Li Auto - Earnings Call - Q4 2024

Transcript

Speaker 11

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Li Auto's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Ms. Janet Zhang, Investor Relations Director of Li Auto. Please go ahead, Janet.

Janet Zhang (Director of Investor Relations)

Thank you. Good evening and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Li Auto's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call. The company's financial and operating results were published in a press release earlier today and were posted on the company's IR website. On today's call, we will have our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Xiang Li, and our CFO, Mr. Johnny Tie Li, to begin with prepared remarks. Our President, Mr. Donghui Ma, and our Senior Vice President, Mr. James Liangjun Zou, will join for the Q&A discussion. Before I continue, please be reminded that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today.

Further information regarding risks and uncertainties is included in certain company filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Limited. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law. Please also note that Li Auto's earnings press release and this conference call include discussions of unaudited U.S. GAAP financial information as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to Li Auto's disclosure documents on the IR section of our website, which contain a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to comparable U.S. GAAP measures. Our CEO will start his remarks in Chinese. There will be English translation after he finishes all his remarks. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Mr. Xiang Li. Please go ahead.

Zhou Tiran (Platform Change Specialist)

1000万颗粒子大模型的全量推送，成为中国首个1000万颗粒子大模型上车的企业。从100万颗粒子到1000万颗粒子，用时仅7个月，理想汽车智能驾驶的升级速度持续保持行业领先水平。在性能方面，1000万颗粒子的AD Max V13的表现也在行业中占据领先地位。用近期多家汽车专业媒体对国内外头部智驾品牌的评测举例来看，AD Max V13在多次比赛中均取得了第一名。从平均接管次数看，领先的优势非常明显。此外，我们也已经启动了下一代技术架构VLA，即视觉、语言、行动模型的研发，并计划在今年的首创纯电SUV理想I8同时发布，期待为用户带来全新的智能驾驶体验。 充电网络方面，配合2025年推出纯电SUV的产品，我们的建设也在全面提速。2024年，我们一共新增了上线1420座理想超充站，建站速度行业领先。此外，理想已经建成目前车企规模最大的高速超充网络，截止目前我们已经有超过1900座理想超充站，以及超过1万根充电桩投入运营。理想汽车的超充网络不仅覆盖范围广，而且充电速度快，设备的稳定在线率高。即使在冬季开启自动充电预热后，理想MEGA依然可以在理想超充站实现12分钟充满500 km的充电效率。即使在春节假期的高负荷下，充电设备的在线率仍然维持在99.9%的行业较高水平。这样优质高效的补能体验，恰恰就是纯电用户的刚性需求。展望未来，我们会继续加速布局超充网络，目标在首款纯电SUV理想I8发布时上线2500座超充站，并在2025年底将超充站增加到4000座。 在销售网络方面，2024年我们的开店质量和销售效率都有显著提升，通过将北部商场店逐步置换为头部汽车城的中心店，中心店的占比已经从2023年底的24%提升到2024年底的42%。全国总岗位数从2600多个提升到3700多个。从电效看，以2024年新开的沧州高新中心店为例，开业仅四个月，单月电效就已经达到了175台，这也充分展示了我们的新店高效的运营效率。截止2025年2月28日，理想汽车在全国已经有500家零售中心，覆盖150座城市。展望2025年，我们持续在加强线下渠道布局的同时，也将继续以提升运营效率为原则，有节奏、有质量地推进销售网络的拓展和建设。 我们也在按计划推进国际化进程。2025年1月，理想汽车德国研发中心在慕尼黑开业。德国研发中心是理想汽车首个海外研发中心，同时也是理想汽车迈向全球化研发战略布局的第一步。另外，我们也在哈萨克斯坦、迪拜、乌兹别克斯坦三个地区建立了直营服务中心。2025年我们将加大海外拓展力度，继续布局高增长潜力的市场，相信未来将有越来越多的理想汽车停止在不同的国家。 展望2025年，我们会继续聚焦用户价值，保持一贯的产品竞争力，在升级现有车型的同时，做好纯电SUV车型的推出工作。此外，我们也将持续拥抱智能化转型，不断加强研发、技术创新以及自我造血能力，确保在智能化时代实现可持续的长远发展和突破。下面有请我们的CFO李铁为大家详细介绍我们的财务表现。

Hi everyone, welcome to today's conference call. China's NEV market maintained rapid growth in 2024. According to insurance registration data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, China's NEV penetration rate exceeded 50% for many consecutive months in 2024, reaching 45.9% for the full year, up 12 percentage points year over year. Leveraging our outstanding product portfolio, organizational efficiency, and continuous breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, we further solidified our position as the sales champion among Chinese auto brands in the CNY 200,000 and above NEV market, taking our full-year market share to 15.3%. In the fourth quarter of 2024, we delivered over 158,000 vehicles, setting a new quarterly record. Our full-year deliveries exceeded 500,000 units, making us both the first emerging NEV brand and first Chinese premium auto brand to reach this milestone.

In addition, each model in our Li L series, including the L6, L7, L8, and L9, have achieved cumulative deliveries of over 200,000 units respectively, showcasing the strong user recognition of our products and our highly efficient and consistent delivery capability. These achievements would not have been possible without the effort and dedication of every team member at Li Auto, the support of our partners, and the trust of our users. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to them and look forward to reaching new milestones in collaboration. As our business continues to expand, a number of financial metrics have reached record highs for the quarter. In Q4 2024, total revenues reached RMB 44.3 billion, taking full-year total revenues to RMB 144.5 billion. As of the end of 2024, our cash on hand has reached RMB 112.8 billion.

