--- title: "Li Auto's net profit plummets over 80%, Li Xiang's wealth evaporates by 12.5 billion in six months" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/279124049.md" description: "Li Auto's 2025 financial report shows revenue of 112.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22.3%; net profit plummeted by 85.8% to 1.139 billion yuan. The delivery volume was approximately 406,300 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 18.8%. Li Xiang's net worth has decreased by 12.5 billion yuan in six months, now standing at 27.5 billion yuan. The company is facing performance pressure, with a future sales target of a year-on-year growth of 20%" datetime: "2026-03-14T13:00:51.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/279124049.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/279124049.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/279124049.md) --- # Li Auto's net profit plummets over 80%, Li Xiang's wealth evaporates by 12.5 billion in six months In 2024, Li Auto, which won the sales championship among new forces, delivered a disappointing report in 2025. **According to the latest financial report disclosed by Li Auto, in 2025, the company achieved revenue of 112.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22.3%; net profit was severely impacted, down 85.8% year-on-year to 1.139 billion yuan.** Looking ahead to 2026, Li Xiang revealed that the company's sales target is to achieve more than 20% year-on-year growth (with sales increasing to over 488,000 vehicles). However, in the first two months of the year, Li Auto's delivery performance was mediocre, with monthly delivery volumes decreasing by 7.5% year-on-year and a slight increase of 0.6%. In the capital market, since the second half of last year, Li Auto's stock price in the Hong Kong stock market has shown a downward trend. As of the close on March 13, the company's stock price was HKD 67.9 per share, significantly down from the high of HKD 138.3 per share earlier this year. As the leader of the company, Li Xiang's wealth has also been affected. In the "2026 Hurun Global Rich List" released in March this year, Li Xiang's net worth was 27.5 billion yuan. **Compared to the 40 billion yuan recorded in the "2025 Hurun Rich List" in October last year, Li Xiang's wealth has decreased by 12.5 billion yuan in less than half a year, a decline of over 30%.** **Both revenue and net profit have declined, putting pressure on Li Auto's performance.** In the earnings call, Li Xiang admitted: "The past year has been an important strategic adjustment period for Li Auto." **The financial report shows that in 2025, Li Auto's delivery performance was unsatisfactory, with approximately 406,300 vehicles delivered, a decrease of 18.8% compared to the previous year.** A deeper analysis of the delivery data reveals that the decline in Li Auto's delivery volume was concentrated in the second half of last year, with 93,200 vehicles delivered in the third quarter and 109,200 vehicles in the fourth quarter, down 39% and 31.2% year-on-year, respectively. The significant decline in delivery volume led to a year-on-year decrease of 23% in vehicle sales revenue, which fell to 106.7 billion yuan. At the same time, the company's automotive gross margin also decreased by 1.9 percentage points to 17.9%. The simultaneous decline in vehicle sales revenue and vehicle gross margin acted like a domino effect, further impacting the company's overall performance. In 2025, Li Auto achieved revenue of 112.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22.3%; recorded a net profit of 1.1 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year decline of 85.8%. **Even more severe, in 2025, Li Auto's operating profit turned from profit to loss, from a profit of 7 billion yuan the previous year to a loss of 520 million yuan.** Focusing on the single quarter, the situation for Li Auto is also not optimistic. In the fourth quarter of last year, Li Auto's revenue decreased by 35% year-on-year to 28.8 billion yuan; net profit fell by 99.4% year-on-year to 0.02 billion yuan. Among them, Li Auto's vehicle sales revenue in the fourth quarter of last year decreased by 36.1% to 27.3 billion yuan; the vehicle gross margin also dropped from 19.7% in the same period last year to 16.8%. However, in the face of such a severe situation, Li Xiang remains optimistic, stating, "After the proactive strategic adjustments in 2025, we have begun to see positive changes in organizational efficiency, supply capacity, and sales systems since the fourth quarter, including improved store efficiency, alleviated production capacity issues for the Li Auto i6, and a rebound in sales of the Li Auto i8." It is worth mentioning that, regarding the full-year performance last year, Li Auto's cost reduction and efficiency enhancement strategy was effectively executed. In 2025, the company's operating expenses were 21.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5%. Among them, selling, general, and administrative expenses were 10.