On September 2, Li Auto's flagship pure electric MPV, the new Li Auto MEGA, was officially launched. The new car is only available in one model, the Home edition, priced at 508,800 yuan, 20,000 yuan cheaper than the starting price of the old model.
The new car continues the current model's highly recognizable streamlined body, with upgrades mainly focused on the chassis, assisted driving, and cabin experience. In line with Li Auto's product positioning, the MEGA remains targeted at multi-member families, further emphasizing the "mobile home" product concept.
Before the launch of the new car, Li Xiang, chairman of Li Auto, once again responded to the controversy over the exterior design of the MEGA on social media. He stated, "The risk of imitation is always much lower than that of originality," and that if they change their initial intentions due to external voices, it will be difficult to create a product that can truly be remembered by the world. "We hope MEGA will be a product that can truly be remembered by the world, and we will never change our commitment to the product just because of some noise," Li Xiang said.
This also means that despite the controversy surrounding the styling of the MEGA in the past, Li Xiang has not made major adjustments to the exterior to cater to more universal aesthetics, but instead chose to retain its original contours and product recognition.
Specifically, the new car's exterior has undergone adjustments to details such as the front and rear bumpers, door handles, wheels, and tailgate. In terms of mechanical and intelligent configuration, it has added rear-wheel steering, wire-controlled steering, and an active anti-roll bar, optimizing user feedback on the current model's turning, parking flexibility, and cornering roll; in terms of auxiliary driving hardware, the number of lidars has increased from 1 to 4, and it is equipped with Li Auto's self-developed Mahle M100 intelligent driving chip; the cabin features a new through-type integrated screen and a roof lamp, and the seats and small tray have also been adjusted.
In addition, the new car continues to enhance the scenario-based cabin experience. The second-row seats can switch between modes such as 45-degree welcoming, 90-degree viewing, and 180-degree facing, and can be used in conjunction with removable small trays to form a face-to-face reception room mode with the third row, covering usage scenarios such as parent-child interaction, temporary office work, and short-distance board games.
However, while configuration upgrades address product shortcomings, whether they can be translated into sustained sales depends on pricing, market capacity, and the competitive environment.
When it was first launched in March 2024, Li Xiang expressed confidence that MEGA would become the best-selling product above 50,000 yuan, regardless of energy form or body style. According to the China Automobile Dealers Association's wholesale data, MEGA's sales volume in the month of its launch was 3,229 units, but it quickly dropped to 1,145 units in April, with a cumulative annual sales volume of 10,798 units in 2024.
In 2025, with the product's revitalization and the launch of the MEGA Home family edition, MEGA sales experienced a rebound. In June of that year, wholesale sales reached 2,304 units, making it the top-selling MPV above 500,000 yuan for the month. Sales continued to rise in August and September, reaching 3,121 units and 3,277 units, respectively, with cumulative annual sales totaling 18,541 units.
Entering 2026, MEGA sales declined once again. According to the sales data from Dongche Di, from January to July this year, MEGA's monthly sales were 414 vehicles, 388 vehicles, 576 vehicles, 670 vehicles, 469 vehicles, 326 vehicles, and 336 vehicles, totaling approximately 3,179 vehicles. Among these, July sales decreased by about 88% year-over-year. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers' narrow-definition passenger car wholesale data also showed that MEGA's sales for the month were 336 vehicles, with its sales ranking in the new energy MPV market now at the lower end.
The new generation of MEGA has addressed some of the shortcomings of the current model, but it has not changed the market boundaries formed by its high price, large size, and positioning as a pure electric MPV and family flagship. Meanwhile, models such as the Zhi Jia V9, Tengshi D9, HiPhi 009, and Xiaopeng X9 continue to be updated, and the supply of high-end new energy MPVs is increasing, with competition becoming even more intense.
Based on MEGA's previous sales performance and market capacity, the new car's launch may lead to a rebound in orders initially, but it is unrealistic to replicate the sales performance of mainstream models that sell over 10,000 units per month. A more noteworthy metric is whether it can return to a stable level of monthly sales of thousands of units from the current hundreds of units and further approach the sales peak in the second half of 2025.
It's worth noting that on September 1, Li Xiang stated on social media: "If we only consider short-term sales, making SUVs is more cost-effective. I think sedans and SUVs are selling well now, but the ultimate form of family cars will be MPVs. As we enter the L3 and L4 era, the driving attribute will be weakened, and the inherent advantages of MPVs, such as large space, high comfort, and easy entry and exit, will be infinitely amplified. Doing a good job on MPVs now is essentially laying the groundwork for our future product capabilities."
Additionally, even if sales recover, the MEGA is more likely to serve as a flagship model that optimizes the product mix, rather than a primary driver of Li Auto's overall sales volume. According to estimates from Guotai Haitong Securities, in the second quarter of 2026, MEGA sales are projected to account for approximately 2% of Li Auto's total sales during that period.
For Li Auto, the significance of MEGA lies not only in its absolute sales volume, but also in the potential contribution of high-priced models to the product structure, average selling price, and profitability.
Li Auto's second-quarter 2026 earnings report showed a gross margin of 11.0% for the period, up 3.1 percentage points from the first quarter but down 9.1 percentage points from the same period last year; the vehicle gross margin was 9.4%, up 3.3 percentage points quarter-over-quarter and down 10 percentage points year-over-year.
Li Auto's management attributed the month-over-month improvement in gross margin mainly to the launch and delivery of the new Li L9 and changes in the product mix. This indicates that even if the overall sales volume changes are limited, an increase in the proportion of high-priced models can still support the average selling price and gross margin. As one of Li Auto's currently highest-priced models on sale, if the new generation of MEGA achieves sales recovery, it is expected to bring incremental improvement to the company's product structure.
However, a high selling price does not necessarily mean high profit margins. MEGA's actual contribution to the profitability of Li Auto depends on the pricing of new cars, the cost per vehicle, promotional efforts, and final sales volume. Relying solely on a low-sales flagship model will also make it difficult to fundamentally reverse the profit performance.
CICC believes that if the new MEGA is launched in September and the sustainability of new product orders and the progress of capacity ramp-up meet expectations, Ideal Auto's sales, product structure, and gross margin are expected to improve quarter-over-quarter in the fourth quarter. However, the institution also notes that whether the improvement can be sufficient to reverse the 2027 profit forecast depends on the order conversion of MEGA and subsequent models such as the i9, as well as whether the L6, a core model, can stabilize.