From coincidence to inevitability—why is Li Auto consistently leading in sales?

Disclaimer: This article is an original work of the “You You Li Xiang” public account. If it involves any infringement, please contact us for removal!

 

2023 In January, Li Auto delivered a total of 15,141 new vehicles. Since deliveries began, Li Auto’s cumulative delivery volume has reached 272,475 vehicles.

 

And just recently, in December 2022, the Li Auto L9 and Li Auto L8 both exceeded 10,000 units, achieving a total delivery volume of 21,233 vehicles.

 

 

In December 2022, we achieved four first-place rankings:

 

30-50 It ranks first in SUV sales among vehicles priced at 100,000 yuan; it also ranks first in new-energy vehicle sales among vehicles priced between 300,000 and 500,000 yuan. It ranks first in large SUV sales; it also ranks first in mid-to-large SUV sales.

 

We’ve won the favor of users and industry acclaim thanks to our product strength. With our most robust sales figures, we’ve demonstrated our remarkable resilience and growth potential.

2 On the 8th, Li Auto’s flagship five-seat SUV, the L7, will officially make its debut. We are even more confident that Li Auto will not only become the first choice of luxury SUVs for 270,000 users but also for an ever-growing number of families.

From our first-generation product, the Ideal ONE, to the Ideal L9, Ideal L8, and Ideal L7, we’ve become increasingly confident in our path of innovation—“going beyond users’ needs to create the most exceptional products and services.”

7 Over the past year, how have we transformed success from being accidental into an inevitability?

The answer lies in the organizational evolution, growth, and maturation of Li Auto, as well as in our corporate culture—and it is embodied in each and every member of the Li Auto family.

 

01 Sales volume signifies the success of an ideal product strategy.

In the view of Zhang Xiao, head of product planning at Li Auto, we are using sales figures to prove to the public... Li Auto’s product strategy is more rational and better aligned with user needs.

In the past, the passenger car market has always been a seller’s market, dominated by a few automotive brands that set the market rules. It wasn’t the case that consumers could simply buy whatever they wanted or obtain the best products at the most reasonable prices. “Whether something is expensive or affordable, there will be a significant difference in product quality.” Zhang Xiao said.

Yet those familiar perceptions and habits are not necessarily reasonable—indeed, some of them even need to be broken.

We hope to break past market inertia and redefine industry norms with the Ideal L9 and Ideal L8, and through our efforts, make the market more rational.

Therefore, Li Auto has consistently adhered to the principle of putting product value first at every price segment.

“ When making any consumption decision—whether it’s buying a car or even a 5-yuan item—consumers will always ask themselves: “Is the money I’m spending worth it?” Li Auto is committed to helping Chinese consumers return to a reasonable price range and purchase the best possible products.

The product value formula we’ve consistently upheld is: Product Value = Product Strength ÷ Product Price.

“ The denominator is the price, but simply lowering the denominator actually ends up harming users. Instead, we’ve chosen to boost the numerator by further enhancing our product’s capabilities.

The product philosophy we aim to create and deliver is entirely different from the traditional brand’s past product philosophies—philosophies that have already established a familiar gradient and differentiation among users. We strive to offer the strongest product performance at the same price point, becoming the top choice in that price segment and creating products that exceed user expectations. This is our guiding principle.

Zhang Xiao said, “Some imported cars sell for only around 70,000 to 80,000 U.S. dollars overseas, yet suddenly become million-dollar luxury vehicles once they hit the domestic market. As industry insiders, we understand the costs behind car manufacturing and are well aware of its profit model. We know best how to deliver million-dollar-quality products to our customers at a reasonable cost.”

Thanks to this formula, many consumers have already seen that in December last year, the Li Auto L9 became the top choice among large SUVs in China priced between 400,000 and 500,000 yuan, while the Li Auto L8 became the top choice among mid-to-large SUVs in China priced between 300,000 and 400,000 yuan.