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12.8%, mainly due to reduced employee compensation as a result of the 2024 recognition of CEO performance-based stock payment expenses. However, Li Auto did not cut its investment in research and development, with last year's R&D expenses amounting to 11.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%. Previously, some media reported that Li Auto allocated 50% of its R&D expenses last year to AI-related fields. In response, the company's CFO Li Tie stated, "We do not view the automotive business and AI business as independent sectors; rather, we integrate the development of AI capabilities into the overall business model of the company, and all R&D investments will serve to upgrade the existing business system." Li Tie also revealed that in 2026, the company's R&D expenses are expected to remain around 12 billion yuan, with AI-related investments still accounting for about 50%, mainly covering self-developed chips, computing infrastructure, and autonomous driving systems. It is noteworthy that entering 2026, Li Auto's delivery performance still faces severe tests. In January and February of this year, Li Auto delivered 27,700 and 26,400 vehicles, respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 7.5% and a slight increase of 0.6%. Li Auto expects that the vehicle delivery volume in the first quarter of this year will be between 85,000 and 90,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.5% to 3.1%; achieving total revenue of 20.4 billion to 21.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 21.3% to 16.7%. **Formulating the "3+2" strategy and launching the store partner mechanism** In the increasingly competitive new energy vehicle market, Li Auto is at a critical juncture in its development, and as the company's helmsman, Li Xiang has provided his own solution. **To achieve the goal of over 20% sales growth in 2026, Li Auto has formulated the core strategy of "3+2."** First, there are three core pillar strategies: First, strengthen sales system management. In the view of Li Auto, efficient management of the direct sales system is key to building the company's long-term core competitiveness. Second, promote the successful upgrade of the L series centered around the L9. Every aspect, from product launch, capacity ramp-up to delivery service, must be executed properly. Third, promote stable growth in pure electric vehicle sales. Li Xiang boldly stated that whether it is the Li L6, L8, Mega, or the pure electric flagship L9 to be launched in the second half of the year, all past issues related to supply and product launches must be thoroughly resolved to ensure that Li's pure electric products establish a foothold in the mid-to-high-end market. Next are two auxiliary strategies: First, transform investments in the field of intelligence into differentiated product experiences. In recent years, Li Auto has continuously invested in the field of intelligence, allocating substantial resources to chips, models, and technology research. This year, these investments will translate into tangible differentiated product experiences, and this experience will be proactive, high-frequency, and able to naturally integrate into users' daily driving scenarios. Second, accelerate the pace of overseas market expansion. Li Xiang believes that this year marks the official layout of Li Auto in overseas markets, which is also an important long-term growth opportunity for the company. In terms of sales, Li Auto President Ma Donghui pointed out that the core idea of Li Auto's channel layout in 2026 is "quality over quantity." According to him, the company will still add new stores this year, prioritizing prime locations such as top shopping malls and quality auto cities to enhance brand influence and attract quality customer traffic. In terms of urban layout, Li Auto's channel network in lower-tier cities is already relatively complete, and the company will focus on densifying its layout in higher-tier cities as the sales of pure electric vehicles increase. At the same time, Li Auto will continue to enhance the delivery experience, covering the entire process from store reception, test drives, to delivery, as well as dedicated personnel at high-speed supercharging stations during holidays. It is worth noting that Ma Donghui also specifically mentioned that the company officially launched the "Store Partner Mechanism" in early March. The core of this mechanism is to treat stores as basic operating units and create a direct sales model with Li Auto characteristics. **Specifically, Li Auto will adhere to the direct sales model to ensure a unified service experience and pricing policy nationwide.