Having lost the top sales position and turned from profit to loss, can Li Auto, which has undergone intensive adjustments, regain its "growth"?

On January 29th, there were reports that Li Auto would initiate a new round of organizational structure adjustments, which would restructure its R & D system. It is reported that Li Auto will reorganize its R & D system into three major teams: the Base Model Team, the Software Ontology Team, and the Hardware Ontology Team.

In this adjustment, the autonomous driving team was split up. Lang Xianpeng, the former senior vice - president of autonomous driving, will transfer to lead the Hardware Ontology Team, focusing on robot R & D and reporting to Ma Donghui, the president of Li Auto. He will no longer be in charge of the autonomous driving business. The former autonomous driving team will be merged into the Software Ontology Team led by Gou Xiaofei, the vice - president of Li Auto's intelligent space.

After the adjustment, Gou Xiaofei will comprehensively coordinate the R & D of the intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving, also reporting to Ma Donghui. The Base Model Team is led by Zhan Kun, and is responsible for the R & D of Li Auto's VLA base model as a whole. It will integrate relevant technology teams to provide technical support for businesses such as autonomous driving, intelligent cockpit, and future robots, and report to Xie Yan, the CTO of Li Auto.

Some media have sorted out that Li Auto carried out at least six organizational structure adjustments in 2025 alone. Behind the intensive adjustments is the pressure Li Auto faces. In 2025, Li Auto presented a dismal report card - with an annual delivery volume of 406,300 vehicles, a year - on - year decline of 18.8%, and only achieving 63.48% of the annual sales target of 640,000 vehicles. At the same time, Li Auto dropped from the top of the new - energy vehicle startups' sales list to the fifth place and became the only new - energy vehicle startup with a year - on - year sales decline.

Can Li Auto stop the downward trend of sales?

From Profit to Loss

Recently, some media reported that Li Auto plans to close about 100 inefficient retail stores in the first half of 2026, including some located in the core areas of shopping malls in first - and second - tier cities. According to official data from Li Auto, as of December 31, 2025, Li Auto had 548 retail centers across the country, covering 159 cities; and 561 after - sales maintenance centers and authorized body - repair centers, covering 224 cities.

Subsequently, Li Auto responded that this was false information. In 2026, it will adjust and close a small number of inefficient stores, which is a normal business adjustment and will not affect the company's normal operations.

Cleaning up inefficient stores also reflects the pressure on Li Auto. In the third quarter of 2025, Li Auto's total revenue was 27.4 billion yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 36.2%; its vehicle sales revenue was 25.9 billion yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 37.4%. It had a net loss of 624 million yuan, while it had a net profit of 2.8 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2024. Thus, Li Auto ended its previous record of consecutive 11 - quarter profitability.

It is worth mentioning that Li Auto's gross profit margin also dropped from 21.5% in the third quarter of 2024 to 16.3% in the third quarter of 2025. However, it said that if the estimated cost of the recall of the Li MEGA was excluded, its gross profit margin would be 20.4%.

In October 2025, Li Auto decided to recall 11,400 units of the 2024 - model Li MEGA produced between February 18, 2024, and December 27, 2024, starting from November 7, 2025. At the earnings conference call for the third quarter of 2025, Li Auto said that the company had set aside about 1.1 billion yuan in warranty costs for the MEGA recall in the third quarter.

For Li Auto, the Li MEGA is the beginning of its pure - electric vehicle layout. In March 2024, Li Auto launched its first pure - electric vehicle, the MEGA, with an annual sales target of 80,000 units. However, its performance was poor, which once delayed Li Auto's layout of pure - electric vehicle models.

In April and May 2025, Li Auto successively launched the Li MEGA Home family special edition, the Li MEGA Ultra intelligent upgrade version, and the intelligent upgrade version of the Li L series. In July 2025, Li Auto launched its first pure - electric SUV, the Li i8. Two months later, Li Auto launched the five - seat pure - electric SUV, the Li i6.

