Good ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Li Auto's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Janet Zhang, Investor Relations Director of Li Auto. Please go ahead, Janet.
Thank you, Jason. Good evening, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Li Auto's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. The company's financial and operating results were published in the press release earlier today and are posted on the company's IR website. On today's call, we have our president, Mr. Kevin Yanan Shen, and our CFO, Mr. Johnny Tie Li, begin with prepared remarks. Our founder and CEO, Mr. Xiang Li, will join for the Q&A discussion. Before we continue, please be reminded that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today.
Further information regarding risks and uncertainties is included in certain filings of the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law. Please also note that Li Auto's earnings press release and this conference call include discussions of unaudited GAAP financial information as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial matters. Please refer to Li Auto's disclosure documents on the IR section of our website, which contain a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures. With that, I will now turn the call over to our president. Please go ahead, Yanan Shen.
Thank you, Janet. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. I will review the key highlights of the second quarter and discuss our flagship smart SUV, Li L9, which has received highly positive feedback from family users for its best-in-class combination of drivability, safety, comfort, and intelligence. We witnessed the continued consumer adoption of NEVs in the second quarter. China's retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles surpassed 1.17 million during this quarter, more than doubled year-over-year according to the China Passenger Car Association, with penetration rates climbing to 27.1% from 21.8% in the first quarter. We believe it will continue to rise, supported by more NEV model launches, continuous iterations of smart features, and the increasing user preference for clean mobility. We remain focused on offering state-of-the-art product to our family users.
Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 resurgence across cities nationwide, from March to May, we delivered 28,687 vehicles during the second quarter, representing a 63.2% year-over-year increase. These strong delivery results contributed to a 73.3% year-over-year increase in total revenues, which totaled RMB 8.73 billion. Our deliveries in July reached 10,422, up 21.3% year-over-year. On August first, we proudly rolled the 200,000th Li One off the production line at our Changzhou manufacturing base. It took us just 986 days to reach this production milestone. Once again, setting a record speed among China's emerging NEV manufacturers. Following our historic speed in reaching the 100,000th unit mark.
Li One is also the first domestic-branded premium model priced above CNY 300,000 to achieve this production milestone. Moving to our supply chain. The COVID-19 resurgence severely affected the auto supply chain in the second quarter. Currently, there are remaining disruption and difficulties, but they moderated as the pandemic became more contained. Although we are cautiously optimistic that our supply chain will normalize in the second half of the year, we should highlight that potential volatility remain and require us to constantly stay on high alert, especially given the ongoing pandemic. As we navigate the continuous unpredictability, we focus on reinforcing our supply chain system, strengthening our partnership with parts suppliers to tackle parts shortage and cost inflation. At the same time, redoubled our emphasis on auto parts quality control. Now, moving to profitability.
In the second quarter, we continued to see that the power of our product, our execution consistency, and our operational resilience enable us to mitigate the cost inflation that we have been experiencing along with the rest of the industry. As a result, our second quarter gross margin remained relatively solid at 21.5%, up 2.6% year-over-year. As we remain devoted to R&D and network expansion to fuel our future growth, our operating expense increased by 91.9% year-over-year. Meanwhile, we continued to optimize our cost structure and manage our cash flow effectively. Despite the pandemic's impact, we achieved another quarter of positive operating cash flow of RMB 1.013 billion and free cash flow of RMB 451.7 million.
As part of our efforts to accelerate growth and accommodate additional user demand with new model launches, we continued to expand our direct sales and servicing network. As of July 31st, we had 259 retail stores covering 118 cities, as well as 311 servicing centers, and the Li Auto authorized body and paint shops operating in 226 cities. While the pace of our sales network expansion have been challenged by the COVID-19 resurgence, we will strive to further extend our reach to users by upgrading our existing stores. In order to optimize charging experience for our users, we also rolled out the charging map function in our Li Auto application on August 17th.
The map covers over 30,000 charging stations and 300,000 charging posts in 31 provinces and over 300 cities from six main charging station operators, including State Grid, StarCharge, and others, providing convenient energy replenishment options for our users. On June 21, we unveiled Li L9, our flagship smart SUV. Reflecting our intense focus on family users, we developed Li L9 to create a mobile home, create happiness. Thanks to our relentless R&D efforts and outstanding product definition capabilities, Li L9 boasts cutting-edge premium features to provide outstanding handling and ultimate comfort and safety. Every Li L9 comes standard with our flagship full-stack self-developed autonomous driving system, Li AD Max. Its enhanced functionality, bolstered by upgraded perception and vehicle control capability, was highly recognized by users in the test drives.
