture formed in February 2011 by BYD and Daimler, each holding a 50 percent stake at the time, and the Daimler brand was rebranded as Mercedes-Benz in February 2022. BYD increased its shareholding in Denza to 90 percent last year.
In August 2022, Denza let the D9 MPV go on sale, the brand's first model after the reorganization, and the Denza N7, the second model after Denza's shareholding change, was its first SUV.
On December 20 last year, Zhao said on Weibo that the Denza N7 was aimed at the market for traditional internal combustion engine vehicles priced around RMB 400,000 yuan ($55,440).
On March 26, Zhao said there were many customers who wanted to have the Denza N7 launched as soon as possible, and that the model was expected to receive 30,000 orders before its mid-year launch based on inquiry volume data.
On June 13, Zhao said the Denza N7 had more than 20,000 pre-orders before specifications and pricing were announced.
On June 20, Denza saw the first production vehicles of the N7 roll off the assembly line, setting the stage for the upcoming launch.
On June 25, Zhao said on Weibo that he experienced the latest version of the N7's self-parking system, and that the model will be the first to be able to handle a very extreme scenario.
Denza's only model currently in delivery, the Denza D9, sold 11,005 units in May, the third consecutive month with more than 10,000 units, according to data released earlier this month.
($1 = RMB 7.2147)
Denza's 1st SUV N7 surpasses 20,000 pre-orders ahead of official launch
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BYD, together with local partner EV Direct, has launched the Dolphin in Australia with a starting price of A$38,890.
(Image credit: BYD)
BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) has launched another electric vehicle (EV) in Australia after the Atto 3.
BYD and Australian partner EV Direct officially launched the Dolphin locally at a launch event on June 22, according to a press release from the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) giant yesterday.
The car is available in 3 versions in Australia, with starting prices of A$38,890 ($26,000), A$44,890 and A$49,990 respectively.
For reference, BYD Dolphin is offered in three versions in China with starting prices of RMB 116,800 ($16,200), RMB 123,800 and RMB 136,800 respectively.
The BYD Dolphin is an A0-class pure electric vehicle with a length, width and height of 4,290 mm, 1,770 mm and 1,570 mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2,700 mm.
The model will enrich BYD's product matrix in the Australian market and help the country achieve a green future, BYD said.
BYD launched the Dolphin in China on August 29, 2021, the first product in its Ocean lineup and the first model based on its e-Platform 3.0.
BYD sold 240,220 NEVs in May, including 30,679 units of the Dolphin, according to figures released earlier this month.
The introduction of the Dolphin to Australia is BYD's latest move in the country.
BYD launched the Yuan Plus in China on February 19, 2022, and opened pre-orders for the model in Australia at the same time under the Atto 3 name, with an official guide price of A$44,990 to A$47,990 at the time.
In August 2022 BYD announced on Twitter that the company had shipped 1,000 Atto 3 vehicles to Australia, the first BYD passenger cars to be sent to the country.
The Atto 3, BYD's first global model, has already entered many other markets including Singapore, Europe, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.
The Dolphin has also been introduced to a number of markets including Japan, Colombia, Europe, and Ecuador.
($1 = A$1.4954, $1 = RMB 7.2123)
BYD May sales breakdown: Qin 43,757 units, Song 38,014 units
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