The price of the Li L9 without LiDAR could be at least RMB 40,000 less than the Li L9 Max at RMB 459,800.
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When Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) launched its flagship SUV, the Li L9, a year ago, it was only offered in the Max variant. Now, a lower-priced version may not be far off from release.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on June 15 the latest batch of models that will soon be allowed to be sold, as well as details on configuration changes to some existing models, with a Li Auto model included in the latter.
The public can submit feedback between June 16 and June 25.
The model number for the Li Auto vehicle is LXA6520SHEVX4, which is the same as the model number in the previous filing for the Li L9.
In the model's latest filing, LiDAR becomes optional, while other information remains the same.
Li Auto's naming of its models is similar to Apple's naming of the iPhone, using Max, Pro, and Air to distinguish different versions of the same model.
On June 21, 2022, Li Auto launched the Li L9, the company's second model after the Li ONE SUV.
Li Auto founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang mentioned the model name Li L9 Max at the end of the launch event at the time when announcing the price, implying that the company could launch other variants based on it in the future, a report by CnEVPost at the time noted.
The other two Li Auto models currently on sale are the Li L8 and Li L7, both offered in Max, Pro and Air versions, with only the Max version equipped with a roof-mounted LiDAR supplied by Hesai Technology.
Both the Max version of the Li L8 and Li L7 cost RMB 40,000 ($5,620) more than the Pro version, while the Pro version is RMB 20,000 more expensive than both Air versions.
This means that the Li L9 without LiDAR, which may be launched in the future, will cost at least RMB 40,000 less than the Max version at RMB 459,800.
The current Max version of Li Auto vehicles use two Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chips as the cockpit chip, while its assisted driving system is based on two Nvidia Orin X chips, with a total computing power of 508 TOPS.
The Li L8 Pro's cockpit uses two Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chips and uses one Horizon Robotics Journey 5 chip in the assisted driving system.
The cockpits of the Li L8 Air, Li L7 Pro, and Li L7 Air all use one Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip for the cockpit and one Journey 5 chip for the assisted driving system.
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