Xpeng's two new platforms will see the launch of their respective first models in 2024, complementing the company's lineup in the RMB 100,000 to RMB 400,000 price range.
(A photo shared by He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng, on Weibo of his first workday of the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2024.)
Today is the first workday after China's 2024 Lunar New Year holiday, and Xpeng's (NYSE: XPEV) CEO revealed the electric vehicle (EV) maker's upcoming product plans in an internal letter.
This year will be the first year that Xpeng's product and technology platform will build up and break out, with the company planning about 30 new and facelifted models over 3 years, said Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng, according to the full text of the internal letter obtained by CnEVPost.
Platforms targeting prices over RMB 300,000 ($41,700) and those priced in the RMB 150,000 class will both see the launch of their first models, Mr. He said.
These two models will be important cornerstones to help Xpeng fill in the price band between RMB 100,000 and RMB 400,000, he said.
Mr. He believes that competition in China's EV industry will become more intense, saying that this year is the first year that Chinese car brands will enter the "sea of blood" competition, or the first year of the elimination round.
"Xpeng has accumulated considerable experience by fighting in a sea of blood and fierce competition from the very beginning, and I believe perseverance will lead to victory," he said.
This is Xpeng's 10th year of existence, and its performance needs to more than double, Mr. He told employees.
Xpeng will invest more human resources in 2024 and will hire about 4,000 people, Mr. He said, adding that the company's research and development budget will increase by more than 40 percent year-on-year this year "to fight for tomorrow."
Mr. He said many of Xpeng's peers are contracting and are afraid to invest in the face of a bleak macro-economy, but he feels this is instead an opportunity for his company.
"We will go forward in 2024 and enter a high-speed positive cycle in the fourth quarter or a little earlier," he said.
"Starting from this month, we will make the company more successful with a more advanced and efficient full-process system based on the new Xpeng Product Development (XPD) system, which is the full lifecycle product development management system V1.0 with Xpeng features," Mr. He said.
The just-concluded Chinese New Year holiday was February 10-17, and a large number of Chinese residents returned to their hometowns for vacation, causing disruptions to industrial production.
In order to better respond to customer needs, Xpeng's global teams in the US and Europe were operating as normal, Mr. He said, adding that in China, a large number of the company's employees in teams including product, R&D, production, stores, and service centers continued to work during the holiday.
In the internal letter, Mr. He continued to emphasize Xpeng's focus on smart driving technology, saying that 2024 will be the first year that Xpeng is moving towards higher-level smart driving and making higher-level smart driving go from China to the world.
In 2024, Xpeng will invest RMB 3.5 billion in research and development of artificial intelligence technology centered on smart driving, he said.
2024 will be the first year that Xpeng's marketing strategy undergoes a strategic upgrade, in which the company will merge its marketing strategies for cars, the Internet and phones, Mr. He said.
"No matter how challenging and how much investment is needed, we have to make Xpeng's brand and marketing one of the undisputed first-tier players in the industry in as short a period of time as possible," he told employees.
Xpeng will also make strategic upgrades in the design area this year, with three styling centers running concurrently to make styling as much of a strength of the company as AI, marketing and operations, he said.
Mr. He also emphasized the focus on international markets in the internal letter, saying that 2024 will be the first year of V2.0 of Xpeng's internationalization efforts.
Xpeng will lay out in core markets in regions such as Europe, ASEAN, the Middle East, Latin America, and Oceania, and strengthen the local adaptation of its products, including left-hand drive and right-hand drive models, he said, adding that the company will build a new path to globalization in terms of its products, smart driving, and branding.
($1 = RMB 7.1936)
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