Xpeng will explore the Robotaxi business in the second half of 2022, and deliveries of the G9 SUV will begin in the third quarter of next year.
Xpeng Motors announced its third-quarter earnings today and the company's management held a conference call afterward, and here are its key takeaways.
Xpeng will explore the robotaxi business in the second half of 2022 to accelerate the commercialization of intelligent driving technology, said the company's chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng.
The robotaxi business will first be piloted in Guangzhou, and will start with XPilot 3.5 and gradually transition to XPilot 4.0.
Xpeng's strategic goal is to improve the robustness and safety of autonomous driving algorithms in the short term through the operation of generalized scenarios.
The company believes that through the ability to mass-produce front-loading Robotaxi software and hardware, and future partnerships with various mobility operators, it can create significant business value by bringing a revolutionary experience to user mobility.
Orders for the P5 are significant, with some models not being delivered until after the Chinese New Year holiday. More than 50 percent of all orders were for the XPilot system, and 80 percent of P5 customers were willing to take delivery before installing the radar.
Xpeng will deliver the G9 SUV, which supports XPilot 4.0, in the third quarter of 2022 and will essentially change the shape of how people travel.
In the G9 and future models, Xpeng will be thinking more about gross margins, to see how they can be improved, not just the product mix.
Xpeng believes that the G9 will be a very popular model that will compete with the Nio ES6 and ES8, but the company believes that the G9 will have a clear advantage in terms of technology.
Xpeng believes that the G9 is aimed at the global market and is a very important product for the company.
By the end of the third quarter, Xpeng had more than 4,000 R&D employees.
By the end of the year, Xpeng will have more than 600 supercharging stations.
Xpeng will continue its expansion in other European markets, including Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Xpeng's first factory in Zhaoqing, Guangdong is currently running double shifts, with a 20-hour workday.
Xpeng's Zhaoqing plant plus the Guangzhou and Wuhan plants under construction have a total design capacity of 400,000 units and can support 600,000 units per year through double shifts.
Starting with the G9, all future Xpeng models will support 800V high-voltage charging.
In the long run, Xpeng wants half of its sales to come from overseas markets.
In terms of the internationalization strategy, Xpeng aims to lay the foundation for internationalization in 2020-2023, including the construction of an international team, organizational system changes, and international R&D, so that the new models launched in 2023-2025 can support simultaneous delivery in China and Europe.
Xpeng's current focus in Europe is on finding partners and strengthening the brand in Europe, and is not too concerned about the volume of deliveries.
