On March 28, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng Motors (小鹏汽车) announced its 2021 fourth quarter and full-year results. The financial results show that total revenue for the year 2021 reached CNY 20.99 billion, with an annual revenue exceeding CNY 20 billion for the first time, up 259.1% year-over-year.
According to the financial statement, Xpeng's total vehicle deliveries reached 98,000 units in 2021, up 263% from 27,000 in 2020. The company has also witnessed significant sales growth in the fourth quarter, achieving revenue of CNY 8.56 billion, up over 200% year-over-year, with more than 42,000 delivered vehicles.
From the company's estimation, Xpeng's revenue for the first quarter of 2022 will most likely range from CNY 7.2 billion to CNY 7.3 billion, an increase of approximately 144% to 147.4% year-over-year. Compared to the same period last year, the vehicle deliveries will also have increased from around 151% to 155%. The gross margin was 12% for the fourth quarter of 2021, compared with 7.4% over the same period of 2020.
The Chairman and CEO of Xpeng, He Xiaopeng, indicated that the impressive growth in 2021 was driven by the blockbuster P7 model and the newly launched P5 family sedan for the full year and fourth quarter. The total deliveries of these two models more than tripled year-over-year, followed by the popular trend of EV penetration in China. Xpeng's wide range of services, including supercharging station networks and new products have fulfilled the needs of China's mid-to-high-end market segments.
One of the pilot programs, City Navigation Guided Pilot, is currently developed and fast iterated to achieve optimized user experience and improve land safety in urban driving scenarios. In terms of the expansion plan, the company continued to expand its presence in Europe. In February 2022, Xpeng announced its strategic partnerships with two major European automobile players for agency retail collaborations in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Xpeng's first branded overseas retail experience store also opened in Stockholm, Sweden. With the current technological improvement and expansion plan, the company is expecting to achieve a continued growth trajectory and structural improvement of gross margin in the future.