A passerby in China caught a look at Li Auto’s upcoming MPV called the Mega – it’s first-ever BEV model, before it officially debuts in December. Li Auto has already been touting the multi-purpose vehicle as a future best seller – despite its price… and its look. See more for yourself.
Li Auto ($LI) is a relatively popular automaker in China that hasn’t even celebrated its tenth birthday yet. While the company has made a name for itself overseas on the wings of four models deliveried since 2019, we don’t tend to cover it much because, well… Li Auto doesn’t make BEVs.
The automaker specializes in EREVs, which stands for “extended-range electric vehicles,” that are essentially, glorified plug-in hybrids. We at Electrek usually lose interest as soon as we hear the word “combustion,” but Li Auto has stayed on our radar because it has the potential to remove those range extenders from its EVs and join the zero-emissions party.
While the Chinese Automaker is by no means giving up one EREVs yet (it launched 3 of its 4 current models in 2022 alone), Li Auto has shared plans for its first BEV model called Mega. Mega is a fully electric MPV that Li Auto initially announced during the Chengdu Auto show this past August.
Although the public is not slotted to see a full reveal of the Mega BEV until December, a Weibo user happened to be nearby Li Auto’s facility near Guangdong and captured video of a camouflaged Mega BEV cruising by.
Li Auto’s first BEV is an aerodynamic MPV with a caboose
The images above were pulled from a video posted be Weibo user Lao Qi – who has over 1.5 million followers on the Chinese social media site. As you can see in the video, Li Auto’s Mega MPV pulls out of the lot and cruises by, giving us a nice up close look at its oblong side profile.
If you’re into bloated Priuses, this could be the BEV for you – Li Auto has certainly taken aerodynamics and efficiency as a main priority in designing this MPV which the blogger describes as a “pure, high-speed railcar.” We’d argue it looks more like a roller skate, but hey… it’s still sexier than a mini van.
As we’ve seen so far in the niche but growing segment of MPVs in China, it’s truly difficult to make an EV of such size sleek and sporty. One could argue that Li Auto’s upcoming BEV is even the sleekest of the MPVs when compared to XPeng’s upcoming X9, the ZEEKR 009, or even the Denza D9.
Hell, by simply calling its MPV the Mega without including the number nine, Li Auto already appears to be separating itself away from the pack. All jokes about its looks aside, it will be the performance specs and available technology that will truly determine whether the Mega MPV is as successful as Li Auto expects it to be – especially since its coming from a company that hasn’t delivered a true BEV to market yet.
We are sure to learn more this December, when Li Auto officially removes the camo before deliveries begin in China in February 2024. The Mega is expected to start at a price of RMB 500,000 yuan ($68,700).
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