As the first volume production vehicle with redundancy design applied to its powertrain, steering system, braking system, and the power supply system for the computing platform, it offers enhanced reliability and safety. Supported by a computing platform composed of two Qualcomm Snapdragon automotive-grade 8155 chips and our in-house deep learning-based multimode interactive technology, Li L9 provides a smart interior space featuring five-screen, three-dimensional interactions for family members for all ages. We have received positive feedback, along with very strong order intake for Li L9, particularly from our target family users. We will commence delivery of Li L9 by the end of August. While we forge ahead with our new model launches, we also continue to pursue optimization for our existing product. In June, we released the OTA 3.1 update for Li One, taking the Li One user experience to the next level.
This update features a highly anticipated remote vehicle control function, allowing users to move the vehicle forward and backward in a straight line through our mobile application. This remote capability greatly increases users' convenience and improves their ability to park in narrow spaces. The update also includes an audio equalizer function and further optimization of our fully self-developed NOA function with enhanced accuracy for recommended lane change and ramp entry or exit. Furthermore, we are steadily working on our plan of launching high-power charging BEV model next year. We're also working on deploying our HPC network to support our HPC BEVs. Li L9 will be the first model in the industry to adopt the Nvidia Orin platform to deliver advanced autonomous driving features, including NOA function, showcasing our strong R&D capability with high efficiency. Our self-developed autonomous driving algorithms have won much public recognition internationally.
For example, we ranked first in the 2021 nuScenes 3D detection and tracking tasks, and also won first place in the ICCV 2021 workshop interpret challenge. We also have the largest number of autonomous driving users in China. As of July 31st this year, users with access to NOA function exceeded 130,000. The technology, knowledge, and insight accumulated through Li One gives us the advantage by helping us enhance our R&D efficiency during Li L9's development process, refine products, and further optimize the safety and performance of autonomous driving. In summary, we will continue to create happiness and value for our family users by honing our existing products and expanding our model line up while enhancing our brand recognition for family users. We will also execute on our technology roadmap to solidify our lead in EREVs and advance our HPC PEV development.
With that, I would like to turn it over to our CFO, Johnny, for a closer look at our financial performance. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Kevin. Hello, everyone. I will now go over some of our financial results for the second quarter of 2022. To be mindful of the length of this call, I will address our financial highlights here and encourage you to refer to our earnings press release, which is posted online for additional details. Total revenues in the second quarter of 2022 were RMB 8.73 billion or $1.3 billion, representing an increase of 73.3% from RMB 5.04 billion in the second quarter of last year.
This included RMB 8.48 billion, or $1.27 billion of vehicle sales in the second quarter of 2022, representing an increase of 73% from RMB 4.9 billion in the second quarter of 2021. The year-over-year increase in vehicle sales was mainly attributable to the increase in vehicle deliveries in the second quarter of this year. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, affected by supply shortage due to the COVID-19 in the second quarter of 2022, total revenues and the vehicle sales decreased by 8.7% and 8.9% respectively.
Revenues from other sales and services were RMB 249 million or $37.2 million in the second quarter of 2022, representing an increase of 83.6% from RMB 135.7 million in the second quarter of 2021, and a decrease of 1.7% from RMB 253.4 million in the first quarter of 2022. The increase in revenue from other sales and services over the second quarter of 2021 was mainly attributable to the increased sales of charging stores, accessories, and services in line with higher accumulated vehicle sales.
Cost of sales in the second quarter of 2022 was RMB 6.85 billion, or $1.02 billion, representing an increase of 67.7% year-over-year and a decrease of 7.4% quarter-over-quarter. Gross profit in the second quarter of 2022 was RMB 1.88 billion, or $280.4 million, representing an increase of 97.1% year-over-year and a decrease of 13.2% quarter-over-quarter. Vehicle margin in the second quarter was 21.2%, compared with 18.7% in the second quarter of last year, and 22.4% in the first quarter of 2022.
The increase in vehicle margin over the second quarter of 2021 was primarily driven by a higher average selling price attributable to the increase of vehicle deliveries of 2021 Li One since its release in May 2021. Gross margin in the second quarter of 2022 was 21.5%, compared with 18.9% in the second quarter of last year, and 22.6% in the first quarter of 2022. Operating expenses in the second quarter of 2022 were RMB 2.86 billion or $426.5 million, representing an increase of 91.9% year-over-year, and an increase of 10.9% quarter-over-quarter.
