- Li Auto’s next-gen L6 faces a per-vehicle cost rise of over RMB 14,000 (~$2,060).
- Battery and memory price surges (lithium carbonate +200%, DRAM up 90–300%) drive the hit.
- Li Auto swung to a Q1 loss and falling deliveries, forcing likely L6 price increases.
Li Auto’s next-generation L6, scheduled to launch later this month, may carry a higher price tag, according to a Chinese media report citing people familiar with the matter.
The sources said virtually all new vehicle launches this year have faced unprecedented cost pressure as prices for memory chips and lithium carbonate have surged, with the new L6 no exception.
One of the key upgrades is an increase in battery capacity from 36.8 kWh to 51 kWh.
Combined with the sharp rebound in lithium carbonate prices this year, the battery pack alone is said to add more than RMB 8,000 ($1,180) to the cost of each vehicle.
At the same time, automotive-grade memory costs have reportedly increased by around RMB 4,000 ($590), while Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8797 automotive chip has added more than RMB 2,000 ($295) per vehicle.
Including other hardware and structural upgrades, the total increase in manufacturing cost is estimated to exceed RMB 14,000 ($2,060) per vehicle.
Additional upgrades, including the Mach M100 chip, further raise costs, bringing the increase close to the per-vehicle net profit earned by some Chinese EV startups.
Since the second quarter of 2026, prices for automotive-grade memory chips in China have risen to around 2.8 times previous levels, while some high-end automotive DDR5 memory products have increased as much as fourfold.
According to TrendForce, DRAM contract prices rose about 90%–95% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2026 and climbed another 58%–63% in the second quarter.
Prices for some automotive-grade DRAM products have more than tripled over the period.
The battery supply chain has also come under pressure.
Lithium carbonate prices have rebounded from around RMB 60,000 ($8,831) per tonne in mid-2025 to more than RMB 200,000 ($29,438) per tonne by mid-2026, representing an increase of more than 200%.
Because battery packs typically account for 30% to 50% of an electric vehicle’s manufacturing cost, higher raw material prices are directly squeezing automakers’ profit margins.
Against that backdrop, the L6 occupies a particularly sensitive position in Li Auto’s lineup.
Since deliveries began in 2024, the first-generation L6 has accumulated nearly 200,000 deliveries, making it one of the company’s highest-volume family SUV models.
Based on the 2025 model’s starting price of RMB 249,800 ($36,800), maintaining the next-generation L6’s expanded feature set without raising prices would leave a per-unit cost gap of more than RMB 14,000 ($2,060).
This potentially puts additional pressure on annual profitability even after accounting for economies of scale.
Signs of pricing normalization are already emerging across China’s new energy vehicle sector.
According to incomplete industry statistics, more than 15 NEV brands have announced price increases or reductions in retail incentives since the start of 2026.
Brands including NIO, Xiaomi, BYD and AITO have adjusted pricing by roughly RMB 4,000 ($590) to RMB 12,000 ($1,767).
As the industry’s prolonged price war gradually eases, more automakers are seeking a better balance between sales volume and profitability.
Li Auto itself is also facing mounting earnings pressure. In the first quarter of 2026, the company swung from a profit a year earlier to a net loss of RMB 2.28 billion ($340 million), while its gross margin fell to 7.9%.
On the sales front, Li Auto delivered 30,895 vehicles in June, down 14.84% year-on-year and 7.36% from May, marking its second consecutive month of month-on-month delivery declines.
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