President Xpeng Motors: Xpeng Wants Half of Car Sales to Be Overseas

Gu Hongdi, Vice President and Chairman of Xpeng Motors, said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday that Xpeng plans to become a global automobile manufacturer and aims to deliver at least half of its electric vehicles to overseas customers.

Gu did not provide a specific time frame for achieving that goal but said that the company Xpeng would invest much more in international markets this year and next. The Guangzhou-based company expects to enter Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands next year.

Xpeng began to enter overseas market as early as last year. In December 2020, 100 Xpeng G3 were delivered to the Norwegian market. In February 2021, another 200 Xpeng G3 were exported to the Norwegian market. In August 2021, Xpeng announced that it would ship its flagship sedan P7 from Guangzhou to Norway. Delivery subsequently began in November.

Xpeng‘s P7 has obtained the European Union Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA), which indicates that the model can be sold in various countries within the European Union. At the same time, its latest new car, the G9, was developed according to international standards.

Yesterday, Xpeng announced its third-quarter financial report, in which its revenue reached 5.72 billion yuan ($895 million), up 187.4% year-on-year. Automobile sales revenue was 5.46 billion yuan. However, its net loss in the third quarter continued to expand, reaching 1.59 billion yuan.

Gu Hongdi said in the interview that if Xpeng can produce 150,000 cars every year, it is expected that it will break even within two years.

In addition, the delivery volume of Xpeng reached a new high of 25,666 units in the third quarter, up 199.2% year-on-year. In the first 10 months of this year, Xpeng has delivered 66,542 units.

SEE ALSO: XPeng Reports 25,666 Vehicles Delivered in Q3

Other Chinese automakers, such as NIO and BYD, have focused their overseas expansion on countries where government incentives have supported local demand for electric cars.