This Spring Festival, whether in shopping district parking lots in Shenyang, Changchun, and Harbin, service areas along the Beijing-Harbin Expressway, wedding car fleets in Northeastern counties, or the doorsteps of rural farmhouses, the Ideal L7, L8, and L9 have become the most recognizable cars on the streets of the three northeastern provinces, far surpassing the density of BBA and other new energy competitors. Many have noticed that Li Auto has silently completed a transfer of influence in Northeast China's garages.

In Northeast China, driving a Li Auto when visiting friends and family seems to eliminate the need to explain 'why not buy a pure electric' or 'why not choose a gasoline vehicle.' Even in family car-buying decisions, Li Auto has shifted from being an 'optional choice' to the 'default answer.' Over the past forty years, the Northeastern auto market has seen numerous iconic phenomena: the popularity of the Santana, the durability of the Jetta, the prestige of the Range Rover, and the versatility of the Land Cruiser. These may not have been the strongest products, but they were the best suited to the local environment and the lifestyle of a generation in Northeast China—the 'national products.' Forty years later, Li Auto has taken on this role in Northeast China—not necessarily the highest-selling car, but the only one that requires no persuasion, is universally recognized, and is irreplaceable.

In China, there are few regional markets like Northeast China that can turn a company's accidental popularity into inevitable dominance.

From a near-zero penetration rate of range-extended vehicles to one out of every three high-end SUVs being a Li Auto, Northeast China has validated a simple truth with its extreme cold climate, close-knit society, and demand in lower-tier markets: products that solve pain points have the power to penetrate the market.

Soon, the L9 Livis will make its debut. While the rest of the country discusses Li Xiang's dilemma over the cost-effectiveness and experience of the new product, the 'old friends' from Northeast China are quietly supporting this new model with high acceptance, high average prices, and high repurchase rates.

Editor | Li Jiaqi

Image Source | Internet

1

Cooling Northeast, Heating Li Auto

However, Li Auto's popularity in Northeast China was unexpected.

Around 2020, the market share of range-extended vehicles in Northeast China was essentially zero. This situation persisted until 2022. Even when the L9 was first launched, Northeast China was not a core strategic market for Li Auto. Previously, the Li ONE had entered Northeast China, but its market share was around 5%. However, in just three months of 2023, Li Auto's share in Northeast China exceeded 10%, temporarily making range-extended vehicles the most important supplement to plug-in hybrids in the region.

The turning point came in 2022. In November of that year, the Li L8 was delivered, and the L9 was in the midst of ramping up production. Li Auto's national orders began to trend upward. Coincidentally, while national temperatures remained 1.5°C higher than usual, Northeast China experienced two rounds of abrupt 'cooling' within a month. Combined with the effects of Li Auto's production capacity, orders, and rents, multiple shopping district resource providers in Northeast China began to proactively engage with Li Auto, applying to provide site selection and property services. In just one month, the number of Li Auto's directly operated stores quickly doubled, and sales of the L9 in the three northeastern provinces also doubled, surpassing 800 units in a single month for the first time.

Since then, Li Auto has initially opened up supply in the Northeast China market.

But no one expected that Li Auto's popularity would spiral 'out of control' in Northeast China.

In March 2023, the L7 was delivered, and a sales and service company was established in Shenyang around the same time. Li Auto gradually completed its coverage of the 300,000-500,000 RMB market, and its Northeast strategy shifted from 'testing the waters' to 'heavy investment.' By October 2023, Li Auto's monthly sales in Northeast China had exceeded 2,000 units, driving the region's market share in the segment to 30% for the first time, rapidly surpassing BYD and Tesla to become the top-selling new energy vehicle brand in Northeast China.

At that time, Shenyang, Harbin, and Changchun, the three provincial capitals, formed the core foundation of Li Auto's presence in Northeast China, making the region one of the most important markets in Li Auto's national footprint. According to public data, in Northeast China, one out of every ten new energy vehicles is a Li Auto; one out of every three high-end SUVs is a Li Auto; and one out of every two range-extended vehicles is a Li Auto!

In the following two years, Northeast China officially transformed from a 'growth pole' to a 'ballast stone' for Li Auto. Even by 2025, as the national auto market cools, Li Auto's high-end dominance in Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang remains strong. This 'monopolistic' pattern in new energy vehicles has allowed Li Auto to almost corner the entire mid-to-high-end new energy market in Northeast China. According to data from the first half of 2025, Li Auto's scale in Northeast China is twice that of Seres, three times that of NIO, and six times that of XPeng.

Even if Li Auto's national sales decline in the second half of the year, its solid foundation in Northeast China ensures that its market share remains above 5% without a significant drop, making Northeast China Li Auto's most resilient region nationwide.

Data shows that as of 2025, Li Auto holds a 35% market share in the 300,000+ RMB high-end SUV market in Shenyang, outperforming the BMW X5 to rank first in the segment; in Liaoning, Li Auto is the top-selling new energy SUV brand; and in Jilin, Li Auto's sales are twice those of the second-place Audi.

2

Li Auto's Hybrid Power: Universal Respect in Northeast China

The story of Li Auto in Northeast China may seem like a brand's accidental success at first glance, but it is more accurately described as a product's precise market fit. When combined with the unique screening thresholds shaped by climate, family, land, and human relationships, it confirms a simple reality in Northeast China—Li Auto's strengths are irreplaceable in the region. After all, over the past five years, Li Auto seems to be the only global new energy brand that has successfully entered Northeastern households.

In Northeast China, charging infrastructure in counties and rural areas is scarce. During peak travel seasons, long queues for pure electric fast charging and slow charging in low temperatures are common. After October, temperatures often plummet below -20°C, and the discomfort of gasoline vehicles is equally stark in Northeast China: opening the car door, the cold hits like a solid wall, and the steering wheel and seats are icy to the touch. For decades, Northeasterners have endured the routine of warming up the car before it can provide heat in return.

Over the past three years, while plug-in hybrids have strived for a 'balance between oil and electricity,' in the high-end market above 300,000 RMB, their dual powertrains rely on complex clutch structures and coordinated gearbox switching, leading to more potential failure points. In contrast, Li Auto's range-extended technology takes a simpler and more Northeast-friendly approach: the engine generates electricity without direct drive, and a single motor drives the vehicle, resulting in simple power coupling and stable operation.

In 2025, data from Autohome's new energy vehicle fault rate survey showed that Li Auto's range-extended vehicles have an annual fault rate of 0.8%, far lower than the 1.5% of plug-in hybrids. Over the past few years, high-net-worth families in Northeast China have formed the consensus that 'for high-end family SUVs, Li Auto is the top choice.' As word-of-mouth drives continuous scale conversion, combined with the region's 'close-knit society' characteristics—where 'one family buys, and the entire clan follows'—local interpersonal spread (dissemination) efficiency is extremely high. As a result, Li Auto's referral rate in Northeast China once reached 35%, not only two to three times higher than the national average for Li Auto but also a ceiling-level existence in the entire auto industry.

A local dealer joked, 'Li Auto's hybrid power—everyone respects it on the street!'

However, as the market shifts from incremental to stock, Li Auto's 'fortress-style layout' built around provincial capitals in Northeast China has gradually exposed some practical development issues, especially as this 'strong center, weak periphery' approach constrains the speed of Li Auto's systematic development in the region.

Data shows that over 90% of Li Auto's 20+ directly operated centers are concentrated in provincial capitals, leaving nearly blank lower-tier markets in Northeast China. For example, in Heilongjiang, except for Harbin, major cities like Daqing, Qiqihar, and Mudanjiang, each with populations exceeding ten million, lack Li Auto delivery centers. The situation is similar in the other two provinces. Due to the high concentration of delivery and maintenance functions in comprehensive centers, the economic and time costs of long-distance vehicle pickup, maintenance, and travel after ordering are extremely high.

