Li Auto delivered 37,679 vehicles in August, a rise of 32.07% on the same month last year and its strongest annual growth since 2024, ending three consecutive months of year-on-year decline.
Deliveries rose 23.7% from July’s 30,468. Cumulative deliveries since the company began handovers reached 1,801,834.
The month cleared the bar the company had set, and by more than it needed. Against third-quarter guidance of 95,000 to 100,000 vehicles and July’s figure, the pace required across August and September was 32,266 to 34,766 a month.
August came in 8.4% above the top of that.
The figures leave September needing only 26,853 to 31,853 vehicles to land inside the guided range — between 15.5% and 28.7% below August.
The range was set on August 26, before the August figure was known, and Li Auto has not issued a September forecast.
What Moved
The month is the first clean read on the refreshed L-series and a recovering i6, which is not the same as the whole line: the L7 has not been refreshed, the i6 is a 2025 car, and the MEGA and i9 have not launched.
Chairman and chief executive Xiang Li told the second-quarter call that the work is finished. “This year we have completed the full refresh of the L Series from Li L9, Li L8 to Li L6 have all transitioned to the latest platform, which includes the Mach M100 chip, 5C range extension, and other core technologies.”
Li added that the company has “completed coverage of the RMB 200,000 to RMB 500,000 range extended SUV market.”
The refreshed L9 arrived in May, the L8 in June and the L6 in July. The L7, the fourth nameplate in the series, has not been refreshed.
Li described the transition as having caused temporary operational headwinds, which is visible in the monthly line: 33,350 in May, 30,895 in June and 30,468 in July before August’s jump.
There was also a supply problem. Product line head Li Xinyang said on Weibo that production of the fully electric i6 was cut by roughly 4,000 units against plan in mid-to-late July because of temporary fluctuations in headlight supply.
The i6 took 69.4% of June deliveries at 21,453 units, so a four-figure shortfall on that model is not marginal. Neither the August release nor the second-quarter call addresses whether the constraint has cleared, but the size of the August recovery is consistent with it having done so.
The Demand Signals
The clearest number management has attached to second-half volume belongs to the cheapest car in the range.
“Since launch, we have seen very good reception on L6 and we are hopeful that there will be a 10,000 units per month demand level steadily going forward,” management told the call, describing it as “a core pillar for our sales in the RMB 200,000 to RMB 300,000 market.”
The new L6 launched in July at 249,800 yuan, unchanged from the outgoing model. Ten thousand a month would be about a quarter of August’s volume, and it would come at the bottom of the price range.
At the other end, management said high-end models had exceeded expectations and that buyers were willing to pay for the drive-by-wire chassis and higher-end assisted driving.
A figure of more than 85% for one L9 trim’s share of that model’s sales circulates from the call, but unofficial transcripts name three different trims, so it is not used here.
The refreshed L9 comes in Livis at 509,800 yuan and Ultra at 459,800, and the distinction decides whether the number supports the mix argument or undercuts it.
Chief financial officer Johnny Tie Li told investors the company anticipates “further margin expansion for the second half of the year as our product mix optimizes, with a higher sales contribution from the Livis trim and the launch of refreshed BEV models and Li i9.”
A heavier Livis mix would lift the per-unit figures. Ten thousand L6s a month would pull them the other way.
Management put the current split at roughly half extended-range and half battery-electric.
The Targets
Li Auto set a 20% growth target for 2026 earlier in the year, implying about 487,600 deliveries against the 406,343 it managed in 2025, and reaffirmed it on the first-quarter call in May.
Through August the company has delivered 261,619 vehicles, down 0.6% year on year and 53.7% of that implied figure.
If September lands at the top of the guided range, the fourth quarter would have to produce 194,140 vehicles.
That is 77.8% above the 109,194 of the fourth quarter of 2025 and 22.3% above the 158,696 of the fourth quarter of 2024, the best quarter in the company’s history.
Neither the second-quarter release nor the August delivery update repeats the 20% target, names an annual figure, or withdraws one.
The quarterly guidance sets an easier test. Deliveries of 95,000 to 100,000 would be growth of 1.9% to 7.3% on the 93,211 of a year earlier, and would turn a first half that ran 5.1% below 2025 at 193,472 against 203,938.
September’s Launches
Li Auto said the third quarter brings a concentrated rollout: the next-generation MEGA launching in China on September 2, the all-new Li i9 in mid-September, and the next-generation L9 launching in Dubai to open Middle East sales.
The company added on Tuesday that its MACH VLA software will be rolled out to vehicles on the Thor and Orin-X platforms during the month.
The i9 is reported at 5,225 millimetres and the MEGA appears in Chinese regulatory filings at 5,355. Both figures come from filings and specialist reports rather than from Li Auto, which has not published dimensions.
Prices and volume expectations for the new models have not been disclosed, and launches falling in September contribute a fraction of a quarter’s deliveries.
Beyond Dubai, management pointed to Europe, right-hand-drive markets and a partnership for local assembly in Kazakhstan, where the company introduced the all-new L9 on July 15 and began localised production. The i6 is due in Europe through the Benelux region in the second half with a Paris Motor Show debut in October.
The Network
Li Auto had 487 retail stores in 160 cities at the end of August, against 490 in 159 cities a month earlier and 495 in 160 cities at the end of June. Servicing centres fell to 533 from 536.
The store count is down eight in two months, but the city count is unchanged at 160, so the company has thinned its coverage rather than left markets. Li Auto has described the process as optimising store quality.
The charging network went the other way, reaching 4,162 supercharging stations with 22,939 stalls, from 4,141 and 22,841 in July and 4,097 and 22,593 in June.
Against the Field
August was a strong month across the sector, and Li Auto’s rebound did not move it up the table.
Leapmotor delivered 103,129 vehicles, XPeng 39,107, Zeekr 36,981 and Nio 35,836. Li Auto’s 37,679 sits between Zeekr and XPeng, 1,428 behind the latter.
The model-level breakdown of August volumes is due next week from China Passenger Car Association data.