Our robust cash generation capabilities and substantial cash reserves provide solid support to our long-term investments in electrification and artificial intelligence, advancing our progress toward our long-term vision. Looking forward, we expect continued growth in 2024, aiming for 88,000-93,000 vehicle deliveries in Q1. There is no doubt that intelligence is the theme of the next phase of auto industry's evolution. We continue to invest in R&D and accelerate innovation. Our R&D investments exceeded RMB 11 billion in 2024, driving further breakthroughs and growth in our autonomous driving system. In terms of autonomous driving, we solidified our position as a top-tier player in the sector. Our industry-pioneering dual system autonomous driving solution, combining an end-to-end model with a vision language model, sets a trend in the industry with industry-leading pace of iteration and performance.

In January, we rolled out AD Max V13, upgrading highway NLA to an end-to-end architecture, providing end-to-end capability across both urban and highway driving scenarios. In parallel, we introduced a first-of-its-kind AI reasoning visualization feature for autonomous driving, providing users with a better understanding of how the autonomous driving function works. In February, we rolled out our latest end-to-end and VLM models trained on 10 million video clips for all AD Max users, making us the first automaker in China to deploy large models trained on 10 million video clips. Our autonomous driving system has been evolving at an industry-leading pace, taking only seven months to grow from 1 million to 10 million video clips. In addition, our 10 million video clips AD Max V13 boasts industry-leading performance, which was clearly demonstrated in our recent press reviews that evaluated top-tier autonomous driving systems from global and domestic auto brands.

AD Max V13 secured first place in a number of these head-to-head reviews with a significant advantage in terms of number of interventions. Additionally, we have already initiated R&D for our next-generation model based on the vision language action or VLA architecture. We plan to launch it alongside our first battery electric SUV, Li L8, this year delivering refreshed autonomous driving experience to our users. Moving on to supercharging network, we're accelerating its deployment in preparation for the launch of BEV models in 2025. In 2024, we built 1,420 supercharging stations at an industry-leading pace. We operate the largest highway supercharging network of any auto OEM in China. As of now, we have over 1,900 supercharging stations with over 10,000 charging stalls in operation. Our supercharging network covers a wide range of regions, boasting rapid charging speed and high uptime rate.

In even winter, Li MEGA can charge up to 500 km in 12 minutes with battery preconditioning. Even under the heavy load of Spring Festival holiday, our charging facilities reach an uptime rate of 99.9%. The overall charging experience and efficiency are essential to BEV users. Looking forward, we will continue to accelerate the deployment of our supercharging network, aiming to have 2,500 supercharging stations by the time we launch Li I8, our first battery electric SUV. We plan to expand to 4,000 stations by the end of 2025. Moving on to sales and servicing network. In 2024, the overall quality and sales efficiency of our retail stores have improved substantially. By replacing lower-performing shopping mall stores with sales centers located in major auto parks, our proportion of sales centers has increased from 24% at the end of 2023 to 42% at the end of 2024.

Total nationwide display spots increased from over 2,600 to over 3,700. In terms of same-store sales, taking the newly opened Chungju High-Tech Zone sales center as an example, its same-store sales have reached 175 units per month in just four months since opening. This fully demonstrates the operating efficiency of our new sales centers. As of February 28, 2025, we had 500 retail stores in 150 cities nationwide. Looking ahead to 2025, while we continue to strengthen our offline presence, we will continue to pursue high-quality expansion of our sales network at a reasonable pace, prioritizing operating efficiency. We're also advancing our overseas expansion as planned. In January of 2025, we opened our R&D center in Munich, Germany. This is our first overseas R&D center, marking the first step in our globalization R&D strategy. Additionally, we have established directly operated servicing centers in three regions: Kazakhstan, Dubai, and Uzbekistan.

In 2025, we plan to enhance our overseas expansion efforts with a continued focus on markets with high growth potential. We believe that in the future, we will see an increasing number of Li Auto vehicles on the road in different countries. Looking forward to 2025, we will maintain our product competitiveness with a relentless focus on creating user value. We will further upgrade our existing models and ensure the smooth launch of our new BEV models. In addition, we will continue to embrace intelligent transformation by strengthening our R&D, technological innovation, and cash generation capabilities to ensure sustainable long-term development and breakthroughs in this artificial intelligence era. I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Johnny, to walk you through our financial performance.

Johnny Tie Li (CFO)

Thank you, Xiang. Hello everyone. I will now walk you through some of our fourth quarter 2024 financials. Due to time constraints, I will address financial highlights here and encourage you to refer to our earnings press release for further details. Total revenue in the fourth quarter was RMB 44.3 billion or $6.1 billion, up 6.1% year over year and 3.3% quarter over quarter. This included RMB 42.6 billion or $5.8 billion from vehicle sales, up 5.6% year over year and 3.2% quarter over quarter. Both the year over year and the sequential increase were primarily attributable to the increase in vehicle delivery, partially offset by the lower average selling price. The year-over-year ASP decline was mainly due to different product mix, while the sequential ASP change was mainly due to the interest subsidies provided to customers.

