Li Auto completes plant capacity upgrade, CEO expects to see monthly deliveries exceed 40,000 units in Q4
Li Auto is set to take deliveries to the next level in the fourth quarter and is expected to see monthly deliveries of more than 40,000 units, the company’s CEO said.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) completed capacity upgrades at its manufacturing base, setting the stage for a delivery ramp-up in the fourth quarter.
“Reporters from CCTV visited Li Auto’s smart manufacturing base in Changzhou, and Li Auto’s head of manufacturing, Li Bin, revealed that the capacity upgrade has been completed,” the company wrote in a Weibo post yesterday when it shared a video from state-run broadcaster CCTV.
The Li Auto manufacturing chief — who shares the same Chinese name as Nio (NYSE: NIO) founder, chairman, and CEO William Li Bin (李斌) — showed a drawing board in the video that hinted at the company’s extreme monthly capacity of 49,500 units in the fourth quarter.
(CCTV video screenshot)
Li Auto will take its deliveries to the next level in the fourth quarter and is expected to see more than 40,000 monthly deliveries, Li Xiang, the company’s founder, chairman, and CEO, said in a retweet of the Weibo.
Li Auto’s current models on sale include the five-seat Li L7, and the six-seat Li L8 and Li L9, all of which are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), essentially plug-in hybrids.
The three L-series models are built at Li Auto’s plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu province in eastern China. The company also has a plant in Beijing, and the first model to be produced will be the Li Mega electric MPV, which will be launched in December.
Li Auto’s L-series models, which can be both recharged and refueled, are seen as having no range anxiety, which has been one of the key factors in the company’s dramatic sales growth this year.
However, Li Auto deliveries have slowed down over the past few months due to plant capacity constraints, although they are still at record highs.
Li Auto’s peak weekly capacity was 7,500 units before the production line upgrades, which could reach 10,000 units per week in the fourth quarter after double-shift production on both lines, CEO Li said on June 18.
The Changzhou plant has two production lines, one for double-shift production and one for single-shift production, Li said at the time.
Li Auto would stop production at the end of September and during China’s National Day holiday to upgrade the factory, and all production lines will be upgraded to double-shift production, Li said in a September 19 Weibo post.
Li Auto delivered a record 36,060 vehicles in September, up 212.72 percent year-on-year and up 3.28 percent from August, according to data it released on October 1.
This is the sixth consecutive record monthly delivery for Li Auto, bringing third-quarter deliveries to a record 105,108 vehicles, above the upper end of the previous guidance range of 100,000 to 103,000 vehicles.
“Driven by the ever-increasing market demand, we made numerous historic breakthroughs in September, achieving record-high weekly and monthly sales performance as well as a new high in order intake with over 40,000 orders received in a single month,” Li said on October 1.
Li Auto delivers record 36,060 vehicles in Sept, Q3 deliveries exceed upper end of guidance
