Li Auto aims to reach annual sales of 1.6 million vehicles and annual revenue of RMB 500 billion by 2025, its CEO said.
The CEO of Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) welcomed the clarification of China's new energy vehicle (NEV) purchase tax exemption policy for the next few years and reiterated the company's ambitious goals.
Li Auto aims to reach annual sales of 1.6 million vehicles and annual revenue of RMB 500 billion ($70 billion) by 2025, Li Xiang, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, wrote on Weibo today.
China has provided stable policies for the next four years, which is great and gives Li Auto's team no excuse not to accomplish its strategic goals for 2025, Li said.
By early 2026, Li Auto's ability to meet that goal will be verified, he said.
Li Auto originally set that aggressive goal in February 2021, saying the company aims to be the No. 1 smart electric vehicle company in China with a 20 percent market share, or 1.6 million units sold annually, by 2025.
For reference, BYD sold 1,804,624 retail units in China for the full year last year, ranking first with an 8.8 percent share, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Li Auto delivered 133,246 vehicles last year, up 47.25 percent year-on-year, but did not make the CPCA's top-selling automaker ranking.
All three models currently sold by Li Auto are extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), which are essentially plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) that are still equipped with internal combustion engines.
Recently, there has been some concern that China may be scaling back support for PHEVs in order to accelerate the auto industry's transition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
Earlier today, China's Ministry of Finance released details of the policy to extend the purchase tax exemption for NEVs, with equal treatment for BEVs, PHEVs, EREVs, and fuel cell vehicles.
The country exempts NEVs with a purchase date between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025 from vehicle purchase tax, the tax exemption will not exceed RMB 30,000 per new energy passenger vehicle.
For NEVs with a purchase date between January 1, 2026 and December 31, 2027, the vehicle purchase tax will be levied at half the normal rate, with the tax reduction not exceeding RMB 15,000 per new energy passenger vehicle.
To achieve its 2025 target, Li Auto announced two months ago its plan to launch new models in the next two years.
On the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, Li Auto unveiled its all-electric solution, based on the 800 V high-voltage platform, capable of giving a BEV a 400 km range on a 10-minute charge.
With the launch of the solution, Li Auto officially enters a phase of parallel development of its EREV and BEV product lines, it said at the time.
By 2025, Li Auto's product array will include one super flagship model, five EREVs, and five BEVs, the company said.
By then, Li Auto's models for the market priced above RMB 200,000 will fully meet the needs of family users, it said.
($1 = RMB 7.1945)
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