When the Li Auto L9 and Li Auto L8 were first launched, some media outlets and users questioned the positioning of the two models: “Both are six-seater vehicles—will their target customer groups overlap?”

We can first answer another question: How does Li Auto view the market?

“ The core factor driving users to buy a car is price. Different price ranges correspond to different spending capacities—those with budgets between 300,000 and 400,000 yuan represent one group of buyers, while those with budgets between 400,000 and 500,000 yuan form another. Zhang Xiao explained that although cost-effectiveness is paramount, Li Auto firmly believes that every family shares common automotive needs—such as spaciousness, safety, comfort, functionality, and intelligent experience.

“ In each price segment, we aim to deliver the best product performance to meet all the needs of users in the six-seat market. Zhang Xiao believes that as long as this is achieved, there won't be much overlap among users of the Li Auto L9 and Li Auto L8.

Precisely for this reason, the Li Auto L8 is equipped with all the features found in the Li Auto L9—such as the Ideal Magic Carpet air suspension, a robust body structure, a head-up display (HUD), the fully self-developed Li Auto AD intelligent driving system, three-row fully electric seats, a 7.3.4-channel panoramic sound system, and luxury seats... Even the software services for the smart cockpit are uniformly standard across both models. The only differences lie in certain flagship-level features—such as the refrigerator, ten-point massage function, and small table—features that primarily offer users a “nice-to-have” premium experience.

Zhang Xiao stated that, “We aim to ‘create a mobile home, a happy home’ for every single user—it’s no empty slogan.” We hope to transform the market through the incremental improvements made with each generation of Li Auto’s products. For the foreseeable future—past, present, and long into the future—we’ll continue to challenge conventional wisdom and established perceptions. “Technological advancement is all about enabling more people to enjoy equal rights. We’ve always championed the concept of technological equity, and we hope that through Li Auto’s products, everyone can maximize their value.”

To change the industry’s and users’ traditional perceptions and consumption habits, sales are the only way we can prove ourselves.

“ Sales are driven by user contributions. As long as we consistently put user value first, users will vote for us with their actions.

In Zhang Xiao’s view, what does the delivery volume signify? “Users have proven for us—publicly—that our user-centric strategy, rather than a self-centered one focused solely on automakers and technology, is the right choice.”

02 When we can’t make a decision, we use our values to guide us.

“ From an R&D perspective, I’d find it hard to say that the success in delivery volume is due to anything we did right this month. Tang Jing, head of R&D and operations at Li Auto, said, “R&D is a crucial upfront component, and we’ve been preparing for it for several years already.”

Tang Jing summarized two key reasons for Li Auto’s continued leadership in delivery volumes: First, the product capabilities of the Li Auto L9 and Li Auto L8 models themselves are exceptionally strong, which has sparked significant demand among users. Second, despite their outstanding product performance, these models also boast excellent quality, earning the trust of a large number of customers.

Next, Tang Jing focused more on how to create demand for our products among a large number of users—and from a research and development perspective, how exactly do we achieve this?

At Li Auto, R&D needs to be involved in every downstream department, taking charge from start to finish.

Traditional automotive product development cycles are typically long, and collaboration among departments relies on a handoff approach. This model works well for highly mature products based on established platforms that don't require many iterations—and ramping up to mass production is a gradual process.

The Li Auto L9 and Li Auto L8 achieved monthly sales exceeding 10,000 units within just one to two months of their launch—this can be described as “climbing-style growth.”

“ “In a scenario of rapid, climbing growth, R&D must step up and take full end-to-end responsibility,” emphasized Tang Jing. “After all, the R&D team knows best which aspects of the product are new and which areas require special attention. It’s simply not acceptable for me to pass the baton over and then completely ignore whether it lands safely on the ground or whether the next runner performs well. R&D must stay closely involved throughout the entire process.”

