From a planned 40,000 units to 16,608 units sold in 2019, Xpeng, having moved beyond its goals, is now fearing the competition.
Xpeng Motors (小鹏汽车) announced it had delivered a total of 16,608 units of its model Xpeng G3 in 2019, according to information disclosed by the firm to Chinese automotive market researcher firm, AC Automotive (AC汽车).
In early 2019, the electric car maker planned to deliver around 40,000 G3s by the end of 2019. It announced the opening of six service centers in China at the same time, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Dongguan.
In a statement last May, Xpeng stated it had delivered 2,704 model G3s, ranking it first among the domestic EV manufacturers. In the same month, the rivals WM Motors (威马汽车) and NIO (蔚来, NIO: NYSE) delivered 2,056 and 1,068 units, respectively. However, with this announcement, the company's primary goals were not yet met, with 58% fewer cars sold.
Later in June, the company upgraded the G3 with the installation of the Integrated Cruise Assist (ICA) and Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) system, marking Xpeng G3's official entrance into the L2-class era of smart driving. The function mainly monitors the position of lane markers and actively controls the steering wheel to assist the driver in keeping the vehicle in the middle of the lane.
The carmaker also stated that it had delivered more than 90% of medium-to-high-profile models equipped with autonomous driving assistance; the overall sales of personal user's car reached 83%, making it the company with the highest proportion of C-end users.
At the 17th Guangzhou International Automotive Exhibition (Auto Guangzhou 2019), Xpeng Motors unveiled its next-generation smart vehicle, the Xiaopeng P7 (小鹏P7). Moreover, the domestic rival WM Motors, which raised USD 430 million in its latest funding event led by Tencent Holdings (0700:HK), also released its new electric car, WM EX6 Plus, to cut through the competition.
China's electric vehicle market is experiencing fierce competition, particularly with the installation of Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai (the USD 4.5 billion factory was concluded in a record 10 months). Nevertheless, the US electric vehicle maker made its first Tesla China-made Model 3 delivery debut last Monday (cutting its price by 16% after receiving government subsidies).
Therefore, government subsidies to EV makers are also playing a pivotal role in EV market growth in the long run. After cutting the subsidy in 2019 for new energy vehicles with over 400 kilometers of range from USD 7200 to USD 3600, the government announced it would not cut the subsidies of NEVs in 2020, according to Reuters.
The grants will support the domestic and foreign China-based (like Tesla) EV makers to push the production and increase the supply of EV cars, which in the long run, will create a more sustainable EV market.