Research and development expenses in the second quarter of 2022 were RMB 1.53 billion, or $228.7 million, representing an increase of 134.4% year-over-year, and an increase of 11.5% quarter-over-quarter. The increase in R&D expenses over the second quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 was primarily driven by increased employee compensation as a result of our growing number of R&D staff, as well as increased expenses associated with new models to be introduced in the future.
Selling general and administrative expenses in the second quarter of 2022 were CNY 1.33 billion, or $197.8 million, representing an increase of 58.6% year-over-year, and an increase of 10.2% quarter-over-quarter. The increase in selling general and administrative expenses over the second quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 was primarily driven by increased employee compensation as a result of our growing number of staff, as well as increased rental expenses associated with the expansion of the company's sales network.
Losses from operations was RMB 978.5 million, or $146.1 million in the second quarter of 2022, representing an increase of 82.6% year-over-year, and an increase of 136.9% quarter-over-quarter. Net loss was RMB 641 million, or $95.7 million in the second quarter of 2022, representing an increase of 172.2% year-over-year, and compared with RMB 10.9 million net loss in the first quarter of 2022. Turning to our balance sheet and cash flow.
Our cash and cash equivalents are restricted cash, term deposits, and short-term investments totaled RMB 53.65 billion or $8.01 billion as of June 30, 2022. Operating cash flow in the second quarter of 2022 was RMB 1.13 billion or $168.6 million. Free cash flow was RMB 441.7 million or $67.4 million in the second quarter of 2022. Now our for our business outlook.
For third quarter of 2022, the company expects the deliveries to be between 27,000-29,000 vehicles, representing an increase of 7.5%-15.5% from the third quarter of 2021. The company also expects the third quarter total revenues to be between RMB 8.96 billion and RMB 9.56 billion or $1.34 billion and $1.43 billion, representing an increase of 15.3%-22.9% from the third quarter of 2021. This business outlook reflects the company's current and the preliminary view on the business situation and the market condition, which is subject to change.
I will now turn the call over to our operator and start the Q&A session. Thank you.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. For the benefit of all participants on today's call, please limit yourself to two questions. If you have additional questions, you can re-enter the queue. Please ask your question in Chinese and then follow with English. All right, our first question comes from Fei Fang from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Great. Yes, thanks for taking my question. Now, the second quarter performance was impressive despite COVID, and L9 has outstanding traction for its price point. Congratulations on those. They were well done. My question is about your guidance. The third quarter is in question. For the 27,000-29,000 unit guidance that you provided, it can you break it out by Li One and L9? And also as you ramp the production of the high ASP L9, will gross margin improve? That's the first question. My second question is about L9's retail traction. The company disclosed in early August that L9 has received 30,000 confirmed orders.
Just wondering if we can have a refreshed discussion in terms of this latest retail trend feedback, especially competition with the other new energy SUVs and MPVs that some of your EV peers have put in the market.
All right. This is Yanan . Thank you for your question. Your first question, for the guideline, actually, we still stick to our previous projection that, for September, we're going to ship more than 10,000 L9. For your second question, for the gross margin, L9 will be higher since it's a high-end product. Your second question about the traction right now, although last month we already kind of received almost 30,000 order of L9. Today, in the past two weeks, we still see a strong demand coming in for L9.
Yeah.
Okay. Got it. Sorry, part of my second question was to ask Kevin if you can comment on sort of L9 in the context of this competition with other SUVs and MPVs that some of your competitors have put in the market. Whether it's Huawei, BYD, and so on and so forth. Are you seeing competitive threat from them that sort of, you know, cause you to change your strategy or, you know, introduce more marketing incentives in front of customers?
Yeah. In fact, the L9 has a very unique product positioning. Actually, in this price band with this kind of size and smart features, we don't see there are any products that have a kind of a product proposition close to our L9. Yeah. Right now it's more about how much we can convert our customer to place order on our L9 when they have the budget between RMB 400,000-RMB 500,000. Yeah.
Okay. That's helpful. Thank you.
