(Yicai) April 7 — Manufacturing cheap, low-margin autos is of no value to Xpeng, according to the chief executive officer of the Chinese electric vehicle startup.
“Xpeng will engage in healthy competition, rather than simply making cheap cars,” He Xiaopeng recently told media outlets, including Yicai. “We will not enter the market segment for vehicles priced below CNY100,000 (USD14,540).”
Based on this philosophy, all of Xpeng’s EV models must be smart and differentiated, with all product technologies revolving around fundamental intelligent differentiation, He noted.
About the fierce competition, He predicted that the Chinese passenger car market will be dominated by five major domestic automakers with scale by 2030, while others will remain relatively small. Several EV startups will likely persist for many years, longer than expectations, he added.
Xpeng will transform from a carmaker to a technology firm, He explained. To this end, the company changed its Chinese name to Xpeng Group from Xpeng Motors on April 1. This signals a bigger shift toward physical artificial intelligence, according to President Brian Gu.
“Twelve years, a full cycle, and a brand-new starting point,” He said in a post on X on April 2. “From our journey in smart EVs to flying cars, the Vision-Language-Action autonomous-driving model, the humanoid robot Iron, robotaxi, and more, we are on a global expedition in physical AI, turning our dreams into reality step by step.”
Revenue of the Chinese auto industry fell 0.9 percent to CNY1.48 trillion (USD215.1 billion) in the first two months of the year from a year earlier, as costs inched up 0.2 percent to CNY1.31 trillion, according to the latest data from the China Passenger Car Association released by Secretary-General Cui Dongshu.
The industry’s profit shrank 30 percent to CNY43.5 billion (USD6.3 billion), with a profit margin of 2.9 percent, lower than the 5.8 percent average among downstream firms, CPCA data also showed.
Editor: Futura Costaglione
