Li Auto is mulling an overseas assembly to outgrow China’s bare-knuckle market of electric vehicles

Li Auto, one of three New York-listed Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers chasing Tesla’s market lead, said it is mulling the possibility of an offshore production base – perhaps in Europe – to be its stepping stone for the global market, as it maps out a strategy to outgrow China’s bare-knuckle EV market.

“We want to be a winner, not just a mere participant, in the global market,” Li Auto’s president and co-founder Shen Yanan said in an interview before the six-year-old EV maker’s HK$11.8 billion (US$1.52 billion) initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.