Cost of sales in the fourth quarter was RMB 35.3 billion or $4.8 billion, up 10.5% year over year and 4.9% quarter over quarter. Gross profit in the fourth quarter was RMB 9 billion or $1.2 billion, down 8.3% year over year and 2.8% quarter over quarter. Vehicle margin in the fourth quarter was 19.7%, compared with 22.7% in the same period last year and 20.9% in the prior quarter. The year-over-year decrease was mainly due to different product mix. The sequential decrease was mainly due to the loss on purchase commitment and lower average selling price due to interest subsidies provided to customers. Gross margin in the fourth quarter was 20.3%, versus 23.5% in the same period last year and 21.5% in the prior quarter.

Operating expenses in the fourth quarter were RMB 5.3 billion or $721.6 million, down 22% year over year and 9.1% quarter over quarter. R&D expenses in the fourth quarter were RMB 2.4 billion or $329.9 million, down 31% year over year and 6.9% quarter over quarter. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to the decreased expenses related to product portfolios and technologies and decreased employee compensation. The sequential decrease was primarily due to the decreased employee compensation. Selling and general administrative expenses in the fourth quarter were RMB 3.1 billion or $421.5 million, down 5.9% year over year and 8.4% quarter over quarter. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to decreased employee compensation and improved operating efficiency.

The sequential decrease was primarily due to decreased employee compensation associated with recognition of CEOs' performance-based awards in the third quarter of 2024, partially offset by the increased marketing and promotion activities. Income from operations in the fourth quarter was RMB 3.7 billion or $507.4 million, up 22% year over year and 7.9% quarter over quarter. Operating margin in the fourth quarter was 8.4%, improved from 7.3% in the same period last year and 8% in the prior quarter. Net income in the fourth quarter was RMB 3.5 billion or $484 million, down 38.6% year over year and up 25.3% quarter over quarter. Diluted net earnings per share attributable to ordinary shares was RMB 3.31 or $0.45 in the fourth quarter, versus RMB 5.32 in the same period last year and RMB 2.66 in the prior quarter.

Now turning to our balance sheet and cash flow, our cash position remains strong and stood at RMB 112.8 billion or $15.5 billion as of December 31, 2024. Net cash provided by operating activities in the fourth quarter was RMB 8.7 billion or $1.2 billion, versus RMB 17.3 billion in the same period last year and RMB 11 billion in the prior quarter. Free cash flow was RMB 6.1 billion or $830.1 million in the fourth quarter, versus RMB 14.6 billion in the same period last year and RMB 9.1 billion in the prior quarter. As of December 31, 2024, we had a total of 32,248 employees. For more information and details of our 2024 full year financial results, please refer to our earnings press release. Now for our business outlook.

For the first quarter of 2025, the company expects the delivery to be between 88,000 and 93,000 vehicles, representing a year-over-year increase of 9.5%-15.7%. The company also expects the first quarter total revenue to be between CNY 23.4 billion and CNY 24.7 billion, or $3.2 billion and $3.4 billion, representing a year-over-year decrease of 8.7%-3.5%. This business outlook reflects the company's current and preliminary view on its business situation and market condition, which is subject to change. That concludes our prepared remarks. I will now turn the call over to the operator and start our Q&A session. Thank you.

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. For the benefit of all participants on today's call, please limit yourself to two questions. If you have additional questions, you can re-enter the queue. If you are a Mandarin speaker, please ask your questions in Chinese first, then follow with English translation. Your first question comes from Paul Gong with UBS.

Paul Gong (Analyst)

感谢接受我的提问。两个问题。第一个问题来说是关于公司的纯电动车型，想问一下管理层整体的今年的发布节奏是什么样子的，然后后续的纯电车型有什么亮点可以跟大家分享。第二个问题的话是关于公司的一个AI的发展战略，不知道管理层有些最新的一些什么信息可以跟大家分享。

I will translate my questions. The first one is regarding the BEV months. Can you remind us the overall latest launching timing of the new models and also the highlights of your BEV models you could share with us? The second is regarding the AI strategy. We noticed management is spending more focus, increasingly more focus on the AI. Can you please share us with the latest development strategy? Thank you.

Zhou Tiran (Platform Change Specialist)

我是李想。我来回答这两个问题。我第一个问题是，今年会发布两款全新的纯电SUV。首款纯电SUV李想 I8将在7月发布，I6也会在下半年发布。这个发布节奏基本上会跟2022年我们在发布L9和L8的节奏较为类似。这样的一个好处也可以，除了能够在下半年获得一个比较好的销量，也能够为下一年的一季度储存更多的订单。另外一方面就是我们不会在发布会之前公布太多的产品的信息，希望能够让产品的亮点与用户的真实体验、购买、交付可以更紧密地连接在一起。

We're planning to launch two pure electric SUVs this year, the first one being the Li I8, which will be launched in July, and the second one, Li I6, will also be launched in the second half of this year. The two cars will be launched. Part of the reason we launch it in the second half of this year is partly to catch the sales momentum in typically the sales season of Q3 and Q4, and also partly to save enough orders to support deliveries for next Q1 and Q2. We tend not to release too much information before official product release because we think it needs to be considered holistically with users' buying experience, delivery experience. Please stay tuned for official product release.

