Ideal Knife Sales System: Establish Five "Theaters of Operations" and Enhance Competition | Exclusive from 36Kr

Text | Li Anqi

Editor | Li Qin, Yang Xuan

Under the pressure of selling 700,000 vehicles this year, Li Auto is trying to adjust its sales team to further stimulate sales.

36Kr Auto has exclusively learned that recently, Li Auto's Sales and Service Group has undergone a major restructuring. This group includes retail, after-sales service, charging, quality operation, overseas business, etc., and reports to Zou Liangjun, the senior vice president of sales and service.

On the retail side, a Li Auto insider said that the company is implementing a "theater system" internally, merging the original 26 theaters into five major theaters: East, West, South, North, and Central. "Each major region is responsible for the sales volume, profit, and NPS (Net Promoter Score) in its respective area."

The heads of the five major theaters all report to Zou Liangjun, and the position of a single retail head is no longer set up.

According to 36Kr Auto, Han Xi, the former vice president of sales, was the person in charge of the retail business with a rank of level 23. After the adjustment, he became the person in charge of retail in the Central Region. "The company intends to reduce management levels and strengthen internal competition."

In addition, Li Auto's internal announcement also includes several other adjustments:

• Most of the functions of the original first - level organizations [Sales] and [Sales and Service Operation] have been decentralized to the major regions to support operations. Other functional modules have been merged into [Sales Support], which is responsible for the standardization of front - line business processes and the construction of capabilities to support sales.
• The responsibilities of the original first - level organization [Service] have been adjusted. Some service business modules targeting the front line have been decentralized to the major regions to better support front - line operations. The regional service teams report to the major regions.
• A new first - level organization [Training Academy] has been established to further strengthen the training work of the sales and service group.

In response to this, Li Auto told 36Kr Auto: "The core goal of this adjustment is to improve the user's vehicle - using experience throughout the life cycle. In terms of the model, it draws on the experience of international companies such as Apple in regional management, and promotes the upgrade of the regional organization with the model of 'in - depth regional service + headquarters - enabled capabilities'."

"By decentralizing decision - making power to the five major regions, each region can quickly respond to the personalized needs of local users; the headquarters focuses on the construction of capabilities such as digitalization and training to ensure a unified experience standard for users. The core backbones who have grown during the decentralization of provincial management rights in the past year will provide mature local experience for this major regional adjustment, promoting the upgrade of the user experience from'single - point breakthrough' to'regional collaboration'."

The Sales and Service Group is a key business group of Li Auto. Li Auto has first - level departments such as Product and Strategy, Sales and Service, R & D and Supply, and Organization and Finance, corresponding to senior executives Li Xiang, Zou Liangjun, Ma Donghui, and Li Tie respectively.

There have not been many previous adjustments to this group. In 2023, Zou Liangjun, a senior executive who was previously in charge of Huawei (Terminal)'s Italian market and Honor's overseas sales, joined Li Auto and implemented the Huawei model, dividing the retail team into 26 theaters for management. CEO Li Xiang once summarized that the increase in sales in 2023 was due to the adjustment of the sales system.

In 2025, Li Auto is facing the same challenge of boosting sales.

Previously, according to a report by 36Kr Auto, Li Auto set a sales target of 700,000 vehicles for the supply chain in 2025, including about 600,000 extended - range vehicles.

This also includes the sales volume of Li Auto in overseas markets. Li Auto intends to start official sales in relatively mature parallel - export markets such as the Middle East and Central Asia. For reference, XPeng Motors' overseas sales target this year is about 40,000 vehicles.

Achieving the sales target of 700,000 vehicles is not an easy task.

"After the establishment of the five major theaters, sales resources will be more concentrated. Previously, the 26 theaters directly contacted the company's headquarters marketing team, but now they only need to contact five." A person close to Li Auto told 36Kr.

On the other hand, Li Auto's adjustment may also be a layout for the pure - electric vehicles to be launched in the second half of the year.

