Li Auto delivered a record 9,433 units of the Li ONE, the company's only model, in August, up 248 percent year-over-year and 9.8 percent from July.

(Graphic by CnEVPost)

That number exceeded many expectations, considering the company gave conservative guidance for the third quarter in its earnings report released earlier this week.

For the first eight months of 2021, Li Auto deliveries have totaled 48,176 units. The Li ONE's cumulative deliveries now stand at 81,773 units, the company announced Wednesday.

As of August 31, 2021, Li Auto has 114 retail centers covering 69 cities, as well as 194 aftermarket repair centers and authorized sheet metal spray centers covering 143 cities.

Notably, when Li Auto announced its second-quarter earnings on August 30, it said it expected deliveries of 25,000-26,000 units in the third quarter.

Considering that the company previously said that September deliveries were expected to exceed 10,000 units and July deliveries were 8,589 units, many believe this implies that Li Auto's deliveries in August will be at most 7,400 units.

The Li ONE is an electric vehicle with extended-range technology, having a three-cylinder engine as the range extender.

The Li ONE became available in October 2019. On May 25 of this year, Li Auto announced the 2021 Li ONE with a starting price of RMB 10,000 ($1,560) higher than the previous version at RMB 338,000.

Deliveries of the new Li ONE began on June 1.

Li Auto reports Q2 revenue of $780.4 million, above expectations