Asian Tech Press (Apr. 8) -- Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) denied Friday that it would lay off about 15% of its workforce.

Sources said that Li Auto's layoff plan has been written into CEO Li Xiang's Q2 quarterly OKR, involving departments such as product and enterprise systems, and is expected to cut about 15% of employees.

The EV maker is currently counting labor costs and working hours, and starting next month, all employees' working hours will be sorted from highest to lowest, adopting the "rank and yank" system.

Based on the total number of 11,901 employees disclosed in Li Auto's 2021 financial report, a rough calculation shows that the layoffs may affect nearly 1,800 people.

The person in charge of relevant business at Li Auto responded that there is no such thing, and the layoff plan is untrue news.

Li Auto delivered 11,034 Li One SUVs in March 2022, up 125.2% year-over-year.