On the evening of August 27th, the first model of XPeng Motors’ new MONA series, the MONA M03, was officially launched. The new car has launched a total of 3 models: the 515 long-range version, the 620 ultra-long-range version, and the 580 ultra-long-range Max version. The price range is 119,800 – 155,800 yuan, becoming the cheapest model currently on sale of XPeng Motors. Regarding the pricing of the new car, He Xiaopeng, the founder and chairman of XPeng Motors, said: “The price starting from 119,800 yuan is indeed a difficult but correct decision. I hope more people will have the opportunity to feel the huge changes that technology brings to everyone’s life.” At the press conference, He Xiaopeng announced that XPeng Motors would be renamed XPeng AI Automobile Company. He Xiaopeng said: “In the next ten years, XPeng will focus on the combination of AI technology and large-scale manufacturing, and is committed to becoming a leader in AI automobile companies.” This year marks exactly the tenth year since the establishment of XPeng Motors. Ten years ago, XPeng Motors was officially established, headquartered in Guangzhou. It is an Internet electric vehicle brand under Guangzhou Chengxing Zhidong Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., initiated by He Xiaopeng, Xia Heng, He Tao, and others. Two years later, in September 2016, the first model of XPeng Motors, the XPeng Motors BETA version, was officially released; in August 2017, after He Xiaopeng resigned from Alibaba, he joined XPeng Motors and held the position of chairman. Also in this year, in October, the first mass-produced model of XPeng Motors was officially rolled off the production line, taking the lead in achieving mass production in the Internet car-making industry. By October 2021, the 100,000th vehicle of XPeng Motors was rolled off the production line. Up to now, the product matrix of XPeng Motors has formed a total of 5 models: G6, X9, G9, P7, and P5. He Xiaopeng reviewed the arduous journey of car-making for XPeng Motors in the past ten years at the press conference. He pointed out that XPeng Motors, which takes intelligent driving as its core competitiveness, has never actively laid off the intelligent driving team even in the most difficult times. With the advent of the era of large AI models, in the next ten years, XPeng will also take smart cars as the core and expand its layout in technological directions including AI cars, AI robots, AI chips, and flying cars. It is worth noting that He Xiaopeng also made a prediction: In the next 10 years, there may be only 7 mainstream Chinese automobile brands left, and XPeng Motors wants to be one of them. He Xiaopeng explained that the weight of AI technology will affect nearly 50% of purchase decisions, and annual sales of 1 million vehicles in the next 10 years will become the ticket to the finals of AI cars. In addition, the overseas market is also crucial for XPeng Motors. He Xiaopeng said: “In the next 10 years, half of XPeng Motors’ sales will come from overseas. XPeng’s internationalization strategy starts from Europe, is technology-oriented, and brings China’s intelligence to the world.” In fact, as early as the beginning of this year, in an internal letter to all employees of XPeng Motors, He Xiaopeng said that this year is the second year of XPeng Motors’ “from 1 to 2, second entrepreneurship”. For this reason, he also announced that within the next 3 years, XPeng Motors will plan about 30 new products or facelifts, and this year’s performance should more than double, the organization should complete all shortcomings, and the operation should take the first step towards high quality. In addition, this year is also the first year for XPeng Motors to take the lead in moving towards high-level intelligent driving and allowing high-level intelligent driving to go global from China. The annual R&D investment in “AI technology with intelligent driving as the core” is a total of 3.5 billion yuan. It should be noted that the competition in the current automotive market is particularly fierce. He Xiaopeng also pointed out in the letter: “2024 is the first year for Chinese automobile brands to enter the ‘bloodbath’ competition and also the first year of the elimination round. XPeng Motors has been fighting in the fierce competition in the ‘bloodbath’ from the beginning and has accumulated considerable experience. I believe that persistence will surely win.” At present, XPeng Motors has launched models including G6, X9, G9, P7, P5, and MONA M03, but there is no blockbuster model that can “stand alone”. Data shows that from January to July this year, the cumulative sales of XPeng Motors were 63,200 vehicles. Among them, the model with the highest sales is the XPeng G6, with 20,200 vehicles; the XPeng X9 and the XPeng G9 follow, with 14,600 vehicles and 14,500 vehicles respectively; the XPeng P7 and the XPeng P5 are 10,500 vehicles and 3,100 vehicles respectively. In terms of data, since entering 2024, the sales of XPeng Motors are still in a sluggish situation and have fallen behind significantly. By contrast, the cumulative sales of Li Auto and NIO, both in the “Weixiaoli” camp, were 240,000 vehicles and 107,900 vehicles respectively. With the release of the first model of XPeng Motors’ new MONA series, the MONA M03, the car is also regarded as the “fire chief” of XPeng Motors. He Xiaopeng said that the MONA M03 was jointly built by XPeng and Didi, with an investment of up to 4 billion yuan, fully targeting the 200,000-level, and the goal is to become a classic style beyond the level. According to the plan, the MONA M03 will be officially delivered in September this year. The official said that 52 minutes after the new car was launched, the number of large orders has exceeded 10,000! As for whether the M03 can sell explosively, the answer will be revealed soon.
XPeng Motors upgrades and “changes its name”!