Take Li Auto’s odor team as an example: In traditional automakers, when managing odor quality, “as long as the in-vehicle air quality of the complete vehicle is acceptable before the vehicle’s SOP, and the odors from individual components are also acceptable, we can directly hand over responsibility to the downstream supply chain and manufacturing facilities.”

At Li Auto, odor engineers are responsible for the air quality throughout a vehicle’s entire lifecycle. They have the deepest understanding of the mechanisms and principles behind odor generation, and they know exactly which areas are most likely to pose problems. “Whether it’s during the R&D phase or after mass production, R&D is always in charge of addressing air quality issues,” they say.

The odor engineer also works closely with the company’s quality and safety teams, supply chain specialists, and others to identify issues and provide technical support. They devote extra effort to controlling critical processes. For example, suppliers may use certain cleaning agents and auxiliary materials—materials whose processing steps aren't typically standardized in the component manufacturing process yet still significantly impact odor levels. Therefore, our “reach” needs to be longer, broader, and more precise, helping suppliers solidify their production procedures.

Tang Jing described it this way: When we’re “climbing,” we definitely use both our hands and feet. Courage alone isn't enough—it requires new tools and more technologically advanced methods.

2021 On September 30, during a team-building activity, amidst the rising steam from the hot pot, the R&D team decided that, in order to improve the overall vehicle quality, they would independently develop a Lianshan data monitoring platform system. This system would upload factory equipment data to the cloud and use algorithms to monitor the production of each vehicle in real time.

“ We’ve implemented a quality early-warning mechanism right at the factory. As soon as the very first piece of equipment is assembled and the very first screw is tightened—when the vehicle is still just a “fertilized egg” cell—we begin monitoring it in real time to check for any potential issues.

Take solder joints as an example: Previously, it was very difficult to check the bonding strength of solder joints—methods available were either traditional destructive testing by chiseling or ultrasonic inspection. Chiseling involves using a file or chisel to cut open the joint for visual inspection; this is a destructive testing method.

Now, with our tech-enabled monitoring system, we can perform non-destructive inspections in real time. By observing whether the voltage changes as current flows through the solder joints, we can determine whether there are any issues with the solder joints. We can monitor every single solder joint and every single screw in real time for our users.

Why does R&D have to be taken to such extreme lengths? Tang Jing replied, “In the past, car deliveries were like ‘climbing a hill’—starting with 1,000, then 2,000, then 5,000 units per month, gradually ramping up production. During that ‘climbing’ phase, if you ‘fell,’ you wouldn’t suffer too much ‘injury’—you could just get back up and keep going. But once we go public and start ramping up production at scale, it’s more like ‘rock climbing.’ If you’re not careful, a single misstep could lead to serious injury.”

He also believes that quickly responding to the needs and issues raised by the market and users is a key reason why many customers choose to buy our cars.

Relying on user scenarios, Li Auto consistently adheres to high safety standards across all scenarios and operating conditions. According to statistics from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), although rollover accidents account for only 3% of all traffic accidents, their fatality rate is as high as 33%.

The causes of vehicle rollovers are quite complex, involving significant factors related to the driver, the road conditions, the vehicle itself, and the surrounding environment. These factors require extensive experimentation and numerous simulations for calibration. Once R&D is initiated, the costs involved are enormous—but our engineers nonetheless made the decision to push ahead with this project without hesitation.

“ Among Chinese automotive brands, Li Auto should be the first to make full-range rollover protection a standard feature across its entire lineup.

Last April and May, some test-driving media and users commented that the bumper of the Li Auto L9 didn't look very appealing. Re-designing the bumper would take six months to complete—and at that point, there were only three to four months left until the start of production (SOP). This posed an enormous challenge for both our R&D engineers and supply-chain engineers. To meet customer expectations, they worked around the clock to accelerate the progress of the bumper mold modifications while ensuring that quality standards were fully met. As a result, by the time the vehicle was showcased in nationwide test-drive events, customers were already seeing a brand-new bumper.