** At the same time, by delegating operational decision-making and profit-sharing rights to store managers, the company aims to stimulate the team's business awareness and vitality, with operational decision-making rights including customer acquisition autonomy, operational autonomy, and team management autonomy. It is reported that Li Auto's assessment method for store managers will also change, shifting from a single sales assessment to an assessment of the overall operational results of the store. "We hope that store managers can treat the store as their own business," Ma Donghui believes that this mechanism can fundamentally solve past issues of blind store openings and blind expansion of store exhibitions; in the future, store managers will participate throughout the site selection process, with evaluation rights and responsibilities directly tied to individuals, thereby improving the quality of store operations from the source. Notably, during the earnings call, Ma Donghui also responded to rumors circulating online about Li Auto closing 100 stores: "The rumor about closing 100 stores is not true." However, Ma Donghui also emphasized, "We will continue to normally close and replace a small number of inefficient stores that fail to meet sales targets," stating that "this is part of normal operational optimization." According to the information disclosed in the financial report, as of February 28 this year, Li Auto has 539 retail centers in 160 cities nationwide and operates 548 after-sales service and authorized service centers in 223 cities. In comparison, by the end of 2025, Li Auto is expected to have 548 retail centers in 159 cities nationwide and operate 561 after-sales service centers and authorized body and paint centers in 224 cities. **Continuously advancing self-research strategy to address cost challenges** Radar Finance noted that during the earnings call, the term "self-research" became a frequently used term among Li Auto executives, permeating their explanations of various key issues. Currently, the rising prices of core components such as batteries and storage chips have put tremendous cost pressure on automotive companies. In response to this challenge, Li Auto is attempting to address it through a series of self-research initiatives. Ma Donghui pointed out that the company's self-researched and manufactured range extender, electric drive power module, self-researched and outsourced domain controller, silicon carbide power chip, as well as the Mah 100 intelligent driving chip and customized vehicle Pad, have played a key role in cost control. **Li Auto's Chief Technology Officer, Xie Yan, revealed that the Mah 100 chip has successfully achieved mass production and will be delivered to the market along with the new generation of Li Auto L9 series.** Regarding the new generation of Li Auto L9 equipped with the Mah 100 chip, Li Xiang also praised it, stating, "This model is defined as an embodied intelligent product, primarily because we have completed the reconstruction of the entire technical system from the three dimensions of perception, brain, and body." Xie Yan provided an in-depth explanation of the three significant values brought by the Mah 100 chip in terms of cost reduction and efficiency improvement. First, the material cost of a single chip is far lower than that of externally sourced solutions. Second, by replacing the MCU controller of the previous generation platform with the Mah 100 chip, combined with the virtualization technology of Li Auto's onboard operating system, each vehicle can save over 1,000 yuan in costs. Third, relying on the data flow architecture and the joint design of chips and models, the operational efficiency of the chip has significantly improved, leaving ample room for future performance upgrades. In addition to core components such as chips, Li Auto also emphasized its battery strategy, which will always adhere to the principle of open cooperation, working hand in hand with industry-leading partners while firmly maintaining control. Ma Donghui revealed that by 2026, all models of Li Auto will be equipped with batteries from the Li Auto brand and CATL. Based on fully self-researched technology, a rigorous quality control system, and long-standing values, Li Auto will provide reliable guarantees for users. Radar Finance noted that in a response to a question from a netizen released by the official account last July, Li Auto stated that the battery showcased at the Li Auto i8 launch, which underwent rigorous testing, is a 90.1-degree 5C ternary lithium battery produced for Li Auto by Sunwoda in a self-researched and outsourced model It is worth mentioning that in February of this year, ZEEKR recalled over 38,000 vehicles due to safety concerns with the batteries, and this recall may be related to quality issues with the battery cells delivered by a subsidiary of Xinwangda, which was sued by Geely's subsidiary, Weirui Electric. However, Li Donghui emphasized that "regardless of which battery supplier it is, the performance, quality, and safety of its products must meet the unified standards of Li Auto to ensure that the user experience is completely consistent." As the curtain rises on 2026, can Li Xiang lead Li Auto to achieve its sales targets and reverse the performance decline? 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