Li Auto Li L7 launches alongside new version of Li L8

Li Auto has officially unveiled its smallest SUV - the 5-seat Li L7. The vehicle was first shown last year during the launch of its bigger sibling, the Li L8. During the Li L7 presentation, the company announced it is adding another trim level to its model lineup - the Air will be an entry trim for both L7 and L8 and the cars will be powered by batteries from a new supplier.

Li L7 was supposed to originally launch in just two trims - Pro and Max - priced at RMB 339,800 and RMB 379,800 respectively ($50,140 and $56,040). The company confirmed today that a new, entry trim called Air will be joining at a retail price of RMB 319,800 or $47,180 at current exchange rates.

The Li L8, which used to start at RMB 359,800 for the pro version, is getting the new Air trim for a starting price of RMB 339,800 or just over $50,000.

What’s the catch? Both the L7 and L8 are losing the air suspension, which makes the trim name “Air” almost a tongue-in-cheek situation, and get new, cheaper batteries. The current CATL supplied battery packs are reserved for the Prom and Max versions, while the Li L7 Air gets a battery from Svolt Energy and the L8 Air from Sunwoda.

The Li L7, just as its bigger siblings the L8 and L9, is an EREV - it comes with a 1.5-liter gasoline generator to top up the battery when it runs out of juice. Thanks to that solution, the claimed range of the Li L7 is 1,315 km. Its dual-motor AWD system delivers 330 kW of peak power with 0 to 100 km/h taking just over 5 seconds. The L7 offers a 3.5 kW vehicle-to-load option, which is good enough to deliver power during a short camping trip.

Deliveries of the Li L7 Pro and Max trims are planned to begin on March 1 with the Air motion to follow in April. Test drives are available from now at the Li Auto experience centers across China.

Li L7 joins a growing model portfolio from Li Auto - the flagship L9 has been available for quite a while now, the deliveries of the smaller Li L8 are to begin in April. Two more models are coming - the smallest SUV Li L6 and a first “non-SUV” model from the company, the Li L5 were recently confirmed by the CEO.

First video reviews of the new Li L7 are already popping up on the Internet, some Chinese bloggers were invited to a press event where they had a chance to try the car out in various conditions. We have managed to track one of those videos down, it offers a good look into the new car and leaves the impression that Li L7 is quite an impressive EREV. Here's the video:

Via