Tang Jing mentioned her biggest takeaway from work, “ Sometimes we get really stuck when choosing a technical solution. When we simply can’t make a decision, we turn to our values for guidance. We always put user value first, striving to deliver products that are safer, more comfortable, and more refined for our users. To this end, we must do the right thing—not just the easy thing.

03 Ensure supply—go all out and never give up.

Liao Zehua, head of the supply department at Li Auto, summarized that behind the consistently leading delivery volumes, the supply team has faced numerous challenges, particularly experiencing a “turbulent month” in December.

The first setback was the aluminum subframe. At a time when pandemic restrictions were being lifted and the proportion of infected workers kept rising, the sharply increased labor shortage once again posed a severe challenge to the subframe supply, which had previously shown some signs of easing. The supply team stationed on the front lines immediately began negotiations with suppliers, successfully prompting them to optimize their attendance policies for blue-collar workers and boost the rate of workers showing up for duty—thus enabling them to hold onto the hard-won delivery schedule.

The second hiccup arose with the range extender. Due to the unique nature of the production processes for key components, coupled with the significant impact of the pandemic on logistics and labor resources, this triggered major supply risks. To address these challenges, the supply team immediately stationed itself at the supplier’s facility to provide support and help the supplier resolve various issues. “Many colleagues slept on the floor in the hallway, but everyone persevered bravely just to ensure that supply targets were met.”

In addition to on-site support, the supply team also provided suppliers with essential material assistance. “Although some of the medicines and instant food products aren’t particularly expensive, they’ve been a great source of warmth for blue-collar workers who have been operating under lockdown for months due to the pandemic, greatly boosting the morale of the supplier teams.”

The third setback occurred in labor-intensive seat manufacturing and supply. In early December, a large number of workers at seat suppliers tested positive for the virus, creating an urgent need for additional manpower on-site. The supply team quickly stepped in to help suppliers identify external resources and fill the staffing gaps. Meanwhile, the interior and exterior trim teams proactively offered to “stay on duty even if we test positive, and return promptly once recovered,” ensuring that frontline staff could remain fully engaged. This initiative received heartfelt recognition and support from our supplier partners.

Our supply partners are always on the move. They’re always the first to arrive at the supplier’s site to resolve issues promptly. “Ensuring production and delivery even under challenging circumstances relies on everyone’s unwavering determination, years of accumulated operational experience, seamless collaboration between internal and external teams, and our willingness to put ourselves in the suppliers’ shoes, facing difficulties together and finding solutions,” said Meng Qingpeng, head of the supply chain.

From its very inception, the range-extender manufacturing base of Li Auto has remained firmly committed to ensuring the timely delivery of range extenders—a goal that is unwavering and unshakable,” said Zhu Yingjian, the person in charge. Looking back to the trial-production phase of the range extender in 2021, not only was production capacity insufficient at the time, but as Zhu Yingjian put it, “there wasn’t even anyone available to take inventory of the equipment.”

Since then, the range-extender manufacturing base has been “training while fighting and accumulating experience along the way.”

Zhu Yingjian’s very first task was to recruit personnel. The manufacturing of range extenders is an extremely sophisticated engineering endeavor that places exceptionally high demands on employees’ skills. The process of building something from scratch is incredibly challenging. Zhu Yingjian knew this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill recruitment effort—what we needed were experienced mentors who could provide training and guidance, the very first sparks to ignite the range extender manufacturing base. At the same time, we also had to tackle a series of daunting challenges, including production-line upgrades, earlier scheduling, and higher targets. Ultimately, the base completed its production-line upgrade on April 1, 2022, and began production as scheduled on April 15.

Now that the issues involving both people and equipment have been resolved, we’re facing another challenge: the rapid ramp-up in demand—“launching means scaling up immediately”—which is making supplier delivery problems particularly tricky. At the root of this issue lies the fact that some suppliers simply don’t have sufficient understanding or trust in us. In March 2022, just as the range extender was about to enter formal production, Zhu Yingjian convened a special supplier conference. The primary purpose was to reassure everyone that the Li Auto range extender manufacturing base would definitely achieve its capacity ramp-up targets—and to urge suppliers to place their full confidence in Li Auto!