As a reminder, please ask your question in Chinese first, and then follow with the English translation, and do that as well for the follow-up question. Our next question comes from Tim Hsiao from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
My first question, just want to follow up on the third quarter guidance, because I think third quarter volume guidance of 27,000-29,000 looks a little bit conservative. Considering the launch of L9 and improving supply dynamics, should we attribute the conservative sell out to the transition of Li One only, or if the production ramp up of L9 came in lower than the expectation or if there's any other reason we should take into consideration. If just simply due to the hiccup of Li One, how long should we expect this kind of impact will last? My second question is about the sales mix of EREV, the plug-in hybrid, and BEV next year. How should we think about the mix in 2023?
Could you provide some updates regarding the number of new models? If the mix of the BEV is going to increase substantially next year, should we be concerned about the potential dilution to our margin or could that hurt our cash flow? Those are my two questions. Thank you.
Tim, this is Kevin. Thank you for your question. About your first question, in fact, when we give out this guidance, of course, we have seen some slowdown of the order intake.
I think the primary issue right now is that when we have the new product into our retail stores, a lot of attention has been attracted by the new product rather than the old product. Actually, we are working with our sales team to regain the attention from our potential customers for Li One. Yeah. On the other hand, about the potential launch of the new product, actually, the only comment I can give right now is that it will coming soon, and will come sooner than the expectation. Yeah. That's the only comment I can give. Yeah.
About the new product model, BEV model, we plan to launch next year. In fact, as you can expect, for any new model we launch into the market, we have an intention to increase the revenue, also to improve our cash flow, improve our profitability. Yeah. Therefore, with the new BEV model, in our plan, we plan reasonable profitability and cost. It won't hurt our cash flow, it won't hurt our gross margin next year.
That's perfect. Thank you very much, Kevin.
The next question comes from Bin Wang from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Da Hao. Okay. I basically got 1 question about the Li One , because investor told me like three things. Number one, we hear that in the Li One's waiting time has been reduced to two or three weeks. Secondly, apart from this month, Li One's start to offer around RMB 7,000 per unit, kind of a promotion for insurance. Number three, on the A, which will be the next generation, Li One will launch in November this year. Can you confirm the three things from the investors? Thank you.
Thank you for your question. First of all, about the
Confirm.
Waiting time.
Yeah, the waiting time actually. The waiting time right now is, of course, shorter than last month. As I already explained, the order intake is slower right now. Therefore, we can turn over the delivery faster. About the RMB 7,000 kind of a promotion. Actually, yeah, you got the information very up to date that we kind of released this policy just this Sunday. Yeah. About the new product you asking about, I think the same answer I already provided that it will come soon and sooner than our expectation. Yeah.
Okay, thank you. Thank you so much.
The next question comes from Paul Gong from UBS. Please go ahead.
As previously mentioned that how the BEVs and EREVs they should be based on different models. They have different features. Can you give us a little bit color on how should we think about the uniqueness or the attractiveness of your BEV in view of such a crowded market in the BEV market already?
Paul, this is Yanan Shen. I will take your first question, and Xiang Li will address the second question. The first question, the thing is that, before we put in the car L9 into our retail stores, before people start to test drive it, actually we see no change of the order intake pattern of Li One. Yeah.
It's to a certain extent to our surprise that when we have the customer coming into the stores to test drive, some of the customer original plan was to test drive Li One, but when they see L9 and when they after the test drive the L9, we see especially the customer with enough budget, we see a lot of them converted to L9 customer. Yeah. Right now, as I just explained, that's why one of the reason why we also have some more promotion plans for Li One. Yeah.
I think but on the other hand, we still have a confidence that Li One is still a very competitive product, because if we compare it with the existing product, other than L9, other product in the same price band, CNY 300,000-CNY 400,000 price band, Li One is still one of the most competitive product in the market. Mainly two angles of differentiation. The first one is around charging. In fact, we already have a prototype running right now that can charge 400 km of range in 10 minutes. The goal here is very similar to a range extended vehicle, which is to replace all internal combustion engine vehicle for customers and have no anxiety in terms of range.
Our data shows that among our L9 customers, 80% of them have home charging, and 100% of them have stable charging, either at home or in the office. Home charging or office charging is really not the key here. The key challenge is to enable customers to travel freely within key economic zones within China. For example, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Beijing-Tianjin region, Wuhan, Sichuan, these big megacity areas, we will support with high power charging so that customers can drive long distances with no range anxiety, even if they're driving electric vehicles. The second advantage when it comes to electric vehicles is space.
Because of the engineering possibility enabled by electric vehicles and new architectures and new body types, we can provide a lot more space in our electric vehicles compared to range extended vehicles with the same footprint.
