In Depth: Mega Blunder Adds to Li Auto’s Troubles as Huawei Rivalry Hots Up

Li Auto Inc. (理想汽车) had reasons to be upbeat heading towards the official launch of its much-anticipated Mega electric vehicle (EV) on March 1.

Four days before the launch event, the Beijing-based company announced a remarkable milestone — it turned 11.8 billion yuan ($1.66 billion) in profit in 2023 on vehicle sales of 120.3 billion yuan. That made Li Auto the first of China’s major EV upstarts to report an annual profit. It also topped the deliveries chart among emerging EV-makers with 376,030 vehicles last year.