Li Auto's 2026 i6 Keeps Its Price Tag, Swaps Nvidia for In-House Silicon

Li Auto has quietly answered the question every Chinese EV buyer is asking right now: can you add capability without adding cost? The answer, at least for the 2026 Li i6, is yes.

The refreshed five-seat electric SUV went on sale Wednesday at 249,800 yuan ($37,190) — identical to the 2025 car. Order books are open now, and buyers taking delivery by November 30 get introductory pricing that knocks 10,000 yuan off, bringing the sticker to 239,800 yuan.

Li Auto says short-lead-time builds can reach customers in as little as one to two weeks, matching its earlier promise of deliveries beginning in early November.

The Chip Swap Nobody Expected

The headline change sits under the skin, not on it. The 2025 i6 leaned on Nvidia’s Thor-U for driver assistance. The 2026 car replaces it with Li Auto’s own Mach M100, now fitted as standard.

Output climbs from 700 TOPS to 1,280 TOPS per chip. Opt for the dual-M100 configuration and that figure doubles to 2,560 TOPS, with two side-facing and one rear-facing solid-state LiDAR unit joining the standard forward sensor — plus sensor-triggered power front doors.

Key Specs: 96 kWh LFP battery · 780 km CLTC range (RWD) · 710 km CLTC (AWD) · 1,280 TOPS per M100 chip · From 249,800 yuan

More Battery, More Screen

The pack grows too. Li Auto’s in-house Lianshan 5C lithium iron phosphate unit now measures 96 kWh, up from 87.3 kWh. Range climbs accordingly: 780 km on the CLTC cycle for rear-wheel drive, 710 km for all-wheel drive — gains of 60 km and 50 km respectively. Li Auto claims roughly 500 km of range can be added in a ten-minute charging stop.

Inside, the cabin gets a similarly thorough once-over:

• Cockpit silicon: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8295P gives way to the Snapdragon 8797
• Displays: the two 15.7-inch front screens are replaced by a single 29-inch 6K panoramic panel
• Seats: zero-gravity front seats standard, with 16-way power adjustment and 18-point massage
• Optional: a 21-inch 4K rear entertainment screen carries over as an extra
• Exterior: ADB matrix headlights, a power frunk and new door handles round out the list

Owners of the 2025 i6 aren’t entirely left out — Li Auto plans a paid power frunk retrofit for that car starting in December.

Why the Timing Matters

The i6 arrived in September 2025 and quickly became the backbone of Li Auto’s battery-electric lineup. But momentum has slipped. September deliveries came in at 7,379 units, a 56.54% drop month-on-month and just 23.19% of the company’s total monthly volume. Through the first nine months of 2026, the model has accounted for 160,221 deliveries, while Li Auto’s overall tally fell 1.25% year-on-year to 293,436.

Pricing it flat while stuffing in self-developed hardware looks like a deliberate play to reverse that slide.

There’s a broader plan at work as well. The i6 — badged simply as the Li 6 in Europe — is the tip of Li Auto’s overseas push, announced at the Paris Motor Show on October 12. Launch markets are Norway and the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2027, with more European countries to follow.

That makes the 2026 update more than a mid-cycle tidy-up. It’s Li Auto betting that vertical integration — its own chips, its own battery system — can hold the line on price while the export chapter opens.