As of July 5, Xpeng's US-traded ADR was up about 75 percent cumulatively since June 9, when the G6 began pre-sales.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
Xpeng's (NYSE: XPEV) new SUV, the G6, has received good initial acceptance and now the company has an important task: ramping up production capacity as soon as possible.
Customers have been very enthusiastic about the G6, and those who order it now will have to wait about 10 weeks, Brain Gu, Xpeng's vice chairman and president, told English-language media reporters, including CnEVPost, at an online conference Wednesday night.
Xpeng wants shorter and shorter delivery cycles for the G6, but right now the model still needs capacity ramp-up, Gu said.
He mentioned that the G6 has received a significant number of orders, which would help Xpeng see monthly deliveries reach 15,000 units in the third quarter and 20,000 units in the fourth quarter.
Xpeng officially launched the G6 in China on June 29 with a starting price of RMB 209,900 ($28,980), significantly lower than the starting price of RMB 263,900 for the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y, its main competitor, in China.
The company began pre-sales for the G6 on June 9 and later announced that the model had received more than 25,000 orders within 72 hours.
At the launch event on June 29, Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said the G6 had more than 35,000 pre-sales orders as of June 28 since the pre-sale.
The G6 is expected to become the top-selling smart electric SUV priced at the RMB 250,000 level in China within two months, he said at the time.
In an interview with local media following the G6 launch, Mr. He said the G6's monthly sales target is at least 10,000 units.
CnEVPost's latest look at the Xpeng app shows that the G6's lower-priced Pro versions all currently have an estimated wait time of 10 weeks, while the Max versions all have 12 weeks.
As the electric vehicle industry in China becomes more competitive, quick deliveries are important to capitalize on the initial hype of new models.
Xpeng's local peer Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) has proven this to be true, with its three models -- the Li L7, Li L8 and Li L9 -- all currently having 2-4 week wait times.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) also learned its lesson when it launched several new models this year, with deliveries of the new ES6 starting the night it was launched on May 24 and the ET5 Touring on June 16, the day after its launch.
Although the G6 is seen as critical to Xpeng, the company's management believes a car company cannot bet its future on just one model.
In the auto industry, carmakers need to think long-term and be systematically competitive, Mr. He said earlier this month.
Investors are clearly bullish on the G6's potential, with Xpeng's US-traded ADRs up about 75 percent cumulatively as of July 5 since the G6 began pre-sales on June 9.
($1 = RMB 7.2433)
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