In the third - quarter earnings report of 2025, Li Auto revealed that the total number of orders for the Li i8 and Li i6 had exceeded 100,000. Data from Chezhuzhijia showed that in 2025, the sales volume of the Li i6 was 29,000 units, the Li i8 was 23,100 units, and the Li MEGA was 18,500 units. It seems that Li Auto's pure - electric production capacity has not yet kept up with the orders.

Refocus on Extended - Range Vehicles

Currently, Li Auto's pure - electric vehicle models are still in the early stage of volume growth, while the sales of its extended - range vehicle models have declined. Data from Chezhuzhijia showed that in 2025, the sales volume of the Li L6 was 166,500 units, a year - on - year decrease of 13.39%; the Li L7 was 80,700 units, a year - on - year decrease of 39.78%; the Li L9 was 45,200 units, a year - on - year decrease of 47.21%; and the Li L8 was 43,300 units, a year - on - year decrease of 44.28%.

Obviously, as the foundation of Li Auto, the extended - range vehicle models are facing certain sales pressure.

At the earnings conference call for the third quarter of 2025, Ma Donghui, the co - founder, executive director, and president of Li Auto, proposed the strategic goal of "regaining the leading position in extended - range products in 2026" at the earnings conference. The Li L series will undergo a major facelift in 2026, with the entire series being standard - equipped with an 800V high - voltage platform and 5C ultra - fast charging technology. The company will streamline SKUs and improve the entry - level experience, aiming to regain the leading position in extended - range products and significantly increase the penetration rate of pure - electric vehicles.

In terms of pure - electric vehicles, it said that the Li i8 and Li i6 are currently on the path of production capacity ramping up, accelerating delivery, and market penetration. Starting from November 2025, to solve the production capacity ramping - up problem, the Li i6's battery supply will officially adopt the dual - supplier model. At the beginning of 2026, the monthly production capacity of the Li i6 will steadily increase to 20,000 units.

The goal of regaining the leading position in extended - range products in 2026 also reflects Li Auto's adjustment of its product focus against the background of the lack of scale in pure - electric products and the decline in the sales of extended - range vehicle models. There are reports that Li Auto will probably have only one brand - new pure - electric SUV in 2026, and its product focus will return to the extended - range vehicle market.

According to media reports, recently, Li Auto adjusted its product lines. The first product line is responsible for the MEGA, L9, L8, and L7, led by Tang Jing; the second product line is responsible for the i series and L6, led by Li Xinyang. At the same time, Li Auto systematically sorted out its offline sales system. Some stores have started implementing the "store manager explains the car" system, setting higher requirements for front - line managers, and those who are not competent will be transferred to other positions.

The new - generation L9 to be launched in the first half of 2026 is also regarded as the key for Li Auto to break the deadlock. It is reported that the 2026 - model L9 will be further enlarged in size, have a brand - new upgrade in the chassis, and be equipped with an extended - range battery with a capacity of over 70 kWh, with a pure - electric range of over 400 kilometers. At the same time, Li Auto's self - developed AI inference chip M100 will be installed in the L9 model for the first time.

Li Auto once revealed that this chip is developed in collaboration with its self - developed basic model compiler and software system. When it is installed in the new - generation VLA autonomous driving system in the future, its cost - performance ratio is expected to be more than three times that of current high - end chips.

That is to say, the L9 equipped with the self - developed chip M100 is expected to significantly reduce the overall vehicle cost and bring more profit margins to Li Auto.

Facing the dual pressures of declining sales and turning from profit to loss, Li Auto is trying to find a new rhythm in the highly competitive market through intensive organizational adjustments, product line sorting, and channel optimization. After refocusing on extended - range products, whether Li Auto can regain the top sales position is also worth looking forward to.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Visibility in the Auto Circle" , author: Wei He. It is published by 36Kr with permission.