If the L9 cannibalization of Li One is higher than expected, how much of the capacity ceiling we prepare for L9?
Yeah. The capacity is 15,000 for L9.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
The next question comes from Ming-Hsun Lee from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
[Foreign Language]各位领导，好，那我这边就两个问题。那第一个问题是关于我们下半年对于电池的成本的趋势，然后还有我们毛利率，那也考量到这个，包括最近有这个¥7,000的补助的话，我们现在怎么看我们三季度的毛利率，这第一个问题。My first question is regarding the gross margin trend and also the battery cost trend for second half this year.
[Foreign Language] 那我的第二个问题呢，是关于，其实还是跟Li One有关系，因为，除了这个Li One跟L9这边有一部分的客户他会重叠之外，那我们现在看到，包括市场上有一些新的竞品，像问界的产品，跟我们的这个position也比较接近，那我们怎么看，就是类似这样竞品的一个竞争力，然后对理想来说是不是也有一些影响，那如果是这样，我们在L8这边，或者说新产品这边，我们要怎么期待，就是说这产品比现在的Li One它可能会强在哪一些地方？谢谢。The second question is regarding the competitive landscape.
Recently we also see AITO brand volume sales has grown steadily. Besides that, how do we expect the new Li One or Li L8 its product competitiveness versus the current Li One? Thank you, 谢谢.
This is Kevin. Ming Hsun Lee, thank you for your question. The first question about the battery cost. Actually, as we all know, in the recent months the raw material for battery has come down a little bit, but we would expect that for the coming months, this year, the raw material costs will again fluctuate a lot. For the gross margin outlook, a lot of the time it is based on the battery cost. Therefore, I can only comment that the battery cost will be kind of fluctuation. For the new product competitiveness, I will ask Xiang Li to comment.
这里边还重点强调一下，就是它是L8，可能发布的会比所有人预期的都要更早，这是第一点。然后第二点呢，就是L8从发布到交付的这个时间节奏也会比L9更快。那这个其实是，然后我觉得等L8上了以后，然后我觉得像最近推出的这些新车型，我们再比较，我们是有绝对的信心在全面意义上，然后是最领先的。那这是能跟大家回答的。
Right now around L8 I can share two things. One is that it will be released much sooner than many people are expecting. The second thing is that the period from release to delivery will be shorter than L9. When L8 is available, I think that will be a good time to compare the product competitiveness with newly released competitors. We have full confidence that we will dominate all these products with our L8.
Thank you.
谢谢。
The next question comes from Yingbo Xu from CITIC. Please go ahead.
[Foreign Language]谢谢。我有两个问题，第一个是追问一下产品的竞争这个方面，就是我们看到增程的这块产品有更多的这个友商推出了新产品，刚才也讲到了L8，如果从中期的角度能否分享一些，就是对于增程产品的一个中期的策略。然后第二个呢，就是我们看到这个ATM的发行现在是$3.66亿，那么后续的ATM发行的这个情况能不能有一个分析，或者是我们的资金储备的计划。I have two questions. The first question is about the EREV product with our midterm competitiveness strategy for EREV product. And the second question is about money raising. Could you please talk a little bit more about ATM and further capital reserve project?
Thank you.
[Foreign Language] 对，我来回答第一个。我觉得增程式，然后我们仍然往后看，这个五年以上的时间，我们认为是SUV的最佳解决方案。那我给大家举一个其他品牌的案例。对，那比如说我们去看这个同样是二十多万售价的比亚迪的两款产品，就是在汉方面，其实显然EV卖得远远好于DM-i，但是在唐的方面，DM-i的销量远远好于EV。因为当消费者花二十万甚至三十万以上、四十万以上，然后去买一辆SUV的时候，他就有非常清晰的一个预期，就是我一定能够开着出去玩。对，那我觉得这个需求是真实的，是真实存在的。对，那尤其疫情以后，那这个需求就更加清晰，然后存在。所以我们认为长期而言，增程式这样的一个结构对于SUV都是非常好的一个体验，非常具备产品竞争力。而我们所要做的其实是在整个增程式的效率方面，逐步做得更高。对，那我觉得到时候大家可以看一看，一些主流的媒体测试的Li L9的能耗，和Li L9的性能的表现，对，那Li L9的能耗，基本上是60%的，就是在亏电情况下是60%的同级别燃油车的一个表现。其实是好于今天大家天天觉得什么增程式、增程式技术落后啊，是好于那些人吹牛的那几个品牌的型号小得多的SUV的型号。对，那我觉得后边还有很多可以挖掘的这样一个潜力，所以增程式是长期存在的，因为增程式是辆电动车，对，然后加上了增程式，而不是一辆燃油车塞进去的电池，我觉得这是完全不同的理念。我觉得如果连这个东西都理解不清楚，还要讲什么落后啊、先进什么的，我觉得这些企业很难把产品做好。对，所以我们也能看到，包含传统企业像长安这样的企业，非常优秀，他们的深蓝也选择了用增程式，因为长安是有PHEV技术的，但他们仍然坚定地选择了增程式，因为增程式是一辆电动车，对，而PHEV是一辆燃油车，这个必须得搞明白。对。
Talking about the range extended vehicle, if you look at over the next five years, we still believe that REV is the best solution for SUVs, period.
