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Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto will stop manufacturing its first luxury crossover sports utility vehicle Li One next month, mainland news outlets including state-run Securities Times and Cailianshe reported, citing staff carmaker’s customer services.
In addition, the price of the Li One also will be lowered by 20,000 yuan ($2,885) to boost flagging sales, the report said.
The news comes amid a flurry of online rumors that production of the sports utility vehicle would end soon. The Li one’s successor, the L8, will be officially unveiled in November, with deliveries slated to begin in the same month, Li Auto co-founder Shen Ya’nan said last month.
Shares of the Beijing-based carmaker declined 2.5% in Hong Kong on Monday to close at HK$106.20.
The advent of the L8 was the main reason for low sales of the Li One last month, according to analysis by Soochow Securities. Deliveries of the L9, released in June and priced at over 400,000 yuan ($57,700), also have been affected by delayed supplies from a range extender plant in Mianyang, Sichuan province.
Launched in October 2018 with a guide price of 349,800 yuan, the Li One was the best-selling new energy SUV in the Chinese market in 2020 and it became the first model from a Chinese NEV startup to sell more than 200,000 units. But sales tumbled last month ahead of the release of the L8.
Li Auto delivered 4,571 cars in the month, made up of the Li One and the L9, down 51 percent from a year earlier and more than 56 percent from July.