“ “At Ideal Motors, we’ve raised the banner of ensuring supply stability, and everyone has stepped up without any hesitation—everyone is giving it their all,” said Zhu Yingjian. “Without the unwavering conviction of our entire range-extended engine team, we simply wouldn’t have been able to win this battle to secure supply!”

04 The “Ideal” Intelligent Manufacturing of the Manufacturing Team

Since 2015, Li Auto has consistently adopted a self-built factory model. What has this approach brought to Li Auto after several years?

As the final step in the entire value chain, manufacturing is not merely about producing the products developed through R&D—it also involves rigorously guarding the gate, ensuring quality control, filling in any gaps, and accelerating problem resolution to swiftly achieve mass production. The factory must become a “powerful engine,” a high-performance “rear-mounted engine.”

By building our own factory, we can proactively drive problem-solving and control, playing the role of a “rear-mounted engine.” Moreover, through continuous optimization and iteration of our ideal production and manufacturing system, we can support production efficiency and quality control across the entire value chain, relentlessly pursuing excellence.

The delivery volume is a report card that has been accumulating over several years.

Li Bin, head of Li Auto’s manufacturing operations, said casually, “We’re not surprised that our delivery numbers continue to lead the pack—we even think we could do even more.”

The first word he attributes to achieving such results is “trust”—which can also be understood as a sense of conviction. “First, we trust that our supply-chain partners will definitely manage to get the materials back; second, we believe that our quality team will surely help us meet our quality standards, ensuring that the cars can be produced and delivered; and third, we believe in ourselves—once we’ve set our goals, we’re confident we can put them into practice, and there’s no doubt that we’ll succeed.”

Subsequently, he provided an in-depth summary from three perspectives on how the manufacturing base team turned their “sense of conviction” into reality.

First, never fight a battle without being prepared. “ In all sectors of the manufacturing industry, not only is proactive work required, but even more emphasis is placed on high-quality, predictive work.

2022 In October, the manufacturing base launched preparations for “delivering 20,000 vehicles on time.” It conducted a systematic review of personnel, equipment, materials, processes, and the working environment, identifying production bottlenecks and potential future challenges. For each identified issue, the team held weekly meetings to advance solutions. The three key process stages—stamping, welding, and painting—adopted the slogan: “Let the entire manufacturing base ‘forget’ about the first three process stages when it comes to quality issues,” ensuring that no defects whatsoever make it through to final assembly.

Secondly, in the face of complex manufacturing systems, what kind of organization do we need to build in order to achieve 100% of our organizational performance targets?

Li Bin believes that what we truly need is to build a learning and thinking-oriented organization, in which every level—within the scope of its authority—is capable of thinking, sensing, formulating solutions and plans, making decisions, and taking action—not merely engaging in simple execution. Building a liberating team means enabling every employee and every frontline manager at all levels to unleash their full potential. “They’ll be able to think critically, just like entrepreneurs, carefully pondering every issue they encounter in their daily work and tackling them with perfection and efficiency.”

Li Bin has three requirements for grassroots management personnel in manufacturing.

First, we must have a sense of bottom-line awareness. At our respective posts, each of us should at least achieve 80% to 90% of our assigned duties and job performance targets.

Second, it enables predictive management. It allows us to anticipate, detect, and respond even before the first signs of a problem emerge—before the problem actually occurs—and even if a problem does arise, we have the capability to bring it under control.

Third, they should be capable of taking on delegated authority. Within their respective fields and functional responsibilities, they should have the ability to independently sense, judge, make decisions, and take action—rather than having to report everything and seek confirmation at every level.

“ At the manufacturing base, you’ll feel that everyone is working with a strong sense of ownership and responsibility.

