China's Li Auto cuts car prices in market share battle

SHANGHAI, April 22 (Reuters) - Chinese automaker Li Auto

on Monday cut prices by around 5% on four of its five models and said it would refund owners who had bought those models earlier this year, deepening a price war in the country.

The move by Li Auto, the most popular extended-range hybrid seller in China, comes after price cuts by U.S. automaker Tesla

and as BYD, the world's largest EV maker, revised down its prices for relaunched models.

Li Auto announced cuts of between 18,000 and 30,000 yuan ($2,485-$4,142) on its L7, Li L8, Li L9, and Li MEGA models and said owners who had already picked up those models this year would also receive cash refunds. The company earlier offered discounts on some models in January.

It launched a new extended range electric vehicle, the Li L6, last week, and said that the vehicle sold more than 10,000 units within 72 hours of its launch.

The price war in the world's largest auto market started early last year with cuts by Tesla and has since drawn in dozens of automakers. Other automakers that have slashed prices this year include Geely Auto , GAC Aion, Leapmotor and Xpeng .

($1 = 7.2431 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Sonali Paul)

((brenda.goh@thomsonreuters.com; +86 (0) 21 2083 0088; Reuters Messaging: brenda.goh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))