(Yicai Global) June 28 -- Li Auto’s founder has denied a report that the Chinese electric vehicle startup has raised its annual sales target by 33 percent to 400,000 units from 300,000.

The reported increase in targeted annual sales is wrong and unfounded, Li Xiang said on China’s Twitter-like Weibo yesterday. Li Auto cannot sell 400,000 cars this year because its production and sales capacity and organizational capabilities are not sufficient, added Li, who is also the firm’s chief executive.

Beijing-based Li Auto had sold 27,300 EVs this month as of June 25, approaching its monthly sales target of 30,000, it said on its Weibo account. The carmaker has sold more than 130,000 vehicles so far in the first half of the year, Li noted.

In the first quarter, Li Auto achieved record deliveries and revenue. It delivered 52,600 cars in the three months ended March 31, up 65 percent from a year earlier, and reported revenue of CNY18.8 billion (USD2.6 billion). The firm turned a CNY10.9 million (USD1.5 million) loss in the first quarter of last year into a CNY930 million (USD128.6 million) profit in the first quarter of this year.

For this quarter, Li Auto predicted that deliveries will likely jump 165 percent to 182 percent to 76,000 to 81,000 units from a year ago. It expects revenue to range between CNY24.2 billion and CNY25.9 billion, up 177 percent to 196 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione