Today, there are media reports that Xpeng Motors is planning to stop updating the G3 product line and may design a new product to replace the G3 product line.
Xpeng Motors' latest response said that the discontinuation of the G3 and G3i models within the year was a decision made based on the company's long-term planning, and was made to allow Xpeng Motors to focus more on promoting its future development strategy.
According to public information, the G3 is the first compact SUV announced by Xpeng Motors. Among them, G comes from Geek (Geek), and on January 10, 2018, G3 made its world premiere at the CES international electronics show in the United States.
In July 2021, the Xpeng G3 was upgraded to G3i, with a "P7 face", upgraded the intelligent driving hardware architecture, etc., with a price of 168,900~201,900 yuan.
The facelifted G3i delivery volume increased, helping Xpeng double its monthly delivery volume that year.
However, as car companies launch more and more new energy vehicles, the price is getting more and more volatile, especially SUVs have become the focus of competition in the family car market, and Xpeng G3/G3i no longer has an advantage.
According to the word-of-mouth of car owners, the advantages of Xpeng G3 include full power, large trunk space, etc., and the disadvantages include small rear space and poor endurance performance.
According to the data, as of December 2023, the latest monthly sales of Xpeng G3 are 363 units, and the cumulative sales volume in 2023 will be 4,878 units, ranking 96th in monthly sales and 97th in annual sales among SUVs.
The sales banner of Xpeng Motors has been carried by other series. According to the November sales data released by the Passenger Car Association, in November 2023, Xpeng G6 sold 8,750 units, ranking first. Xpeng G9 sales this month were 6,556 units, and the cumulative sales this year reached 21,767 units. Xpeng P7 sold 3,106 units, and the cumulative sales this year reached 42,073 units.
The sluggish sales of the G3/G3i even affected Xpeng's earnings report. According to a later report, the decline in G3i sales and promotions have affected Xpeng's gross profit margin in the second and third quarters of this year.
In the third quarter of this year, Xpeng's gross profit margin was -2.7%, and the gross profit margin of the automotive business was -6.1%, and in the second quarter, the gross profit margin was -3.9%, and the gross profit margin of the automotive business was -8.6%.
In fact, it has been reported that Xpeng's G3 series has plans to withdraw from the market, and the above report said that the G3/G3i product line is old and does not meet the strategy of switching to the Fuyao 2.0 architecture for all models.
Xpeng Motors said that for the G3/G3i series models that have started delivery, Xpeng will fulfill its commitment to the rights and interests of car owners and provide 10-year maintenance and spare parts supply capacity for sold vehicles. At the same time, car owners will still be able to receive continuous OTA software upgrade services for some time to come.
"China's pure electric MPV is NO.1"
While phasing out the old product line, new models are introduced. Recently, Xpeng Motors has also joined the MPV model competition and launched the pure electric MPV Xpeng X9.
With a pre-sale price of 388,000 yuan, the Xpeng X9 is positioned as a medium and large MPV, equipped with a full-range 800V architecture, using front/rear integrated aluminum die-casting, and a four-wheel steering system as standard, and is scheduled to be launched on January 1, 2024.
Yesterday evening, He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors, said in an exclusive interview with Tencent Technology: "X9 is a model for more than 300,000 people, and we expect to achieve NO.1 in China's pure electric MPV. 」
In the interview, Ho said: "We are moving out of a pile of dead people in a brutal competition, and I think we are going faster and faster. 」
According to the financial report for the third quarter of 2023, Xpeng Motors' Q3 sales were 40,000 units, up 35.3% year-on-year and 72.4% quarter-on-quarter, and revenue was 8.53 billion yuan, up 25.0% year-on-year and 68.5% month-on-month.
XPeng's net loss in Q3 was 3.89 billion yuan, an increase of 63.4% year-on-year and 38.9% month-on-month. Xpeng explained in the financial report that part of the loss was affected by Volkswagen's shareholding and had nothing to do with operation.
Recently, Xiaopeng suffered from Ali's reduction. On the evening of December 15, Alibaba Group announced the sale of part of its stake in Xpeng Motors, reducing its stake from 10.2% to 7.5%.
Today's latest news, Hong Kong Stock Exchange documents show that Alibaba's long position in Class A ordinary shares of Xpeng Motors decreased from 12.49% to 9.24% on December 19.
When the previous reduction was made, the relevant person in charge of Alibaba said that according to Alibaba's capital management goals, it sold part of its shares in Xiaopeng, "We believe in the prospects of Xiaopeng and look forward to continuous cooperation with the company".
Xpeng responded that Ali will remain the second largest shareholder of Xpeng since then, holding about 8% of the shares, and will continue to carry out in-depth strategic cooperation with Xpeng Motors in cloud computing and other fields.
In addition, Xpeng emphasized that it has established a strategic partnership with Volkswagen, which is currently the third largest shareholder of Xpeng. Xpeng currently has more than 40 billion yuan in cash on hand.
He Xiaopeng believes that Xpeng Motors will be able to turn a profit quickly: "When the scale increases, including our organizational capabilities, it is natural for us to make profits...... In the fourth quarter, in the first quarter of next year, I think [it will get better]. 」
In the Q3 financial report, Xpeng expects that the delivery volume in the fourth quarter will reach 59,500 ~ 63,500 vehicles, and the total revenue will reach 12.7 billion ~ 13.6 billion yuan.