Li Auto posts double-digit revenue growth for Q2, but net losses widens amid sup...

Li Auto posts double-digit revenue growth for Q2, but net losses widens amid supply chain disruptionsLi Auto

Li Auto posts double-digit revenue growth for Q2, but net losses widens amid supply chain disruptions

Aron Chen

posted on 8 hours ago

Like many EV startups, Li Auto is currently draining money to scale production and gain EV market share. The company's net loss widened 172.2 percent year-over-year to 641 million yuan for the June quarter.

Chinese smart electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto posted mixed second-quarter results, revenue increased 73 percent year-over-year to 8.73 billion yuan (US$1.28 billion), but net loss widened 172.2 percent year-over-year to 641 million yuan.

Li Auto booked revenue of 8.73 billion yuan (US$1.28 billion) in its Q2 earnings, up 73% year-over-year, but a decrease of 8.7% from first quarter. The company had $8 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of second quarter.

The company delivered 28,687 vehicles, representing year-over-year increase of 63.2 percent, but it delivered fewer vehicles in Q2 compared to 31,716 vehicles of previous quarter. Li Auto lost more money from operations ($146.1 million) in Q2 than in the first quarter ($65.2 million), representing a month-over-month increase of 137%.

Gross margin was 21.5 percent for the June quarter of 2022, compared with 22.4 percent and 18.9 percent for the first quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2021, respectively

Meanwhile, Li Auto said it delivered 60,403 vehicles in total for the first half of 2022, representing year-over-year increase of 100.3 percent, that deliveries generated total revenue of 18.2 billion yuan (US$2.67 billion).

Like many EV startups, Li Auto is currently draining money to scale production and gain EV market share. Operating expenses reached $426.5 million in its Q2 earnings, an increase of 10% from Q1.

Li Auto blamed the losses to the high operating expense and negative effects of Covid-19, as Thousands of supply-chain vendors based in Shanghai and neighbouring cities were forced to halt operations or reduce production from April 1 to May 31 amid the harsh pandemic curb.

For the third quarter, Li Auto expects to deliver between 27,000 and 29,000 electric vehicles, almost unchanged from the 28,687 vehicles in the previous quarter.

Despite the low expectation for its deliveries, Li Auto also announced exciting news- It has secured thousands of orders for its new model L9, a flagship smart SUV for families, since its launch on June 21.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Li Xiang in July 2015, Li Auto is not directly comparable to pure electric vehicle maker Xpeng in that it makes so-called extended-range hybrid vehicles, instead Li Auto’s extend-ranged electric sport utility vehicle, which allows drivers to charge their cars with electricity or gasoline.

Li Auto, along with Shanghai-based NIO and Guangzhou-headquartered Xpeng, are commonly known as “big three” and major rivals to Tesla in mainland China.

The other two Chinese smart EV start-ups have yet to publish their quarterly earnings.