Li Auto lifts vehicle price

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinese electric vehicle start-up Li Auto has become the latest automaker to lift product price, joining such players as XPeng, Tesla.

The Beijing-based company announced today that the price of the Li ONE, the company’s only model on the market, will be raised by RMB11,800 to RMB349,800, citing the substantial increase in raw material prices. The price adjustment will be effective from April 1. Consumers, who have paid deposits via the company’s APP, website and retail centers before the due date, will not be affected.

Photo credit: Li Auto

Last Friday, Li Xiang, chief executive officer of Li Auto, said on social media that automakers, who have reached agreement with battery suppliers about price increase in the second quarter, all announced price rise. Those, who haven’t come to an agreement, will bump up prices as soon as they settle the price. The increase in battery cost for the next quarter is ridiculous, the executive added.

The company plans to unveil its second model, the L9, at the 2022 Auto China, which is said to be delayed from April to June. The price of the new model was expected to range from RMB450,000 to RMB500,000 ($71,264 to $79,182).

Earlier this year, many of Li Auto’s rivals, including Tesla and XPeng, raised the prices of their new energy vehicles.