CHJ

Brand Overview

CHJ (Beijing CHJ Information Technology Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese intelligent new energy vehicle technology company established in 2015, founded by Li Xiang (founder of Autohome and Li Auto). With the brand mission of "Creating a mobile home, creating a happy home," the company is committed to creating safer, more convenient, and more comfortable intelligent electric vehicles for family users through innovation in products, technology, and business models. CHJ is currently a leading Chinese new energy intelligent car manufacturer, owning the luxury intelligent electric car brand Li Auto, covering full industry chain capabilities in design, R&D, manufacturing, and sales. The company is headquartered in Shunyi District, Beijing, and has a self-built intelligent manufacturing base in Changzhou. As of 2026, Li Auto has successfully listed on NASDAQ and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming one of the most successful automotive enterprises globally in terms of the commercialization of the extended-range electric vehicle technology route.

Development History

Start-up Period: Starting from four temporary workstations (2015–2017)

In 2015, after leaving Autohome, Li Xiang co-founded CHJ with several partners. The initial office only accommodated four temporary workstations, and the team built product prototypes using simple cardboard models and benches, exploring two strategic product routes: "Small and Beautiful SEV" and "Big and Strong SUV." In its founding year, the company was positioned as an "Urban Smart Mobility Service Provider," planning to enter the market through the shared mobility sector. In August 2016, CHJ's Changzhou Wujin factory completed its foundation laying. In February 2017, the intelligent car second base and industry fund signed agreements to settle in the Wujin High-tech Zone, and the SUV manufacturing project officially landed.

SEV Project Failure and Strategic Transformation (2018–2019)

The two early-planned micro electric vehicles, the SEVs, had a range of only 80–100 km, which failed to meet new energy subsidy policies and regulatory requirements, leading to the project's termination in 2018. In October 2018, CHJ launched the intelligent electric vehicle brand "Li Auto Creation" (later renamed "Li Auto") and simultaneously unveiled the first extended-range electric vehicle, "Li Auto Creation ONE." In March 2019, the brand was renamed "Li Auto." In April of the same year, the Li Auto ONE officially launched, priced at 328,000 yuan after subsidies. In November, the first Li Auto ONE rolled off the production line at the Changzhou factory, with deliveries beginning in December. In June, the company's registration name was officially changed from "CHJ" to "Li Auto," achieving uniformity between the company and brand naming.

Extended-Range Route Explosion and Scale Leap (2020–2024)

After the Li Auto ONE launched, it quickly became a hit, achieving the title of sales champion in the Chinese new energy SUV market and the top-selling domestic model above 300,000 yuan in 2020. In 2021, Li Auto completed dual listings on NASDAQ and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising 11.8 billion HKD. In June 2022, the flagship model Li L9 was launched, with monthly deliveries exceeding 10,000 in its first month, setting a record for deliveries of a single domestic brand model above 400,000 yuan. In September of the same year, the Li ONE successor model, the L8, and the first five-seater SUV, the L7, were launched. In March 2024, Li Auto's first pure electric MPV, the MEGA, officially launched. On October 14 of the same year, the company's 1 millionth vehicle rolled off the production line, making it the first enterprise among new forces and luxury brands to achieve this milestone, just 58 months after the first vehicle was produced.

Pure Electric Layout and Embodied Intelligence Leap (2025–Present)

In 2025, Li Auto launched its first pure electric SUV product line, the i Series (including the i8 and i6), marking the brand's formal entry into a development stage featuring parallel extended-range and pure electric lines. In the same year, the company accelerated its overseas market expansion, successively entering markets such as Uzbekistan, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. On May 15, 2026, Li Auto launched the all-new generation Li L9 Embodied Intelligence Flagship SUV, offering two configurations: Ultra (459,800 RMB) and Livis (509,800 RMB). This launch marked a key step for the company in the "Embodied Intelligence" track, integrating AI and hardware.

Brand Matrix / Product Line

CHJ's product matrix has evolved from a single hit model to a comprehensive series covering both extended-range and pure electric vehicles, spanning from SUVs to MPVs. The core architecture consists of the "L Series" (Extended-Range SUV), the "i Series" (Pure Electric SUV), and the "MEGA" (Pure Electric MPV).

L Series Extended-Range SUV (2022–Present): This series serves as the sales mainstay and brand pillar of Li Auto. It adopts a naming system where letters represent platforms and numbers represent sizes, forming a complete product layout. The entire L Series is equipped with self-developed extended-range electric systems, offering multi-scenario energy replenishment capabilities described as "Urban Electricity, Long-distance Power Generation, and Camping Power Supply."

i Series Pure Electric SUV (2025–Present): Starting in 2025, Li Auto launched the Pure Electric SUV i Series, with product naming continuing the logic of the L Series. The i8 and i6 respectively benchmark the pure electric versions of the Li L8 and L7, serving as the core product line for Li Auto to enter the high-voltage pure electric market. They are equipped with 800V high-voltage platforms and 5C ultra-fast charging technology.