第二个关于人工智能的战略规划，我们认为现阶段人工智能在现阶段最本质的工作还是实现能力的重要突破。以我们最重要的自动驾驶举例，在规则的这种算法下，其实比较类似于昆虫或者低等一些的动物来如何学习开车。后来我们其实升级到了端到端加VRM。其实端到端加VRM比较类似于猴子去开车，并配合人类的一些简单的辅助指挥。虽然能力提升了很多，但是仍然无法达到人类顶级职业司机的水平。这是整个的模型的技术架构决定的。同时，端到端和VRM还处于两个不同的脑系统，而且每个脑系统都不够强大。所以我们要解决的一个问题是，如何让大模型能够像人类一样学习驾驶车，能够理解真实的物理世界，也能够理解导航在内的软件，还能够理解车内的乘坐者表达出来的各种需求。这就需要我们把今天的三个领域的不同的模型放在一个基座里进行训练，包含面向3D vision的空间智能，也包含今天的这种大语言模型的语言智能，也包含端到端所实现的具身智能。只有把这三类放在一个基座下进行训练，它才能够真正地像人一样地去理解物理世界，去理解人的意图，去理解软件的一切，像人一样开车，并最终达到超越职业司机的水平。这是我们对于人工智能能力突破的理解。

First of all, our overall view is that at this stage, the most important thing for artificial intelligence is to improve capabilities.

I'll provide one example using autonomous driving. Under rule-based system, it's very analogous to teaching an insect or primitive creature to drive. Later when we move on to end-to-end VLM, it's comparable to a monkey learning drive with a human on the side. It is an improvement versus previous rule-based system, but it's still nothing comparable to a professional driver. This is determined by the fundamental architecture of the models. Because VLM and end-to-end are two separate brain systems, and neither of them are strong enough. The real question for us is, how can we allow a big model to operate just like human beings, like they can understand the physical world, understand the software world, which includes navigation and a bunch of other things, as well as the intentions of the passengers?

We need to build a model that combines all three categories and build them into one foundational model, which includes understanding of physical space using 3D vision and understanding of a language space using LLM and understanding the physical world using end-to-end. Only if we combine these three into one model can we understand the world just like human beings and drive like human beings. This is our overall understanding of breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. We do not tend to make specific plans in this area. Thank you.

Your next question comes from Tim Zhou with Morgan Stanley.

感谢管理层接受我的提问。我有两个问题。第一个问题的话可能也延续，因为刚才提到的新车上市的节奏。想请问一下管理层如何看待今年集团销量的一个增速？因为考虑到后续新车上市的节奏跟生产爬坡，什么时候包含我们L系列的换代跟刚才提到下半年纯电可以帮助理想汽车的销量回到去年旺季的水平，或者挑战前高，是不是要等到下半年的机会会大一些？所以这是一个问题。

My first question is about the sales growth. How do you think about Li Auto's following sales growth this year against the backdrop of tough competition? When would you expect Li Auto's multi-sales to return to the previous peak level or even the chief record level, considering the new facelift L series and together with the EV launches into second half? That's my first question.

你好，Tim。我是周良军。我来回答你的问题。今年我们会通过产品升级，扩大销售网络，加强营销，同时加快海外市场拓展来实现销量的增长突破。那么在产品方面，今年我们将陆续推出L系列和MAGA的自驾焕新版，以及新的纯电SUV车型。新的纯电SUV将为我们获得更大的市场空间。同时，我们的自驾系统在升级到基于1000万CLIPS训练的V13版本之后，自驾能力得到了很大的提升，也为我们今年的销量增长打下了坚实的基础。那么在销售网络方面，目前我们已经有超过502家销售门店。在此基础上，我们还推出了焕新计划，也就是通过与售后服务合作伙伴一起增加在四线和五线城市的覆盖。除了这些正式门店以外，我们今年还在全国的高端商场开设了超过200个零售展厅和60个快闪店，以获得更大的获客开口。在营销方面，我们迭代了一线销售队伍的作战队形，增加了专职的线上直播队伍，扩大了获客的开口。同时，我们通过专职的DCC，也就是呼叫中心人员的配置，提高了我们的转化效率。那么更重要的一点是在海外市场方面，海外市场我们现在也在按照规划推进，目前在中亚、亚太等市场都取得了非常不错的阶段性进展。我们也会继续增加在拉美、中东、欧洲市场的投入。我们在海外市场的授权经销商工作也已经逐步开展。通过一批高质量、有经验的授权经销商的加入，我们有信心今年能够在海外市场获得一个不错的市场增量。那么依托技术迭代带来的产品竞争力的提升，以及灵活精准的市场策略和渠道扩张，总体上我对公司今年的销量增长充满了信心。谢谢。

Our overall strategy for sales growth for this year consists of several aspects. One is product upgrades, expansion of sales network, as well as reinforced marketing practices and expansion overseas. First of all, on the product front, we'll be launching the AD upgraded version of L series and MEGA series this year, as well as our completely new battery electric SUV model. The new pure electric SUV will help us tap into a bigger market. In the meantime, our upgraded autonomous driving system, AD Max V13, trained on 10 million video clips, has also improved its capability significantly, which also forms a solid foundation for our sales growth. On the sales network front, we currently operate 502 retail stores. On top of that, we have started to work with after-sales partners to increase coverage in tier four and tier five cities.

Apart from the official stores, we have also opened over 200 retail stalls and pop-up stores, 60 pop-up stores in shopping malls to open up our customer acquisition channel. On the marketing front, we have introduced professional live streaming sales representatives to help us open up our customer acquisition channel. In the meantime, with our dedicated DCC call center personnel, we can also increase the conversion rate of these increased new customers acquired through those channels. On the overseas front, our overseas expansion plan is proceeding as planned, and we have made significant progress in Middle Asia, in Asia Pacific, and various other markets. We will continue to increase our investments in Latin America, Middle East, and European markets. We have also made progress in working with authorized dealers overseas. Through a group of high-quality and experienced authorized dealers, we're confident to achieve a major growth overseas this year.