At the earnings conference call in March this year, CEO Li Xiang said that two pure - electric models will be launched this year. The 6 - seat mid - to - large pure - electric SUV i8 will be launched in July, and the large 5 - seat pure - electric SUV i6 will be released in the second half of the year.

However, Li Auto's pure - electric models not only face strong competitors such as the new AITO M8, Xiaomi SUV YU7, and the new Tesla Model Y, but also internal competition. The potential competition between its extended - range and pure - electric vehicle series is a major challenge for Li Auto.

At the beginning of 2024, Zou Liangjun, the vice president of sales and service at Li Auto, said in an interview with the media that there are significant differences between the east, west, north, and south in China, which means that both extended - range and pure - electric models have large market spaces.

Regionalizing sales operations may be an important strategy to solve this problem.

"Mobile phones do not have obvious regional characteristics. People in the north and south use the same phones. But cars are different. Regional characteristics are very obvious." An industry insider told 36Kr. For example, users in the northern regions prefer plug - in hybrid/extended - range models, while users in the southern regions are more accepting of electric vehicles.

Actually, a similar targeted adjustment strategy was seen in Li Auto's first pure - electric vehicle, the MEGA. After the unsuccessful launch of the MEGA, Li Auto removed the MEGA exhibition cars from some cities with low pure - electric vehicle penetration rates and moved them to first - and second - tier cities. "After all, 600,000 yuan can buy a house in some fourth - and fifth - tier cities."

Now, Li Auto's strategy to balance extended - range and pure - electric vehicles needs to be extended from one model to two vehicle series.

In fact, Li Auto's sales team strategy has always been closely related to the company's overall strategy.

In 2023, Li Auto sold nearly 380,000 vehicles, leaving a significant gap with other new - energy vehicle startups in the same period. Therefore, Li Auto set a goal of selling 800,000 vehicles and having 800 stores in 2024.

After Zou Liangjun joined Li Auto in 2023, he established a retail GTM (Go To Market, responsible for product entry into the market) team; at the same time, the retail team was divided into 26 provincial regions, changing from direct central management to direct provincial - team management, with the management rights decentralized.

However, after the unsuccessful debut of the MEGA at the beginning of 2024, Li Auto lowered its annual sales target from 800,000 to 500,000, slowed down the construction of sales stores, and gradually adjusted the sales team. In the middle of 2024, Li Auto also merged the functions of the retail and delivery headquarters to integrate sales resources.

This time, the adjustment of the sales team in the form of five major theaters not only retains the jurisdiction of the major regions but also allows flexibility in regional sales strategies.

Last year, with all - out efforts to boost sales, Li Auto's extended - range vehicle sales were close to 500,000. However, against the backdrop of fierce competition from Huawei - affiliated companies, Xiaomi, and other competitors, Li Auto doesn't have many cards to play this year.

The main sales volume of Li Auto this year will still come from extended - range vehicles. According to the official information, its four extended - range vehicles will receive an intelligent driving upgrade version in May this year.

Previously, Liu Jie, the vice president of business at Li Auto, said on a social platform that the intelligent driving upgrade version will focus on the upgrade of intelligent driving hardware.

For example, the AD Max version of intelligent driving will be upgraded from dual NVIDIA Orin - X chips to a single Thor - U chip to support the subsequent VLA large - model; the AD Pro version of intelligent driving will be upgraded from the Horizon J5 chip to the J6M chip, and a lidar will be added, with the active safety ability approaching that of the AD Max version.

The battery, electric drive, appearance, and interior styling of the four models will remain the same as the current models.

To boost sales, Li Auto is also making multi - pronged adjustments in charging infrastructure, sales stores, and overseas expansion. For example, the number of super - charging stations will be increased to 4,000 by the end of this year; the coverage of sales stores in fourth - and fifth - tier cities will be increased; and more investment will be continuously made in markets such as Central Asia, the Asia - Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe in overseas expansion.

In 2025, in the defensive period, Li Auto needs stronger product wisdom and organizational resilience to pass this test.