I'll give you one example. If you look at BYD, they have two main products above CNY 200,000. There's a Han sedan and there's a Tang SUV. In terms of Han, which is the sedan, the EV sells much better than DM-i, which is the hybrid vehicle. For Tang, the case is exactly the opposite, DM-i sells better than EV. The reason for that is when people buy cars, you know, in the CNY 200,000-CNY 300,000 range, when they buy an SUV, they have a very clear expectation that they want to go on longer trips, especially post-COVID. REV is still the best solution up until today for SUV that solves range anxiety. Under that consumption within REV, our biggest goal is to solve the efficiency challenge. If you look at L9, you can look at. There are many top media that have tested the L9.
Our energy consumption level is still leading in its class. Even with low SOC, the fuel consumption is only around 60% of much smaller internal combustion engine vehicles, and is much better than what many claim to be competitors, which are much smaller SUVs. Because at the end of the day, REV is as an EV. It's not an internal combustion engine adding a battery to it. That's the key difference between PHEV and our range extended electric vehicles. There shouldn't be any discussion of which one is more advanced or which one is more backwards.
For the users, range extended vehicles is an EV that happens to have an internal combustion engine or we call a range extender, whereas PHEV is really more of an internal combustion engine vehicle with a battery. I'll give you another example. Changan, which is a very, you know, established company with very capable technical skills, and their latest vehicle, SL03, is an REV rather than PHEV. Despite the fact that Changan has all the PHEV technologies in the world, but they still built an REV as their most advanced solution. Because at the end of the day, again, REV is really an electric vehicle.
For the second question about the cash flow and ATM offering, I think first, Li Auto has very healthy operating cash flow and free cash flow, which can still fund our business every quarter. In the long run, we are very clear we are still at the early stage of this industry in 10-15 years. We still want to use the active market to secure more cash to further fund the company's development, especially in the R&D and also the new model R&D side. For the ATM offering, I think we based on this year's market condition, as I just mentioned, we still want to secure more cash from the equity offering, so we choose ATM to do this. As most of the ATM offering, we need to stop before we publish our earnings release. Hopefully we can finish this ATM offering in the coming months. Thank you.
The next question comes from Jiong Shao from Barclays. Please go ahead.
[Foreign Language] 谢谢管理层接受我的提问。我有两个问题。第一个问题就关于你们的这个BEV的这个车型，我想请问一下，这个BEV的车型是不是还是这种家庭型的SUV的这种车型哈？第二个问题我想请问一下，我们在下半年这个operating expenses，这个从二季度的这个增长的这个趋势，我们应该怎么样去看这个问题，怎么样指引会是怎么样？我来自己翻译一下哈。I have two questions. First question is about the new BEV cars. Are those new cars still going to be family-oriented SUVs, or something else?
The second question is really about the guidance for the second half operating expenses. Xie xie. Thank you.
[Foreign Language] 我觉得第一个问题就是BEV的形态，然后在产品正式发布前，我们还是坚持还是要保密的，因为它具备非常独特性。对。
I have a short answer for the first question. In terms of the body type for our electric vehicle, I still want to keep it confidential before it's released because it's a very unique design.
To add to Xiang Li's answer, we still serve family customers with our BEV. For the operating expenses, I think we have a very clear roadmap on our product and our goal for this and next year's sales target. We will keep going to invest on the R&D side and also on the network expansion to better serve our family customers. Thank you.
As we are reaching the end of our conference call, I'd like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks. Ms. Janet Zhang, please go ahead.
Thank you once again for joining with us today. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Li Auto's investor relations team. That's all for today. Thank you