Overall, with technology improvements and nimble marketing strategies, as well as expansion of sales networks, I'm pretty confident about overall sales growth this year.

感谢管理层详细的回答。我第二个问题也是想跟进一下可能AI相关的问题。因为刚才李想总在口上也提到不断加强研发。所以首先想知道理想汽车未来三年可能AI相关的投入研发规模大概会是在什么样的水平。另外的话，在应用端，除了目前两个比较大的核心，包含自研大模型的理想同学APP和刚才提到的自动驾驶之外，未来是会看到AI的一些新的应用场景，不管是车或飞车。

My question is also related to AI, because Li Auto has been investing in AI aggressively over the past three quarters. What will be the scale of Li Auto's AI-related investment in the following years? In addition to two key applications, one is MyGPT Empower Li Xiang Tong Xue APP, and the other one is Autonomous Driving. Will there be any new applications for or beyond vehicles in the following quarters? That's my second question. Thank you.

我是李想。我来回答这个问题。公司在未来的整个AI领域里的相关的研发在内的投资肯定是会显著增加的。但是我们的基本的原则还是要依靠自身的造血能力来解决。

Overall, investments in AI-related initiatives will seek substantial growth in the next few years, but will mainly be funded by our cash from operations.

然后我觉得第二个，其实在应用场景方面的话，我觉得可以换一种思考方式。就是我们这家企业在未来的整个人工智能中的定位到底是什么样子的。我觉得这是我们要思考的问题。然后在确定了我们的定位以后，然后也会出现其实对我们自身能力的要求，以及给用户提供的这样的真正的价值。我觉得如果我们看1975年以后，其实在第一个个人电脑技术上发生变化的时候，会出现苹果的MAC，然后也会出现微软的DOS和后边的Windows。我觉得这是一个阶段。我觉得到了第二个阶段，我们看到整个移动互联网时代的时候，其实会出现苹果iPhone，也会出现谷歌的安卓，一个代表的是终端，一个代表的其实是操作系统和开放的软件平台。我觉得这两类的企业都获得了巨大的市场成功，但是他们自身的定位和做的取舍是不一样的。像苹果这样的垂直整合的终端，它会减少一定的开放性，但是会更好地确保用户体验。但如果是安卓的这样的一个生态，它会增加自己的开放性，但是也会影响一部分的体验。我觉得这是完全不同的选择。如果回到理想汽车，回到我们自身，我们到底应该做哪一个角色？这是我们应该第一思考的问题。我们认为我们自己角色是应该做AGI时代的终端企业。只是在AGI时代的这样终端的要求又跟PC时代和移动互联网时代是不一样的。比如说，你可以把今天的以后所有的在物理世界里会呈现出来的AGI的终端，就想象成其实是机器人。它要有感知的能力，它要有决策和推理的能力，它要有必要的执行的能力，它要有自身的反馈的能力，它真正的像人一样的去工作。如果基于这方面的话，背后的能力也会体现得不一样，包含软的部分有模型的能力，有软件的能力，有操作系统的能力，硬的部分会有硬件本体的能力，包括后边强大的计算的能力。我觉得在运营方面也会有两个挑战，一个是在这样的背景下，怎么去运营AGI，像我们做的世界模型，而不是说写一套IT软件就能够去运营AGI的机器人。也包含其实除了去管理这些硅基的机器人，包括碳基的人类的管理方式也会彻底的不同。我觉得这是我们要想实现一个未来的真正的AGI时代的终端企业所面临的必要的挑战。我觉得这是我们思考这个背后的问题的关键。也包含如果我们以我们的用户的场景来看，其实我觉得跟它生活相关联的，按照时间的推演，其实会有三类机器人。一个是L4级别自动驾驶的空间机器人，它在一个开放空间里面运行。然后第二步其实会出现跟人进行合体的机器人，就是增强人的能力的机器人，也是终端。我觉得第三个可能更难一些的其实是空间内的人形机器人。我认为这三类的终端或者讲AGI的机器人会把用户的生活做得非常的完善。就类似于今天我们在使用苹果的时候，会有MAC，会有iPhone，也会有iPad，包括Apple Watch。我觉得这是我们对于整个AGI时代，如果往后看三到五年甚至更长一点的时间，我认为我们应该去做的事情以及自身的定位。

When we think about this overall positioning of what we need to do in the AI period, I think the first fundamental question is our positioning, because different positioning requires different types of capability and provides different types of user value. Let's take an example of after 1975 in the PC world, there emerged Apple making Macintosh, and there was Microsoft making DOS and Windows, and there were also device manufacturers. Similarly, in the mobile age, there was iPhone and there was Android offering device OS and open platform, etc. Each one of these companies achieved great market success, but they chose different positionings and they used different models, and they had to make different trade-offs.

For example, Apple chose a less open approach and provided better user experience, whereas Android had a more open approach, but user experience may not be perfect at all times. Coming back to Li Auto, which one of these positionings should we choose? First of all, we think in the AGI world, our positioning is to become a hardware or device manufacturer. Different from the PC or mobile world, device manufacturer for the AGI world requires a different set of capabilities and experience. In general, the device we make in the AGI world or the overall AGI device is, broadly speaking, a robot. Therefore, it needs to have the cognitive, the execution, the feedback, the reasoning, and decision-making capabilities.

