Li Auto Restructures Sales System: Five Warzone Structure Canceled, New Business Heads in Place

On August 14th, the topics of Li Auto optimizing its sales service system architecture and appointing a new sales business director sparked widespread attention in the automotive industry.

Multiple media outlets reported that Li Auto announced adjustments to its sales and service system structure during an internal meeting. The previously regionally divided "five major battle zones" were abolished and replaced by 23 nationwide regions directly managed by headquarters. In March of this year, Li Auto had integrated 26 battle zones into five "battle zones" of East, West, South, North, and Central regions, but this readjustment indicates that the sales system underwent another transformation in less than six months since its implementation.

According to reports, in this sales system adjustment, Li Auto has established two new departments: "Sales Operations" and "Marketing," respectively headed by Fan Chenjie and Feng Wei. This move aims to strengthen the headquarters' support for frontline sales and marketing efforts. In addition to changes in the sales service system structure, Li Auto has also appointed a new sales business director. Han Xi, the former head of the Central Region among the five major battle zones, will serve as Li Auto's sales business director and will report directly to Li Auto President Ma Donghui.

Industry insiders believe that the adjustment is aimed at addressing issues of uneven resource allocation and low management efficiency brought about by the regional system, as well as preparing for the sales of the soon-to-be-launched Li Auto i6. However, as of the time of writing, Li Auto has not yet made any public response to this report.

As one of the emerging forces in the automotive industry, Li Auto has demonstrated rapid development in its product lineup over the past two years. As of now, Li Auto offers six models for sale: the SUV models Li L9, Li L8, Li L7, and Li L6, the MPV Li MEGA, and the all-electric SUV Li i8.

Li Auto i8 is the first model of the i series under Li Auto and also its first pure electric SUV. This vehicle is positioned as a family six-seater pure electric SUV and is equipped for the first time with the NVIDIA Thor chip. It comes standard with the new generation ATL lidar and offers Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and Automatic Emergency Steering (AES) functions. The Li Auto i8 was launched on July 29th, with three versions: Pro, Max, and Ultra, priced at 321,800 RMB, 349,800 RMB, and 369,800 RMB, respectively. However, on August 5th, Li Auto announced a configuration adjustment for the Li Auto i8, unifying the configuration version to make the standard configuration the top configuration, retaining only one configuration for the entire series, and adjusting the price to 339,800 RMB.

Yesterday, Li Auto announced that the first batch of Li Auto i8 deliveries will begin on August 20 and will be carried out nationwide in succession. At the same time, Li Auto stated that its factory is operating at full capacity and is expected to ensure that over 8,000 Li Auto i8 vehicles are delivered to customers by the end of September. In addition, Li Auto will work closely with its supply chain partners to strive for the goal of delivering 10,000 vehicles, aiming to enable more customers to receive their new cars before the National Day holiday.

Li Xiang, Chairman and CEO of Li Auto, announced on Weibo that one of the goals for September is to deliver over 8,000 units of the Li Auto i8, with a challenge to reach a delivery volume of 10,000 units. Today, Li Xiang further stated that the Li Auto i8 has received a positive market response because it is in a "have or have not" competitive track, with no real competitors in terms of product positioning and product strength.

The Ideal i6 is a brand new model soon to be launched by Ideal Auto, expected to be released in September. Previously, Li Xiang revealed that the Ideal i6 is a spacious two-row five-seat family pure electric SUV, aimed at providing families considering purchasing a Mercedes-Benz GLC/BMW X3/Audi Q5 with another car-buying option. The dimensions of the Ideal i6 are 4950/1935/1655mm (length/width/height), with a wheelbase of 3000mm, positioning it as a five-seat mid-to-large SUV. It is expected that its product positioning will be below that of the Ideal i8, and after its launch, it may become the lowest-priced pure electric SUV under Ideal Auto, taking on the responsibility of driving volume sales for Ideal's electric vehicle lineup.

From Li Xiang's remarks, it is evident that he holds very high expectations for both the upcoming listed Li Auto i8 and the Li Auto i6. As for whether these two new models can bring sales growth to Li Auto, the answer will be revealed soon.

According to official data, Li Auto's sales in July reached 30,700 units, a year-on-year decrease of 39.74%. The cumulative sales for the year were 234,500 units, down 2.21% year-on-year. Among the specific models, in the first seven months of this year, the Li Auto L6 had the highest retail sales, with 111,200 units sold. The sales of the Li Auto L7, L8, and L9 were 53,600 units, 30,900 units, and 30,400 units respectively, while the Li Auto MEGA sold 8,600 units.

Facing market competition and challenges, Li Auto continuously adjusts and optimizes its sales and service system structure, as well as launches new products to meet consumer demands. The recent adjustment of the sales system structure and the appointment of a new sales business director undoubtedly inject new momentum and vitality into Li Auto's future development. At the same time, the upcoming launch of the Li Auto i8 and Li Auto i6 will bring new market opportunities and challenges to the company. We look forward to Li Auto achieving even better results in future market competition.