(Yicai) March 4 -- Chinese new energy vehicle startup Li Auto has unveiled its most expensive model, priced from CNY559,800 (USD77,800).

Li Auto released Mega, a multi-purpose battery electric vehicle, on March 1, with the model expected to begin deliveries as early as March 11.

Sales of the Mega will reach a peak of 8,000 units per month, becoming one of the top sellers in China’s automobile market segment of cars priced above CNY500,000, Liu Jie, vice president of business at Li Auto, told Yicai. The Mega plays an important role in realizing Li Auto’s target of selling 800,000 vehicles this year, Liu added.

MPVs are still a niche market in China. Sales of MPVs in the country neared 1.1 million units last year, of which only 245,000 were NEVs, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.

The market segment for MPVs priced at over CNY500,000 is even smaller. Sales of the Zeekr 009 and Toyota Alphard, two of the main competitors of the Mega, are less than 2,000 units a month each.

Liu believes that NEVs priced at over CNY500,000 are still a blue ocean in China.

Li Auto will unveil three pure electric sports utility vehicles in the second half of the year. The L6, another SUV priced at between CNY250,000 and CNY300,000 and expected to compete with Tesla’s Model Y and the Aito M7, will also hit the market in that period.

Li Auto will focus on BEVs and extended-range EVs this year, with the latter expected to remain the main contributors to the company’s sales, Liu told Yicai.

Li Auto will invest at least CNY6 billion (USD830 million) to build more than 5,000 directly operated supercharging stations covering over 95 percent of China’s expressways and key national highways in the future, Chairman Li Xiang said at the launch event of the Mega. The firm will set up many franchised urban charging stations this year, he noted.

Moreover, Li Auto is also planning to enter the Middle Eastern market. It has started building a sales and service team in Dubai and will begin delivery of vehicles in the United Arab Emirates in the fourth quarter of the year.

Editor: Futura Costaglione