Thirdly, the automotive manufacturing process is highly complex. While it may not be difficult to build a single car, mass-producing high-quality vehicles on a large scale is far from easy. This is influenced by numerous factors, including product design reliability and industrializability, factory planning, manufacturing process sophistication, production-line equipment, component quality, supply-chain stability, order management systems, information systems, logistics systems, staff training, standard operating procedures, design changes, bottleneck management, quality-process control, and traceability procedures, among others.

A superb and highly efficient manufacturing system is the foundation, core, and key to mass-producing high-quality vehicles. This requires patient establishment and development from the perspective of a comprehensive manufacturing strategy.

As of the end of 2022, the Changzhou manufacturing base had produced and delivered over 250,000 complete vehicles. This represents a comprehensive test of Li Auto’s manufacturing system and marks Li Auto’s transition from a 0-to-1 stage to a 1-to-10 stage.

From product processes and production-line equipment to personnel training and production organization, as well as factory operations management and the IT systems supporting operations (including our in-house LI-MOS system), every aspect is undergoing comprehensive inspection and continuous improvement. At the manufacturing base, product quality indicators such as AUDIT and IPTV have reached the level of mainstream luxury vehicles, while production efficiency—measured by HPV—exceeds that of most traditional automakers. Moreover, the factory’s takt time continues to improve steadily through ongoing optimization based on the designed net takt time.

Currently, with two-shift operations at the manufacturing base, daily production can reach 800 units per day, and monthly output could surge to 20,000 units per month, providing strong support for meeting the current market demand for the Li Auto L9 and Li Auto L8 models, which are in high demand.

Li Bin believes that there are no perfect individuals—only perfect teams. “ The reason we’ve been able to achieve even a modest amount of success in such fierce competition ultimately comes down to the fact that we’ve built a manufacturing team that is highly cohesive, capable of tackling tough challenges, and driven by “ideals.” This is the unique advantage cultivated by Li Auto’s values and corporate culture.

He summarized it as “4 Beliefs + 3 Actions”—

4 Believe in: believing in the company’s values, believing that the company has potential for growth, believing that individuals will grow and develop, and believing that effort will be rewarded.

3 One action: a proactive work attitude, a collaborative and win-win team spirit, and a broad-minded perspective that puts the company’s interests first.

“ “We’re climbing higher every month and consistently exceeding our quarterly targets—we’ve become accustomed to overcoming one challenge after another. This certainly isn’t our best performance yet.” Facing the company’s more challenging sales and production targets for 2023, Li Bin spoke with confidence and composure.

05 Quality: Harmonizing production relations to unleash tremendous productivity within enterprises.

“ “Constantly breaking new ground in delivery volumes will become milestone after milestone for Li Auto. As quality partners, we must firmly support this glory by ensuring our work stands strong at each of the four corners of the pedestal,” said Wang Zhijie, Head of Quality Inspection—Northern Region at Li Auto.

Harmonizing production relations and enabling enterprises to unleash tremendous productivity—that’s the goal of Li Auto’s quality team. So, what’s our productivity formula? The answer is: Direction × Strength × Information Tools.

“ Our guiding principle is quality—quality in essence. From product development and standard operating procedures (SOPs) all the way through to delivery and after-sales service, rigorously controlling quality is the overarching direction of our work. As for “strength,” it refers to the resources we need to mobilize in order to solve problems. Only by uniting the strengths of various departments and links—such as R&D, suppliers, and manufacturing—we can achieve a synergy effect where one plus one equals more than two. Moreover, information technology tools can rapidly enhance management efficiency, enabling us to unleash tenfold or even a hundredfold our collective strength.

Wang Zhijie particularly emphasized the importance of information technology tools: “ In the past, under the traditional 4S dealership model, it could take up to a week for vehicle-related issue information to be relayed back to the vehicle manufacturer. The more users there were, the slower the problem resolution process became. However, with our ticket-based system, we communicate directly with users: they describe their issues and send over photos and videos from the scene, allowing us to start addressing the problems immediately. Thanks to this “zero-distance” communication between the quality department and user needs via tickets, we’ve significantly improved both the efficiency and effectiveness of problem resolution.

