Li Auto saw its Hong Kong-listed shares plunge 14.15% to HK$64.90 on Monday as investors weighed in on the Beijing-based carmaker’s new flagship model launched last Friday.
US-listed shares of the Chinese EV maker were down 10.2% at $16.63 in early Monday trading, approaching a fresh four-month low and sitting just $0.92 above the $15.71 52-week low reached in January.
The sell-off makes Li Auto one of the worst-performing Chinese EV stocks on Monday, with the US listing now down 11.9% over the past five days and down 41.32% over the past year.
The decline came as investors digested the launch of the new flagship Li L9 Livis SUV — the new flagship model, which incorporates Li Auto’s in-house developed third-generation extended-range system.
The Q1 2026 earnings release on May 28 will provide the next major update for Li Auto investors.
The L9 Livis Launch Details
The company launched its flagship Li L9 SUV on Friday with two trims — the Ultra edition starting at 459,800 yuan (approximately $67,500) and the Livis flagship edition at 509,800 yuan (approximately $75,000).
The Livis top configuration is priced 9% below the previously announced pre-sale price of 559,800 yuan when it made its public debut at the Beijing Auto Show in late April.
Deliveries began immediately, with first-launch period incentives bringing the effective starting prices substantially lower.
Li Auto is offering a 20,000-yuan cash discount during the launch period, plus a 10,000-yuan repurchase benefit for returning Li Auto owners.
The effective transaction price for the Livis trim is therefore 489,800 yuan ($72,200) for new buyers and 479,800 yuan ($70,700) for returning owners.
The Beijing-based automaker also announced that an International Exclusive Version of the all-new Li L9 will launch in Q3 2026, beginning in Central Asia, the Middle East, and additional markets.
The New Extended-Range System
The new Li L9 features the brand’s in-house developed third-generation extended-range system with a pure electric range of 420 kilometers under China’s CLTC test cycle and a combined range of 1,650 kilometers.
The third-generation extended-range platform represents Li Auto’s bet on the extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) powertrain.
EREV combines a battery electric drivetrain with a small internal combustion engine acting as a generator, allowing the vehicle to operate as a pure EV in daily use while eliminating range anxiety for long-distance driving.
The Livis trim is differentiated from the Ultra trim through five technical elements: an 800-volt active suspension system, an electromechanical brake-by-wire (EMB) system, a Snapdragon 8797 Elite chip for the smart cockpit, and dual M100 chips delivering a combined 2,560 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of computing power for autonomous driving.
The vehicle is equipped with a 72.7 kWh CATL battery and supports 5C supercharging, while offering a 1,500 kg towing capacity and a 29-inch panoramic display.
The Competitive Pricing Pressure
The L9 Livis launch comes at a moment of intensifying competition in the large premium SUV segment in China.
The L9 Ultra at 459,800 yuan and the Livis at 509,800 yuan compete directly with the Nio ES9 — which entered pre-sales at 528,000 yuan for the Executive Luxury trim and 658,000 yuan for the Horizon Special trim — and the XPengGX, which entered pre-sales at 400,000 yuan in April 2026.
The price positioning makes Li Auto’s L9 Livis slightly more affordable than the higher-end — and fully electric — Nio ES9 trims but substantially more expensive than the XPeng GX.
The Aito M9, Denza N9, and other competing flagship SUVs further pressure the segment, with several brands offering similar EREV powertrains, autonomous driving capability, and luxury cabin amenities at competitive price points.
The Market Reaction Context
Li Auto’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed Monday at HK$64.90, down 14.15% from the previous close of HK$75.60 — placing the stock just above its 52-week low of HK$61.15 and substantially below the 52-week high of HK$128.10.
The Hong Kong market capitalization stood at HK$139.8 billion at Monday’s close.
The US-listed American Depositary Shares (ADS) were trading at $16.63 in Monday’s pre-market session, down $1.89 or 10.18% from Friday’s close of $18.51.
The US listing carries a market capitalization of approximately $17.9 billion.
Trading volume on the US listing has been substantial.
Over 2.8 million shares changed hands less than 60 minutes after the market opening against a 3-month average daily volume of 3.08 million shares.
The Q1 2026 Operational Backdrop
The share price decline comes ahead of Li Auto’s Q1 2026 financial results, which are scheduled for release before the US market opens on May 28.
The company’s management will hold an earnings conference call at 8:00 am US Eastern Time on the same day to discuss business updates with investors and analysts.
In the first quarter of the year, Li Auto delivered a total of 95,142 vehicles — exceeding the upper end of the company’s previous quarterly delivery guidance of 85,000 to 90,000 units.
Li Auto previously guided that its Q1 2026 revenue would be between 20.4 billion yuan ($3 billion) and 21.6 billion yuan.
The Q1 delivery overshoot represents a positive operational data point, though investors appear to be weighing the longer-term flagship product positioning more heavily than the near-term delivery beat.
The Revenue Decline Context
The Q1 2026 guidance range implies a substantial revenue improvement from Q4 2025, when Li Auto’s revenue fell to nearly 28.8 billion yuan — representing a sharp 35.0% year-on-year decrease compared to the same period in 2024.
The Q4 2025 revenue decline, combined with a 27.78% earnings-per-share miss and a 1.0% revenue miss against analyst consensus, has weighed on investor sentiment heading into the Q1 2026 results release.
Li Auto shares were already trading at a 35.01% year-on-year revenue contraction at the time of Monday’s sell-off, meaning the L9 Livis launch occurred against a backdrop of investor concern over revenue trajectory and gross margin pressure.
European Expansion Underway
Li Xiang said at the launch event that “Europe is already underway. Asia and Europe will be our next key battlegrounds.”
In the Old Continent, the L9 Livis would face direct competition from European luxury SUVs from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.
Li Auto has hired Zach Zhou — formerly with Chery International’s European corporate sales operation and previously with XPeng — as Deputy General Manager Europe and Managing Director Benelux.