That, of course, includes software, AI functionalities, OS on the software side, and on the hardware side, it includes not only the physical movement pieces, but also the computing power. On top of that, it also requires operation. We need a robust system to operate these devices in the AGI world. We cannot simply rely on an IT software. Probably we need to use something more like a world model. How we manage these silicon-based devices is also going to change. At the same time, how we manage carbon-based human beings is also going to change, and they are going to be managed differently. In the AGI world, to sum up, we want to become a device maker providing the above capabilities. The second thing we need to think about is user scenario.

From this point, I can see three types of robots in general. The first is more closely L4 vehicle, or we call space robot. It can navigate itself in open space with its own cognition and decision-making and execution powers. The second type is the type of robot that enhances human capabilities. The third one, which I think is the most difficult one, operates indoors. It has the shape of a human being, and it can navigate itself. These are the three different robots that I see in the AGI world, and they combined pretty much cover all aspects of human life. We want to be a maker of all these devices so we can provide services to our users in different scenarios.

It is comparable, for example, to Apple, which provides the Macintosh, the iPhone, the iPad, and iWatch, which covers different aspects of users' life. Here's our latest thinking for the next three to five years and probably even longer, and we'll iterate over time. Thank you.

Your next question comes from Tina Hao with Goldman Sachs.

TIna Hou (VP)

感谢管理层的时间。对，我这边有两个问题。第一个是想要问一下，就是对2026年，咱们目前包括对整个车这边的行业的展望，整体的一个销量，包括可能市场竞争，因为可能今年主要是聚焦在支架上面，明年咱们觉得市场竞争可能会更加focus在哪一个方面。然后第二个问题是可能回到支架本身这一块，就是管理层觉得中长期在L3和L4的阶段到来之后，这个支架的软件这方面就是有可以变现的一个能力吗？这是我的两个问题，然后我翻译一下。

Thanks, Management, for your time. My first question is in terms of the 2026 outlook, in terms of the, I think, overall auto industry and EV industry, your volume outlook as well as competition intensity. This year, the competition is mainly focused on autopilot. Next year, do you see a continuation or change in that? The second question is regarding autonomous driving itself. In the future, in the world of L3 and L4 becoming more prevalent, does management think there is a monetization method for these autonomous driving software? Thank you.

我是马东辉。我来回答这两个问题。第一个问题的话，关于2026年行业的话和竞争，我们首先认为的话，2026年的话，国内市场新能源的话渗透率仍然会持续的话上升。市场的话，这个竞争会从增量竞争转向存量的一个竞争，并且的话品牌对于每一家的销量影响都会变得越来越大。消费者的话更倾向于去选择知名口碑比较好的品牌。另外的话，在每个价格段，头部品牌会凭借产品技术、品牌以及服务的综合优势，市场份额会进一步的话增加。也就是说，市场集中度会进一步的话提升。另外在技术方面的话，我们也认为会加剧的话这个竞争。众多车企的品牌都会加快在高阶智驾方面的布局，智能驾驶的竞争会越发的激烈。除此之外的话，多元技术的发展和竞争，我们也认为仍然会存在的。比如说提升操控和舒适性的智能信控底盘的技术，以及提升交互体验的座舱AI技术，都可能会成为26甚至以后产品力竞争的一个焦点。对于我们自身，我们的策略，我们会不断完善产品的矩阵。2026年，我们也会有新的产品上市，将完成征程、存电、车型的矩阵的一个构建，然后去覆盖多级别不同价格区间，满足更多消费者的话一个需求。另外我们也会加大在智驾等AI技术上的投入，保持产品力的一个领先。在超充网络方面的话，我们会持续加快超充网络的一个布局，提升覆盖率和服务的质量，解决消费者的里程焦虑。在整个全球网络拓展方面的话，除了国内市场，我们也将通过多种合作方式加快建立海外的销售和服务网络。谢谢。

First of all, on industry and competition, we believe that the penetration rate of NEV will continue to increase in 2026. Market competition will transition from competing for growth to competing for market share. Brand will play a very important role in users' purchase decisions, and users tend to choose brands that are well-known and have good word of mouth. In different price segments, the top brands are going to increase market share through their advantages in product, technology, brand, and overall service experience. In other words, the market concentration is going to continue to increase. Another trend that we see is many car brands will continue to improve and accelerate their development of advanced autonomous driving. The competition here is going to be more intense.

On the technology front, technologies like drive-by-wire, which includes writing and handling experience, technologies like AI cockpit, which includes user interaction experience, will also become a focus of competition in 2026 and beyond. For Li Auto, our strategy is to continue to complete our product portfolio with several cars launching in 2026. We will complete our full coverage of the range extended and pure electric product matrix, covering different price ranges and different segments, and to cater to as many users as possible. In the meantime, we'll increase our investments in autonomous driving and other artificial intelligence technologies to maintain our lead in overall product experience. We will also expand our expansion of our supercharging network and increase coverage as well as service experience and to fully eradicate range anxiety for our users.

Apart from the domestic market, we will work with different types of partners through different methods to accelerate our growth in overseas sales and service networks. Thank you.