With consistently leading delivery volumes, Wang Zhijie believes that the biggest “hero” behind this success is Li Auto’s corporate culture.

Li Auto’s core values are “Going beyond users’ needs to create the most exceptional products and services”; its three guiding principles are:

1 Always put user value first;

2 Do the right thing, not the easy thing;

3 Solve all problems through collaboration.

“ There’s an inherent tension between quality and production—only through repeated clashes, friction, and even heated disagreements can we reach a shared understanding of the issues and identify clear paths forward. However, the quality team isn’t just there to point out flaws and nitpick at R&D and manufacturing. At times like these, fostering a positive culture becomes especially crucial: “Only with a culture of collaboration and mutual trust can everyone truly believe in and understand us.”

On the one hand, corporate culture serves as the foundation for helping quality teams gain trust and foster collaboration within the organization. On the other hand, within the quality team itself, there is a consensus that a qualified quality engineer must do well... The fluorescent agent that uncovers problems, the catalyst that solves them, and the lubricant that fosters departmental collaboration. You must become someone who adds value and is truly useful throughout the entire automotive manufacturing chain.

“ It can be said that most problems don't arise intentionally, nor can they be solved independently by any single individual or department. We must continuously connect and bring together the strengths, resources, and information from all links—R&D, supply, and manufacturing—to provide a clear direction for resolving these issues.

“ Quality work is like building a highway—only when the road is properly constructed can vehicles smoothly and efficiently speed along it without any hindrance. When quality is well managed, efficiency naturally follows.

06 Delivering the Iron Army: Achieve both large and small closed loops, and steadfastly uphold our commitment to users.

2022 In November, deliveries reached 15,034 vehicles; in December, they climbed to 21,233 vehicles; and in January 2023, deliveries hit 15,141 vehicles—continuously setting new delivery records. Behind these remarkable achievements is Li Auto’s dedicated delivery team, which has upheld its commitment to customers and stayed true to its promise to the company.

Lü Renming, head of delivery at Li Auto, recalls that the difficulties and challenges were actually foreseeable. The key to achieving higher delivery volumes lies in ensuring that these issues can be effectively addressed.

“ The master plan is dynamic and ever-changing, requiring us to remain flexible and adapt accordingly. Yet, in this constantly evolving process, the delivery workflow forms a tightly integrated chain that involves various specialized stages, including logistics, PDI, and delivery operations. The internal challenge we face lies in using a flexible plan to drive the achievement of our goals and close the small closed-loop within each department.

To ensure that delivery targets are met and more users can receive their vehicles on time, in addition to the delivery team itself, we also need a comprehensive, closed-loop system. Starting from September last year, a Delivery Assurance Task Force was established, bringing together representatives from supply, manufacturing, quality control, logistics, PDI, delivery, and after-sales services. This task force operates through daily meetings, where delivery teams raise their needs, jointly identify risks, and synchronize progress—allowing everyone to promptly come up with effective solutions. “The Delivery Assurance Task Force has been instrumental in helping us meet the challenge of achieving record-high delivery volumes,” said Lü Renming, expressing his heartfelt gratitude for everyone’s collaboration.

Last December, the number of COVID-19 infections surged. At a time like this, if preparations are inadequate and responses are poorly managed, the impact on delivery volumes could be devastating.

The delivery team activated its emergency plan very early on. Both store staff and customers entering the stores were required to wear N95 masks, and vehicles were also provided with protective covers for customers. As the number of infections continued to rise, the delivery center promptly switched to a semi-closed operational model and made every effort to adopt door-to-door delivery services. Thanks to these preventive measures, even at the peak of infection rates among frontline workers, the infection rate remained at only 35%. By the last week of December, the team had restored 85% of its original operational capacity.