The reality is that while there are plenty of channels to view Li Auto's vehicles in Northeast China, the channels for final purchase, delivery, and usage are not as well-established.

In fact, in some non-provincial capital prefecture-level cities in Northeast China, Li Auto's average monthly sales can generally reach 50-100 units, with minimal fluctuations and strong stability, far exceeding those of southern cities at the same level.

Since Northeast China is a typical 'first-time car buyer Main area (main area)' in the domestic auto market, with a TGI of 144—44 points higher than the national average—and over 60% of the population concentrated in third-, fourth-tier, and lower-tier cities, the lack of services in lower-tier markets has, to some extent, constrained the growth potential of Li Auto's penetration in Northeast China.

3

How Does Northeast China Help the L9 Find Certainty?

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers' 2025 'White Paper on China's Auto Lower-Tier Markets' points out that in Northeast China, SUV demand accounts for over 55%, four-wheel drive is a rigid demand, and users' core decision-making points revolve around large space, durability, and low-temperature resistance.

According to an unnamed auto circulation expert, 'In the past two years, family car purchases in Northeast China have shown strong sink (lower-tier) characteristics. For every step down into a prefecture-level city, there is stable regional growth. Theoretically, over the past two years, Li Auto could have pushed its market share up by at least 1% based on its original foundation.'

However, in reality, that year, Li Auto-related complaints in Northeast China increased by 40% year-on-year, involving issues such as after-sales evasion, parts and service wait times, and service attitudes. These problems frequently emerged, causing the word-of-mouth effect to some extent counteract the refresh rate of Li Auto's referral system.

Some may argue that even if Li Auto sells an average of 30,000-35,000 vehicles annually in Northeast China over the past three years, a 1% growth increment—amounting to just over a thousand units—would be a drop in the bucket nationwide and would not lead to a comprehensive victory for Li Auto's development. However, we must recognize that over the past two to three years, Li Auto has seen stable growth every time it enters a new prefecture-level city in Northeast China. Combined with Northeast China being Li Auto's region with the highest single-store efficiency, the strongest demand for range-extended vehicles, and the weakest presence of BBA...

A 1% growth increment means Li Auto can accumulate highly representative success experiences in Northeast China's county markets, providing valuable insights for opening up 50,000-80,000 units of county-level growth nationwide after Li Auto streamlines its channels.

Soon, the Li Auto L9 Livis will be listed on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's directory. From a product technology perspective, the new model's size, power, configuration, and intelligence form an absolute generational gap with competitors in the 500,000 RMB price range, while also offering product advantages tailored to Northeastern users. After all, the Li Auto L9 Livis's 800V architecture, 5C ultra-fast charging, and pure electric range... all mean that Li Auto is addressing 'pain points' that Southern users cannot even perceive, implying that Northeast China's sensitivity to the L9 Livis will be far higher than in any other region nationwide.

Therefore, while the L9 Livis's upgrades may be 'icing on the cake' for other regions, they are 'timely assistance' for Northeast China.

When Northeasterners buy high-end or luxury cars, their first consideration is whether the vehicle meets their needs and is of sufficient quality; only then do they consider price and details. This is why traditional BBA models generally have lower discounts in Northeast China than in the South, and why Northeast China has become Li Auto's regional market with the highest average vehicle price and most stable gross margin nationwide.

While many may doubt the future of the L9 Livis—a transitional flagship model born from the resonance between Li Auto's technological strategy and market demand, and worry about its long-term prospects as Li Auto's pure electric vehicles represent its future direction—the 'old friends' in Northeast China will at least provide a stable order base for the L9 Livis.

In other words, if the L9 Livis becomes a hit in Northeast China, Li Auto's 2026 will at least have a solid foundation nationwide, with guaranteed profits and a steady pace!

End