Xpeng starts expansion of existing plant, to double annual capacity to 200,000 units

While its factory in Guangzhou is still under construction and a project in Wuhan has just started, Xpeng Motors' earliest factory is starting to expand.

The second phase of the company's Zhaoqing plant in Guangdong province officially broke ground on Wednesday and will increase annual capacity from 100,000 to 200,000 units, the company said.

Construction of the Xpeng Zhaoqing site began in late 2017 and production began in May 2020.

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The plant started with a capacity of 100-200 units a month and now has a single-day capacity of up to 500-700 units, according to Xpeng co-founder and president Xia Heng.

"To meet the rapidly growing market demand, we are renovating and upgrading the entire production site," Xia said.

After the second phase of the project reaches production, the annual production capacity here will be able to reach 200,000 units, he said, adding, "We will introduce several new, more competitive products."

Xpeng was founded in 2014 and released its first model, the G3 SUV, in September 2016.

That model was OEM'd by Haima Motor, but Xpeng's OEM agreement with it is set to expire at the end of this year, after which Xpeng's models will all be produced in its own factories.

Xpeng currently owns a factory in Zhaoqing and last September began construction of a second factory in Guangzhou, which is expected to be in production by the end of 2022.

At the end of last month, it was reported that the company's chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng was in Chengdu, in western China's Sichuan province, on July 27 to discuss with local officials the location of the company's R&D center and fourth factory.

On July 31, Xpeng officially launched its Wuhan plant in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone with a planned capacity of 100,000 vehicles.

Xpeng and Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone signed an agreement on April 8 to build its vehicle manufacturing base and R&D center there.

The Xpeng Wuhan plant will cover an area of approximately 73.3 hectares with an estimated total investment of RMB 10 billion($1.5billion), Xpeng will build a vehicle and powertrain plant and R&D center here and is expected to start production in 2023.