XPeng CEO: Annual Output of 400K Units the Bar for Future Industry Leaders
He Xiaopeng, the CEO of XPeng Motors, expounded upon the company’s experience in vehicle manufacturing on July 7 at the 14th China Auto Blue-Book Forum. He said that he initially encountered many challenges when joining the automobile industry as an internet expert, stepping into many pits, adding that many aspects now require adjustment. For example, XPeng Motors previously agreed with the industry’s formulation that “the annual output of 100,000 vehicles is the threshold,” but He said he believes that “when we achieve 100,000 units, we find that the figure in today’s smart electric vehicle industry is not a basic threshold, and it may be around 400,000.”
When reviewing the development of XPeng Motors, He Xiaopeng mentioned the reasons why the firm gave up on building hybrid cars. “We had a difficult choice in 2020. Between long-term development and short-term benefits, and whether we should do it or not. To be honest, we discussed it for a long time and finally chose to give up hybrid cars.”
He believes that in the process of transforming traditional fuel vehicles into new energy vehicles, hybrid vehicles are inevitable and have huge market demand. However, after 2023 and 2024, hybrid vehicles will gradually decline, and at the same time, they will bring different challenges due to different technical routes.
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He Xiaopeng said that in recent years, about 300 new enterprises in the industry have entered the car making field, while there are only about 10 car enterprises that can really grab a spot in the industry and achieve a certain sales volume. Recently, nearly 30 newer enterprises such as Xiaomi and AITO have joined the track. He praised the “latecomers,” saying that: “You can tell that these new enterprises have greatly improved the average level of our car making enterprises seven or eight years ago, whether the companies come from industries like smartphones, home appliances, or the internet.”
According to the company’s sales data, XPeng Motors delivered 15,000 vehicles in June and 69,000 vehicles in the first half of this year, making it the sales champion among China’s so-called “new forces” in car making. It has delivered over 200,000 vehicles since the company’s establishment.