Li MEGA Pure Electric MPV (2024–Present): Li Auto's first pure electric model, positioned as a large family seven-seater MPV, priced at approximately 559,800 yuan. Adopting a teardrop streamlined design, it has a drag coefficient of only 0.215 Cd. Equipped with CATL Phoenix 5C batteries, 12 minutes of charging provides a 500 km range. It launched maintaining a leading position in the pure electric MPV market above 500,000 yuan, but influenced by pricing and market positioning, it failed to become a hit on the level of the L Series.

Historical Models: Li ONE (2019–2023): The brand's first product, and also the first real hit among new vehicle manufacturing forces to break 200,000 unit sales for a single vehicle. Equipped with extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) technology, its NEDC comprehensive range exceeds 800 km. It features a four-screen interactive smart cockpit and pioneered the "Home Six-Seater SUV" sub-market. Production stopped in 2023, and it was fully replaced by the L8.

Market Performance

Performance High-Speed Growth Period (2019–2024): Li Auto experienced a long dormant period in the early days of its establishment; after deliveries started in 2019, cumulative sales in the first year were only 1,180 units. However, as the product strength of the Li ONE gained market recognition, the company entered a high-speed growth channel. In 2020, the Li ONE won the sales championship in the Chinese new energy SUV market. In 2022, monthly deliveries of the L9 exceeded 10,000 units. In 2023, the company became the first among new vehicle manufacturers to achieve full-year profitability. In 2024, full-year deliveries exceeded 500,000 units, setting a new historical high.

Growth Deceleration and New Challenges (2025): In 2025, Li Auto delivered 406,300 units for the full year, a decrease of 18.8% year-on-year, making it the only enterprise among the top new vehicle manufacturers with negative sales growth. Revenue amounted to 112.3 billion yuan, down 22.3% year-on-year, while net profit plummeted from 10 billion to 1.14 billion yuan, a drop of 85.8% year-on-year. Among these figures, L Series sales dropped about 20% year-on-year, with the flagship model L9 delivering only about 45,000 units for the year, nearly half of its previous performance. The main reasons for the decline include: impact from competitors with end-to-end intelligent driving capabilities like the AITO M9; growth of pure electric products such as the MEGA and i8 falling short of expectations; and market competition intensity for SUVs above 200,000 yuan far exceeding early-year expectations.

Quarterly Dynamics (2025–2026): In the first quarter of 2025, Li Auto delivered 92,900 units, up 15.5% year-on-year. Revenue reached 25.9 billion yuan, with a net profit of 647 million yuan, and gross margin maintained at a healthy 20.5%, showing resilience in the early stage of product iteration. However, sales continued to face pressure from Q2 to Q3: June deliveries were 36,300 units, down 24.1% year-on-year, and September deliveries were 34,000 units. In December 2025, due to the lack of year-end momentum, Li Auto sales continued to decline month-on-month. Entering 2026, whether the company can reverse this trend has become the focus of market attention.

Core Technology

CHJ's core technology layout unfolds around four layers: Extended-Range Power, High-Voltage Electric, Intelligent Driving, and Artificial Intelligence.

Extended-Range Electric Vehicle System: As a pioneer in extended-range technology, Li Auto has built full-stack self-developed capabilities based on the technical concept of "Urban Electricity, Long-distance Power Generation, Camping Power Supply." The third-generation extender launched in 2026 introduced a unique electronic intake timing system on the basis of the second generation, achieving an almost seamless start. Paired with an ultra-silent architecture and 36-decibel idle noise performance, it is equipped with the world's first extender intelligent maintenance system, achieving the longest maintenance cycle of 3 years or 30,000 kilometers. The all-new generation Li L9, equipped with the 5C extended-range system, achieves a comprehensive range of 1,650 km, with WLTC 100km fuel consumption of 6.3 liters.

High-Voltage Pure Electric Platform and 5C Ultra-Fast Charging: Li Auto's 800V high-voltage pure electric platform is equipped with CATL Phoenix 5C batteries, achieving an energy replenishment efficiency of 500 km of range with 12 minutes of charging. The construction of the 5C ultra-fast charging network is the infrastructure project Li Auto has focused on pushing since 2025, aiming to solve range anxiety for pure electric travel for users.