关于的话，第二个问题就是未来的话 L3、L4 智驾软件能否变现。我们认为当前的智能驾驶就包含 L2、L3 在内，还是辅助人进行开车的一个工具。可能技术方案上会有一些差别，但是只是体现在使用的范围以及的话辅助能力的高跟低。本质上还是人在开，然后人和车之间的关系并没有发生本质的变化。如果是说自动驾驶进化到 L4 成为的话一个司机 agent，就会产生质的一个飞跃。这时候的话智驾系统就会从工具变成的话助手，真正可以替代人进行开车，就相当于是你请了一个专职的司机。在这种情况下，我们相信用户会愿意为此的话付费的。不仅如此，用户在不需要自己开车之后，汽车也将升级为 AI 时代的一个空间机器人。这时候车内的软件服务将被赋予更高的价值，预计的话将会产生新的商业模式，让软件变现有更大的一个想象空间。面向 L4 阶段的最大潜力，理想我们的团队也已经在积极探索，力求在 L4 时代来临之际，然后抓住这样的一个市场机遇。

On L3 and L4, coming back to the current stage of including L2 and L3, they're essentially machines assisting humans to drive. They're really tools. There may be different approaches to L2 and L3, but the main difference is in the range of usage, the coverage of usage, and also the availability of different features. Fundamentally, it's really still the human driver taking control of the car. There's no fundamental change in the relationship between human and the car. As we evolve to L4, the car will become an agent, or we call a driver agent. There's going to be a fundamental change between the human and car relationship. The autonomous driving system will evolve from just being a tool to become an actual agent that can replace human beings in driving. It's comparable to hiring a professional driver.

In this scenario, we believe that users will be willing to pay for this kind of service. On top of that, when users are relieved from the burden of driving, cars will become a robot, or we call space robot, that can navigate the physical world in the AI age. In this era, the in-car information, in-car software and experience and services will have greater value and may lead to new business models, which gives us more room for imagination. With the huge potential of L4 era, our team is already very actively exploring, and our goal is to capture this very big opportunity when the time of L4 comes. Thank you.

Your next question comes from Bin Wang with Deutsche Bank.

Ben Wang (Director)

谢谢。我第一个问题是关于财务的。想看请您老师能不能给个一季度的毛利率指引，因为我们看到一些正面的，比如零部件成本的下降，也看到一些负面的，我们有尾款的一个减免。请问一下这个一季度毛利率大概在什么水平？

My first question is about the first quarter gross margin guidance. We have been noticed some of the positive side from the components pricing deduction. We also noticed that you provide some cash discount. Can you provide the first quarter gross margin guidance? Thank you.

Johnny Tie Li (CFO)

Hi, this is Li Jie. At the first quarter, it's a low season due to Chinese New Year, and also we have some sales promotion after Chinese New Year. All that conclude together, we expect our Q1 vehicle sales margin to be around 19%. Yeah. Thank you.

Ben Wang (Director)

Right. Right. Second question, 第二个问题想问一下呢，就是最近有媒体报道说我们李总以后可能不再负责汽车业务，重心放到 AI 上。那这样的话，我想问一下国内的分工是否有什么调整？我们在这个车跟 AI 之间会怎么平衡？ My second question is about the media reports say that the chairman actually will no longer take care of the auto business, and the focus will shift into the AI R&D. My question is that what's the change in the management allocation, and how to balance the vehicle business and the upcoming AI business? Thank you.

好，我是李想。首先我仍然是公司的 CEO，管理汽车业务相关的产品线、产品部、品牌、战略等团队，这个和 2024 年是完全一致的。确实我们在战略的 BRM 和 DSP 的负责人方面做了新的分工，并且仍然是有效地通过整个的全公司的协同方式来实现战略。大概是这样子的。

Mr. Li is still the CEO of the company, and he still oversees the different departments related to the car business, including vehicle lines, including product department, branding, and strategy departments. This remains unchanged from 2024. We have allocated new responsibility under our BLM and DSP framework, assigned new person in charge. We remain devoted to relying on efficient collaboration across the company to support our success in the long term.

Your next question comes from Ying Bao Zhu with SITECH Security.

Ying Bao Zhu (Analyst)

感谢管理层。我有两个问题。第一个问题是关于 Li MEGA 这个产品的，就是过去一年过去了，管理层怎么看待 Li MEGA 的一个市场表现？那么后面对 Li MEGA 这个产品本身，我们是不是还有什么预期？第二个问题我也一起问了，就是刚才讲到了关于短期的国际化出口的问题，就是中长期我们如何看待国际化的战略规划的这么一个问题。

I have two questions. The first one is how is the Li MEGA market performance and what's our expectation or plan for Li MEGA in future? The second question is what's our long-term plan for internationalization? Thank you.

Zhou Tiran (Platform Change Specialist)

你好，我是周良军。我回答你的这两个问题。首先是第一个问题，就是理想 MEGA 是一款定位 RMB 500,000 以上的豪华纯电 MPV，已经连续多月保持在这一细分市场销量第二的位置，仅次于丰田的 Alphard。今年我们希望理想 MEGA 能够继续保持这一细分市场前三的状态，那么实现超过 10,000-15,000 台的全年销量。此外，理想 MEGA 的用户净推荐值，也就是我们说的 NPS，持续保持高位，是我们所有产品中用户口碑表现最好的。在诸如春节这样的长途出行场景中，理想 MEGA 的底盘、座椅舒适性、NVH、智能座舱、智能驾驶以及高速的 5C 超充服务，都为用户带来了超越预期的产品体验。理想 MEGA 的 NPS 和销量在春节后也出现了较大幅度的提升，这说明用户对理想 MEGA 的产品和服务是高度满意，并且愿意向身边的人推荐。同时，随着我们自建的 5C 超充站超过 1,900 座，MEGA 用户无论是在高速上还是城市道路上都能够得到 5C 超充体验，解决了用户长途充电不方便的问题。我们还在继续加大 5C 超充网络的建设。按照计划，我们今年一季度将会完成超过 2,000 个超充站，打通九横九纵的国家级高速公路。我们将在理想 I8 发布的时候建设完成超过 2,500 个站的超充网络。在今年四月份，我们将建设完成 G318 公路的 5C 超充网络，届时理想车主将可以开着 MEGA 驰骋在 G318 线路上。今年还将陆续开通超过 50 条旅游线路，为理想车主提供方便快捷的充电体验。到年底，我们将覆盖国家级高速干线，里程超过 67,000 公里，以及省级高流量高速公路 10,000 公里，总计覆盖超过 77,000 公里。目前国内四大经济带已经建成 483 座高速超充站，平均间隔 99 公里。今年年底，我们将实现在四大经济高速公路超充站的全覆盖。随着今年超充网络的不断完善，以及今年理想 I8 等其他纯电车型推向市场，多个纯电车型将带来规模效应，我们对理想 MEGA 的销量充满信心。

