Li Auto Addresses Long Delivery Times for MEGA Home

Li Auto's president of the first product line, Tang Jing, recently responded to widespread user concerns regarding the long delivery times for the MEGA Home through a video. He admitted that customers ordering the standard version of the Li MEGA currently face a wait of two months or even longer, primarily due to a significant gap between production capacity and market demand. Tang used data to reveal the underlying logic behind their production planning, which was initially based on market expectations that benchmarked against the Toyota Alphard, a high-end MPV with monthly sales of approximately 1,700 units. As a result, Li Auto set the maximum production capacity for the MEGA at only 1,650 units per month. However, following the MEGA Home's debut at the Shanghai Auto Show this year, the vehicle received an overwhelming response, leading to a surge in orders that forced the urgent addition of production capacity. He explained that the auto industry's lengthy supply chain requires time for coordinated adjustments. Despite facing challenges in increasing production capacity, Li Auto is making significant progress: production in June has already risen to 2,500 units, with a target of 3,000 units for July and aiming for 3,300 units or more in August. This indicates that actual production capacity is struggling to double from the baseline of 1,650 units. Tang committed that the team will work overtime to speed up deliveries, but he also acknowledged that capacity expansion is a long-term process and urged users to understand that "good things take time." Regarding the question of why the planned capacity was 8,000 units last year but now struggles to reach 3,000 units, Tang revealed historical lessons. Last year, Li Auto had overly optimistic sales expectations for the MEGA, and both the contract manufacturer and the supply chain were configured for an 8,000 units per month capacity. However, post-launch, various factors led to actual sales falling far below expectations, with as few as 500 units delivered in the most challenging months, even resulting in temporary production halts due to inventory pressure. This overestimation of production capacity caused significant losses for Li Auto and its supply chain partners, leading partners to repurpose production lines for other models, ultimately retaining only 1,650 units of capacity. Tang specifically pointed out that unique features of the MEGA Home, such as the zero-gravity rotating seats in the second row and the floating table in the living area, as well as upgrade demands from the older MEGA Ultra, are critical bottlenecks currently limiting capacity increases. Li Auto is fully committed to overcoming these challenges, striving to break through the 3,500 unit capacity barrier by August to alleviate delivery pressures.