Chinese EV maker Xpeng expects minimum 35% jump in sales, citing tech investments

The Guangzhou-based company said in its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday that total sales could reach 41,000 to 45,000 units for the three months ending September, up between 35.7 and 49 per cent from the second quarter, when it handed 30,207 vehicles to customers at home and abroad.

Xpeng reported a net loss of 1.28 billion yuan (US$179.2 million) for the second quarter, narrowing 6.6 per cent from a 1.37 billion yuan loss in the first quarter. The result beat a median analyst forecast of a 1.63 billion yuan loss in a Bloomberg survey.

Revenue shot up 23.8 per cent quarter on quarter to 8.1 billion yuan.

“We are about to enter into a strong product cycle,” co-founder and CEO He Xiaopeng said in a statement on Tuesday. “In the next three years, we will have a large number of new models and facelift versions in the pipeline for market launch.”

The product line-up, more efficient marketing and technological advantages including breakthroughs in artificial intelligence “will be transformed into sales growth in China and the international market”, he added.

At the end of July, Xpeng announced it had expanded use of its self-driving system to all cities in China in a bid to attract more local users ahead of the China debut of FSD, which has not yet been approved for use in the country but is expected to enter testing at the end of this year.

With the move, Xpeng became the first mainland carmaker to make a semi-autonomous driving system operational nationwide.

The latest version of X NGP (Xpeng navigation guided pilot) will take a big leap this year to promote self-driving technologies in the world’s largest automotive and EV market in China, He said at the time.

“Mainland drivers, particularly the youngsters, are enthusiastic about intelligent EVs that enjoy a high degree of autonomy and digital connectivity,” said Eric Han, a senior manager at Suolei, an advisory firm in Shanghai. “They will need to vie for market share amid Tesla’s invasion.”