To The Moon

BEIJING, December 9 (TMTPOST)— Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup Li Auto Inc. tried to play down effect of the recent price war even it posted weaker-than-expected quarterly financial results.

Source: Visual China

The price war initiated by Tesla currently only has limited impact on Li Auto, as the company’s pricing of overall product lineup is not at the same level as Tesla, the management told analysts in an earnings call on Friday. The executive also confirmed they definitely roll out the new pure electric model next year. As to affect of pandemic, Li Auto anticipated its auto supply chain back to normal eventually, and it may face labor shortage in the supply chain as China’s the Covid-19 restrictions further change, given the overseas experience.

Earlier that day, Li Auto announced revenue increased 20% year-over-year to RMB9.34 billion (US$1.31 billion), missing the analysts’ estimate of RMB9.6 billion in the quarter ended September 30. Net loss that quarter widened to RMB1.65 billion compared with a net loss of RMB21.5 million a year ago, and the loss was two times of the second quarter. The gross margin of 12.7% sharply declined down from the second quarter’s 21.2%, which was affected by a provision related to its on-sale model Li ONE, according to the chief financial officer Tie Li.

Looking forward the current quarter, Li Auto expected to deliver 45,000 to 48,000 units, representing a YoY increase range of 27.8% to 36.3% and a significant recovery from the past quarter. The delivery outlook suggests a nearly 70% to 81% growth as the company delivered 26,524 vehicles in the third quarter with a YoY growth of 5.6%. We are optimistic that with rapid production ramp-up, rigorous execution, and responsible cost management, we will realize greater economies of scale and further drive down costs, putting us back on track to hit our profitability inflection point, Tie Li said.

A day prior to Li Auto’s release, Tesla China unveiled one-time subsidy of RMB6,000 (US$860) for buyers of some models by the end of December, the second indirect price cuts in forms of subsidy in a week. Following the two rounds of incentives in December, price of Tesla vehicles sold in China could be reduced by RMB10,000 apiece.