Xiaopeng Automobile "difficult to give birth"

Text/Leju Finance Li Shanshan

Xiaopeng Motors, which won the title of new force sales champion in the whole year of 2021 and the first month of 2022, can be called a spring breeze. However, Xiaopeng, whose sales are at the top of the list, are being "targeted" by the car owners behind him, and a "pink to black" drama seems to be playing out.

Recently, Xiaopeng Automobile was collectively complained by the owner of the car on the black cat platform for not delivering the P5 model on the prescribed date, and the number of complaints exceeded 100 times in two months. In recent months, owners of the Xiaopeng P5 460, whose deliveries have been delayed for a long time across the country, have also been treated without compensation.

Under the Weibo of He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, many users left messages asking about the delivery of Xiaopeng P5 460, saying that the car was not mentioned for up to 4 months. In this regard, He Xiaopeng and Xiaopeng Automobile did not respond.

Previously, Xiaopeng Automobile fell into the whirlpool of public opinion again and again due to incidents such as blatant deception, false standards for endurance, and illegal collection of private data of car owners.

In the third quarter of 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile's revenue was 5.72 billion yuan, up 187.4% from the same period in 2020 and 52.1% from the second quarter of 2020; the company's net loss was 1.595 billion yuan, compared with the net loss of 1.149 billion yuan in the same period of 2020, and the loss margin was further expanded.

Long lead times

Since 2022, in two months, Xiaopeng Automobile has complained more than 100 times on the official website of Black Cat Complaints for not delivering the P5 model according to the prescribed date.

According to the owner, he ordered the Xiaopeng P5 460 in October last year and delivered a deposit of 5,000 yuan, and the sales staff of Xiaopeng Automobile promised to deliver the vehicle at the end of November or December.

At the beginning of December, when the owner communicated with the salesman again about the delivery time of the vehicle, he changed his mouth to say that he would wait for the Spring Festival, and when the owner did not recognize this reply, Xiaopeng unilaterally proposed to cancel the subscription.

Then the owner of the car repeatedly communicated with Xiaopeng Sales, Xiaopeng Automobile APP, xiaopeng Automobile official customer service, the other party has been giving a reply of "there is no other choice but to wait", taking a delaying method, and has not yet delivered the vehicle.

The car was not mentioned for 4 months, the owner encountered a situation is not an isolated case, according to the collective complaint situation, most car owners for October, the earliest is determined on October 2, so far has not picked up the car.

In addition to repeated delays in delivery, what is more dissatisfied with the owners is that they have also encountered "differential treatment" in ordering Xiaopeng Cars.

According to the complainant, Xiaopeng Motors has delivered the 550 version and 600 version of the P5 model with a higher price in the same period or later, while the 460 version booked by itself has not yet been picked up, and Xiaopeng Motors has not made any explanation for its selective delivery behavior, or there is a suspicion of trying to induce consumers to buy a higher price model.

Under the Weibo of He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Automobile, many users left messages in the comment area to ask about the delivery of Xiaopeng P5 460. In this regard, He Xiaopeng and Xiaopeng Automobile did not respond.

The relevant person in charge of Xiaopeng Automobile said: "Users who have postponed delivery can choose to unsubscribe, reassign or continue to wait, and there is currently no compensation plan." This means that if you choose to cancel the subscription, you will only refund the deposit of 5,000 yuan at the time of booking, and the car purchase contract was signed in October last year, and there is no compensation for losses such as insurance, subsidies, and mark-ups during the 4-month period.

As for when the delivery of the new car can be returned to the right track, Xiaopeng Motors said that it will step up information communication with the supply chain at all levels to minimize the waiting time for customers, and apologizes for the inconvenience caused to customers by the delay in delivery of the P5 460 model.

Previously, it was reported that Xiaopeng Automobile said, "The price increase in the Ningde era is too large, and in order to cope with the pressure brought by the rising cost, the future will gradually replace the ningde era power battery with the battery of AVIC lithium battery." In addition, it will continue to use the iron lithium battery of Ewell Lithium Energy to match it on low-end models. Subsequently, Xiaopeng Automobile came forward to clarify, saying that caterer is still a core partner.

It is understood that the battery used in the Xiaopeng P5 460 comes from the Ningde era, and the continuous delay in delivery of the model may be related to the Ningde era.

"Previous conviction" complained of

In fact, this is not the first time that Xiaopeng Automobile has postponed the delivery of the car.

In mid-December last year, because the pre-ordered Xiaopeng P7 480 model had not been equipped with a car after the delivery cycle, the owners issued a joint statement saying that Xiaopeng Automobile failed to start delivery within the promised time, infringing on the rights and interests of consumers, requiring Xiaopeng to inform the reasons and give reasonable economic compensation to the owners who had overdue.

At that time, Xiaopeng Automobile responded that due to the impact of the epidemic, the industry was facing an extreme shortage of lithium iron phosphate battery supply, which brought great uncertainty to the production of Xiaopeng P7 480E/N models, resulting in the 480 models not being delivered in time within the expected delivery cycle of the order.

At that time, the solution given by Xiaopeng Automobile was the same as this time, that is, unsubscribe, reassign or continue to wait, and there was no compensation.

In addition to the problem of delayed delivery, Xiaopeng Automobile has also been caught in the whirlpool of public opinion due to repeated negative events.

In early December last year, Xiaopeng Automobile was exposed to the "yin and yang contract" and accused of "blatant deception". It is reported that the owner was told by the sales staff that he needed to pay an additional fee of more than 7,000 yuan to get the state subsidy when picking up the car, and said that it was a unified operation.

Afterwards, Xiaopeng Automobile responded, "This is the relevant personnel did not clearly explain the relevant policies, it is the company's management mistakes." In this regard, many netizens have said that this move is not a yin-yang price and communication problem, involving sensitive issues such as defrauding the state of new energy vehicle subsidies, and more involving "unified operation" and "large-scale" fraud.

Just a few days later, Xiaopeng Automobile once again had a "management error". Xiaopeng Automobile Shanghai regional store illegally collected 430,000 customer face data in 6 months and was fined 100,000 yuan.

In November 2021, Xiaopeng P7 was also collectively complained by car owners for serious false labels for endurance. The complaint shows that after picking up the car for more than half a month, the owner found that the Xiaopeng P7 had a phenomenon of 10-20 kilometers of power loss overnight, while the officially advertised 480 kilometers of endurance was actually about 240 kilometers, up to about 270 kilometers, and the endurance was seriously "discounted".

In fact, "mileage anxiety" is a common problem for all new energy vehicles, and it is also the reason why many consumers do not choose new energy vehicles. However, Xiaopeng Automobile, which specializes in new energy vehicles, has cheated on this matter, undoubtedly lifting a stone and dropping it on its own feet.

In 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered a total of 98,155 vehicles, weilai and ideal 91,429 and 90,491 respectively, and Xiaopeng automobile won the first place in sales of new forces for the first time.

In the first month of 2022, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 12,922 vehicles, an increase of 115% year-on-year, while Ideal and Weilai delivered 12,268 and 9,652 vehicles respectively, pressing weilai and ideal, once again becoming the new force sales crown, and the former "Wei Xiaoli" has also become today's "Xiao Weili".

However, behind the eye-catching report card, it is accompanied by dissatisfaction and helplessness from consumers. Although today's Xiaopeng Motors is in the limelight, if it is repeatedly criticized for being negative for a long time, it will lose the trust of its supporters. In the future, Xiaopeng Motors will not only have a long way to go in terms of products, but also in terms of user experience.