Intelligent Driving System AD Max and VLA Large Model: Li Auto adopts a full-stack self-developed route for autonomous driving technology. AD Max is the highest specification intelligent driving hardware platform; early versions were equipped with dual NVIDIA Orin-X chips, while the 2025 refreshed version was upgraded to a single Thor-U chip. In the second half of 2025, Li Auto upgraded the extended-range full-series AD Max models to the self-developed VLA (Vision-Language-Action Model) Driver Large Model. VLA integrates 3D spatial perception, logical reasoning, and behavior generation capabilities, capable of executing voice driving commands, roaming to find parking spaces, license plate location recognition for valet parking, and other advanced functions. With a parameter scale reaching 4 billion, its generational performance is compared to the leap from ChatGPT-3.5 to 4.0.

Embodied Intelligence and Self-Developed Chip Mach M100: In May 2026, Li Auto launched the world's first high-compute side inference chip based on data flow architecture, designed natively for AI—the Mach M100. Adopting an automotive-grade 5nm process, its single compute power reaches 1280 TOPS, with compute efficiency up to 82%, and end-to-end latency reduced by 40%. Combined with 4 LiDARs and a 3D ViT perception model, forward perception distance increased to 300 meters. Under Mach M100 compute support running the Mach VLA Model, compute volume increased 10 times compared to the previous generation.

Smart Cockpit and Li Auto Assistant: Li Auto's smart cockpit is equipped with a self-developed operating system and AI assistant "Li Auto Assistant." In 2025, Li Auto Assistant upgraded to a 3D plush image, equipped with the self-developed MindGPT-4o-preview model, providing a low-latency immersive human-vehicle dialogue experience.

Magic Carpet Air Suspension System: Li Auto's independently developed Magic Carpet Air Suspension System can automatically adjust suspension softness and height based on road conditions, improving ride comfort and driving stability for large SUV models. It has been an important force in promoting the localization and popularity of air suspension in models above 300,000 RMB.

Overseas Layout

CHJ's globalization strategy is established as one of the core strategies in its medium and long-term planning, with R&D, channels, and products advancing in parallel along three lines.

On the R&D front, the company has already established R&D centers in Germany and the US to enhance the product's global adaptability and regulatory compatibility. On the channel front, Li Auto adopts a diversified layout combining the "Authorized Dealer Model," "General Agent Model," and "Subsidiary Operation Model," allowing it to flexibly adapt to the characteristics of different regional markets. As of now, the company has completed channel construction in four overseas countries and built a standardized overseas sales and after-sales service system. On the product front, all new models launching in 2026 and beyond have incorporated overseas regulatory adaptability considerations from the early R&D stage.

2025 was the most iconic year for Li Auto's overseas expansion. In a short period, the company completed product launches and channel construction for four important international markets: Uzbekistan, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. Starting with Egypt, Li Auto exported its three main models—the Li L9, L7, and L6—to the Middle East and African regions. Given that charging infrastructure in overseas markets is still imperfect, the Li Auto L Series utilizes its "oil and electric" extended-range energy replenishment mode, which precisely fits local users' energy needs.

Future Outlook

CHJ is at a key node of comprehensive leap from "Extended-Range Technology Leader" to "Embodied Intelligence Mobility Service Provider." Looking forward, the company's strategic main axis focuses on three directions:

First, deepen the "Extended-Range + Pure Electric" dual-line strategy. L Series extended-range products remain the basic revenue platform for the brand, maintaining competitiveness through continuous intelligent renewal; i Series pure electric SUVs carry the heavy responsibility of expanding market share and completing electrification transformation. The continuous construction of the 5C ultra-fast charging network will be the key infrastructure determining the success or failure of the pure electric layout.

Second, comprehensively promote the implementation of the "Embodied Intelligence" strategy. Li Auto has clearly defined that "autonomous driving is the first half of embodied intelligence, and general humanoid robots are the second half of embodied intelligence." The mass production and deployment of the self-developed Mach M100 chip provided the compute foundation for AI capabilities such as the VLA large model, marking Li Auto's upgrade from the traditional automotive enterprise's "hardware architecture" to the new paradigm of "AI-defined cars."

Third, the globalization strategy enters a substantial expansion stage. The company has established the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe as key expansion directions. In 2026 and beyond, with more new models meeting overseas regulatory requirements launching one after another, Li Auto's overseas sales proportion is expected to further increase.

However, Li Auto's recovery path is not smooth. The sales decline in 2025 revealed the vulnerability of the "hit methodology" when facing a market that is increasingly crowded. How to balance the incremental stabilization of the L Series product line with the long-term cultivation of i Series pure electric new products, and how to rebuild the product moat under the squeeze of strong competitors like AITO and Leapmotor, will be the key proposition deciding whether Li Auto can continue to lead China's new vehicle manufacturing forces in the next decade.