Li Auto surges 43% in Nasdaq debut, almost equals Nio in market cap
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto closed at $16.46 on its first day of trading on Thursday in the U.S., up 43 percent from its IPO price of $11.50.
Li Auto's market capitalization reached $13.9 billion, trailing its local rival Nio's $14.4 billion.
Nio closed down by about 4 percent to trade at $12.2 on Thursday.
In total, Li Auto issued 95 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) in the Nasdaq IPO, with each ADS equivalent to two Class A ordinary shares.
Li Auto's IPO makes it the second Chinese electric vehicle company to list in the U.S. after Nio.
Li Auto was founded in July 2015, and its first product, the Li ONE, was launched in October 2018, offering six- and seven-seat options.
The car began mass production on November 20, 2019, with deliveries to customers beginning in December 2019. As of June 2020, more than 10,000 units of the Li ONE have been delivered to customers in total.
As of June 2020, Li Auto has 21 retail centers in 18 cities across China, covering Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Changsha, Jinan, Ningbo, Shijiazhuang, and Qingdao.
Li Auto has its own factory in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.