“After listening to the conference call last night, two words remained in my mind: chips.” A colleague in the group threw out this sentence, instantly igniting the atmosphere. Indeed, in this day and age, if a company doesn’t have a chip story, it feels awkward to hold a financial report meeting. Li Auto has directly moved the progress bar to ‘successful tape-out’ and announced that it will be integrated into the flagship model next year, a pace that caught everyone off guard.
First, let’s talk about the financials. In the second quarter, revenue was 30.2 billion yuan, with a net profit of 1.1 billion yuan, which sounds appealing, but when placed alongside the delivery numbers, it reveals a weakness—111,074 vehicles, only a 2.3% increase compared to the same period last year. Li Tie repeatedly explained during the meeting that “the gross margin can still be maintained at 19%”, but everyone was more concerned about the third-quarter guidance: deliveries of 90,000 to 95,000 units, a direct cut of 40% year-on-year. Once the numbers were released, the stock price trembled. It’s no wonder, the shadow of declining sales is too obvious, with only over 30,000 units delivered in July, and August’s slight recovery relying on the first batch of i8 deliveries. Ma Donghui simply took the blame: “A major adjustment in the sales system, growing pains are inevitable.”
Speaking of restructuring, it felt like dismantling LEGO. The previous regional division was overturned, changing to “headquarters directly managing 23 regions”, which sounds exhausting. Two new departments, “Sales Operations” and “Marketing”, emerged, the store location team was disbanded and reformed, the training academy increased courses, and the delivery team added personnel, all executed with great vigor. Ma Donghui energized the room: “The new structure is already in operation, it won’t hold back new vehicles, but rather enhance their performance.” In translation: if sales don’t improve, it won’t be the organization’s fault, it will purely be a product or market issue.
The launch rhythm of the i8 has indeed not been discounted. Released at the end of July, the first batch was delivered on August 20, with the factory bustling, aiming for 8,000 to 10,000 units by the end of September. Ma Donghui added, “Challenging for 10,000 units,” which made people’s hearts skip a beat—this word ‘challenge’ generally implies a lack of complete confidence. Following that, the i6 is set to debut in September, targeting young families, a five-seat pure electric SUV, with the slogan “The best to drive Li Auto.” Li Xiang personally took the stage: “Configurations cut to the extreme, SKU returning to the ONE and L9 era, one version to rule them all.” It sounds like a thorough reckoning of the version trial and error over the past year.
The most explosive news is still about the chips. When Xie Yan spoke, the room fell silent enough to hear the sound of keyboards. Successful tape-out at the beginning of the year, and now in-vehicle testing is underway, with direct deployment in the flagship model next year. Three years from project initiation to vehicle installation, a speed that outpaces competitors. The performance is even more astonishing: running large models is twice as powerful as the strongest chips on the market, and running visual models is three times as powerful. The secret lies in the data flow architecture—allowing data to run with the model, rather than the traditional method of queuing instructions one by one. With the support of a self-developed compiler, the integration of software and hardware sounds like a complete overhaul of the computer CPU, operating system, and drivers all at once. Xie Yan added, “While others compete on single points, we compete on the whole package.”
When asked if computing power would be excessive, Li Xiang directly responded: “The VLA model just onboarded consumes 4 billion parameters, and the model scale for next year’s flagship model will double. Computing power is always considered insufficient, never too much.” He also painted a picture: world models combined with RLAIF training, aiming to make intelligent driving safety ten times higher than that of humans in the next two years. Analysts below were frantically typing, afraid of missing a word.
The reforms on the sales side seem more like patching up the front line. Ma Donghui counted the demands on his fingers: revenue must increase, growth must be present, and efficiency must improve. In simple terms, the previous regional managers had too much power, and headquarters was unable to control them; now, the command authority has been taken back, and regions are only responsible for implementation. Not enough leads? The marketing department and location team bear the KPIs; lacking sales skills? The training academy is adding courses overnight; blocked promotion channels? The dual sequence opens the ceiling. The most ruthless is the flattening of reports, allowing frontline complaints to reach headquarters directly, with a WeChat group reportedly online 24 hours.
Channel penetration has also introduced new tricks, with “Star Stores” targeting fourth and fifth-tier cities, requiring less investment and allowing for quick openings, like stars scattering sesame seeds. Mall stores are responsible for face recognition, while central stores handle conversions, delivering a powerful combination. In the north, they promote range extenders with “no fear of power loss in winter”, while in the south, they push pure electric with “large energy-saving space”, with regional differentiation written on the first page of the PPT. Ma Donghui even stated: “Good wine fears a deep alley; digital investment must be precise to every penny of ROI.”
For the first time, overseas stories were brought to the forefront. 2025 is considered the overseas year, with research centers in Germany and the United States already ignited, and the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe included in the strategic map. The Li ONE relied on range extenders to conquer the market, and now they are preparing to package both range extenders and pure electric for overseas. Ma Donghui’s tone was unusually cautious: “Brand recognition starts from zero, it needs to be built slowly.” Translation: the budget is sufficient, the time is sufficient, and don’t expect explosive sales in the short term.
The personnel shake-up in the intelligent driving team was also brought to the table. Several key members left, and the media stirred up a storm. Ma Donghui set the tone with a single sentence: “Normal turnover, the team is well-prepared.” The new leaders are younger, with resumes from international giants. The VLA Preview has already been pushed to the i8, and in September, all AD Max users will be able to experience “Little Li Master”, with a major version coming in November. Stricter regulations? Just the right opportunity to brush up on safety testing again, Li Xiang stated: “Compliance is the bottom line, experience is the upper limit, both must be achieved.”
The supercharging network continues to soar. Ma Donghui summarized with the four-character mantra: “Fast, good, economical, and efficient”: the number of charging piles is 1.5 times that of Tesla, providing 500 kilometers of charge in ten minutes, and can be easily handled by women. Points can also offset electricity costs. As for whether it will be opened to competitors, the answer was quite cunning: “2C and 4C have always been open to the outside, but the 5C experience is exclusive to Li Auto owners.” The underlying message: core resources are reserved for insiders.
Listening to the entire meeting, the feeling is clear: Li Auto has been pushed to the wall, which has instead sparked a surge of strength. Declining sales, organizational growing pains, costly chips, and overseas expansion, each one is enough to drink a pot, yet the management insists on betting everything at once. Li Xiang’s final statement, “By 2026, product strength and AI capabilities must fully surpass the L9 era,” sounds like a military order. Is it a real breakthrough or just a grand vision? The moment the flagship model’s chip is installed next year, the truth will be revealed.