Behind every delivery success story lie countless tales of frontline delivery team members working tirelessly day and night. Yet, Lü Renming is keenly aware that simply relying on passion alone won't enable us to keep breaking new delivery records. At Li Auto, the title of “delivery iron army” earns widespread recognition not just because of sheer enthusiasm, but because of our methodologies and tools—our systemized operational framework and our relentless iteration of key performance indicators.

“ This is the key to our successful implementation of corporate values and achieving leading delivery results.

07 Service: Efficient cross-organizational collaboration, tackling tough challenges every day.

As a backend-focused service team, how can we support the smooth achievement of delivery goals?

Yang Haishan, head of Li Auto’s service department, believes that the key lies in “efficient collaboration.”

“ The service team is the guarantee for delivery. Behind every vehicle delivery, there are many after-sales professionals providing support—day in and day out, ensuring rapid information flow and efficient resolution of issues.

First, the offline service team has been moving more frequently to the front lines, collaborating closely with the delivery team to ensure smooth vehicle deliveries. “As soon as frontline stores receive vehicle-assurance requests from the delivery team, they must respond swiftly while also ensuring that service center operations run smoothly. So during peak delivery periods, they face considerable challenges and bear a great deal of pressure.”

Second, on the one hand, the parts supply team needs to prepare more parts in advance; on the other hand, it also faces the challenge of significantly improved efficiency in warehousing and logistics.

Third, two teams—online and offline—work together to ensure the user experience and satisfaction of the newly delivered product. Before the launch of the Ideal L8, the technical support and training team conducted extensive technical preparations for frontline staff, enabling more frontline personnel to understand how to effectively respond to and handle various issues. As the L8 hits the market, this knowledge base continues to be maintained: whenever users have questions about vehicle features or system updates, both online and offline team members can promptly and efficiently address and resolve these queries.

Fourth, the service team also possesses strong responsiveness and adaptability.

Speed means responding promptly—grabbing every minute and maximizing efficiency is their top priority. During the delivery process, the on-site service team focuses intently on resolving all issues encountered during the PDI inspection and carrying out the corresponding technical upgrades. The end of the month typically sees a peak in deliveries, and there are also many orders that are delivered remotely. At the same time, vehicle logistics information is fully transparent and visible to users. “When users can see the logistics information, they’ll have certain expectations—and we simply can’t let them down! So we’re left with very little time for preparation.”

Yang Haishan said, “Unreserved support and responsiveness are the key to our success.”

The service team’s ability to help ensure consistently leading delivery volumes is the result of years of accumulated expertise.

In the early days, parts supply was managed by a central warehouse that delivered goods to all stores nationwide. “Under this model, it would definitely be impossible to meet today’s delivery demands.” Over the past few years, the parts supply system has undergone two major iterations, significantly enhancing its capabilities. We’ve established service centers, temporary service centers, and authorized body and paint repair centers in more than 220 cities, providing users with comprehensive service support.

The technical support system is also undergoing continuous iteration and improvement. In the early stages, technical support relied primarily on the strength of individual stores and point-to-point assistance from headquarters experts. Today, however, we’ve established a comprehensive technical support network—from regional teams all the way to the Beijing headquarters—comprising backend experts from areas such as quality assurance, R&D, and supply chain. When frontline partners encounter various issues, they can readily receive support through this well-organized support network.

Drawing on past experience, Yang Haishan said that the service team had anticipated delivering consistently outstanding results. “We knew what kinds of challenges we would face and which resources would be particularly in demand, so everyone was prepared in advance.”

“ Today’s achievements are the result of our step-by-step progress.

It is the unwavering commitment of every idealist to Li Auto’s mission and culture that has transformed Li Auto’s success from mere coincidence into an inevitable outcome.
On February 8, the Li Auto L7 will soon be launched. We believe it will... Redefining the Comfort Experience of a Five-Seat Family SUV We create mobile homes; users create happy homes!
In 2023, Li Auto will be even more ideal.

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