Li MEGA is a luxury pure electric MPV priced at over RMB 500,000, and it has been the number two in sales in this segment for many consecutive months, only second to the Toyota Alphard. This year, we hope that Li MEGA will remain top three in this segment, and we expect annual sales between 10,000 and 15,000. On top of that, Li MEGA is one of the cars with the highest net promoter score among our product portfolio. In periods like the Chinese Spring Festival, Li MEGA has been widely praised for its chassis, seat comfort, NVH, smart cockpit, autonomous driving, and highway 5C charging experience. It has significantly exceeded our user expectation, which further led to an increase in MEGA NPS after the Spring Festival, which speaks to user satisfaction with the product and services, and their willingness to recommend the car to people around them.

In the meantime, the number of our directly operated 5C charging stations has exceeded 1,900. MAGA users, whether they're driving on highways or driving in cities, have easy access to 5C charging experience, which eliminates any anxiety with charging on long road trips. In the meantime, we're also accelerating our rollout of more 5C supercharging stations, and as planned, we will have over 2,000 stations by the end of the first quarter, connecting the nine transverse and nine longitudinal highway routes in China. By the time we launch Li I8 this year, we expect to have over 2,500 stations of supercharging stations. In April this year, we plan to cover the entire distance of the G318, a well-known Chinese roadway, so that our MAGA users can drive their cars on G318.

We also have plans to open up 50 travel routes or road trip routes to provide an easy charging experience for our users. By the end of this year, our charging stations will be covering over 67,000 kilometers of highway and over 10,000 kilometers of inter-province highways, totaling over 77,000 kilometers. We have already built 483 charging stations across the four major economic zones in China, with an average interval of 99 kilometers. By the end of this year, we will be covering all of our four economic zones with highway supercharging stations. As we continue to build out our supercharging stations, and as we roll out Li I8 and other pure electric models, with the economy of scale, we are very confident in the sales volume of Li MEGA.

那我接着回答第二个问题。2025年，公司管理层已经明确了国际化和海外市场是公司的核心战略之一。我们会认真地去开拓海外市场，并且从品牌营销渠道、售后服务体系、组织和团队等方面构建相关的能力。今年一开年，我们就成立了独立的海外市场拓展部门，从公司内抽调了一批有经验的人员加入了这个团队。在市场方面，我们会依托目前在中亚等市场已经树立起来的豪华品牌形象，继续加大市场拓展。同时，我们在过去一年已经在哈萨克斯坦、乌兹别克斯坦、阿联酋等市场建立了理想汽车自己的售后服务中心。同时，我们也给当地合格的售后服务网络提供原产品配件和技术支持服务，确保海外客户能够得到理想汽车一直秉承的为用户提供省时、省心、省钱的服务。同时，我们也在加大中东、拉美、亚太等市场的拓展。我们会和当地优秀的合作伙伴一起加大开拓海外市场。我们会选择一批优秀的经销商作为我们当地的合作伙伴，一起来开拓市场。同时，我们也会在以上市场加大当地的营销投入，建设完善的售后服务网络。2025年是理想汽车海外市场正式开启的元年，凭借着过去多年在中国市场积累的产品能力和销售以及服务体系能力，相信今年我们可以在海外市场取得一定的成绩。谢谢。

In 2025, we are very aligned that overseas expansion is going to be one of the core strategies of this company. We will be devoted to expanding the overseas market and building capabilities across branding, marketing, channel, and after sales, as well as organization and recruiting. At the beginning of this year, we had already established an independent overseas expansion department and have moved many experienced personnel from the company. On the market front, we will be building on this luxury brand image that we have already established in Middle Asia and other markets to expand our market share. In the meantime, in the past year, we have already built service centers and after-sales centers in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and UAE.

At the same time, we'll also provide original spare parts and tech support to qualified after-sales partners so that our overseas customers can enjoy the same level of service that we provide to our domestic customers. In the meantime, we'll also expand our market in the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. We'll be working with high-quality local partners to expand our overseas market. We'll also be picking a small number of dealers as our local partners to expand the market together. We'll also expand our marketing and build out a very complete after-sales network. 2025 is our first year of officially launching into the overall overseas market, and we will be building on capabilities that we have built in the domestic market, and we're confident to have made significant progress in the overseas market this year.

As we are reaching the end of our conference call now, I'd like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks. Ms. Janet Zhang, please go ahead.

Janet Zhang (Director of Investor Relations)

Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Li Auto's investor relations team. That's all for today. Thank you and have a nice weekend.