XPeng is stirring things up again

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Chai Xuchen

After 9 months, XPeng MONA M03 has been updated again.

In the past 9 months, this car has accumulated over 120,000 deliveries, but these delivery numbers were contributed by the first two versions of MONA M03, while the Max version with assisted driving features will be delivered after the Spring Festival in 2025.

However, this wait extends directly to the end of May this year. XPeng's Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng explained at the press conference that XPeng wants to equip the Max version with its latest intelligent assisted driving features.

On May 28, XPeng MONA M03 Max was officially launched. This time, XPeng chose to offer a price that astonished the public— the price for the 502km range version is 129,800 yuan, and the price for the 600km range version is 139,800 yuan. Compared to last year's launch price of MONA M03, this represents a reduction of 26,000 yuan.

At the same time, during this press conference, XPeng made slight adjustments to the two previously delivered main models, upgrading them to Plus versions, but the prices remain at 119,800 yuan for the 515km range version and 129,800 yuan for the 620km range version.

After the launch, many users expressed: "XPeng is really planning to make friends with young people."

This also means that XPeng intends to make another push based on its current scale, hoping to firmly sit on the throne of new forces in sales.

The unexpectedly low price once again received market recognition. An hour after the launch, the newly introduced Max and Plus versions of XPeng MONA M03 received 12,566 pre-orders, surpassing the same period last year, with the Max version accounting for 83% of the orders.

From the press conference, after tasting the sweetness of targeting the youth and emphasizing aesthetics, XPeng continues to work hard on this path. They not only invited a post-00s female celebrity as a spokesperson but also had stand-up comedians Wang Mian and He Guangzhi perform in a stand-up comedy format to kick off the event, making it both a press conference and a trendy party, creating a more vibrant atmosphere.

In contrast to previous XPeng press conferences that focused on relatively obscure technology, many industry insiders remarked that XPeng's marketing has visibly evolved. At the same time, the price drop of the Max version also reflects XPeng's commitment to the sinking market.

The Max version still focuses on intelligent assisted driving. This time, XPeng upgraded its self-developed Turing AI driving system, which remains non-optional, non-chargeable, and non-customizable for the Max version.

From a hardware perspective, XPeng's Turing AI driving system is equipped with the only dual Orin-X chips in its class, with a total computing power of 508 TOPS, which is 4-6 times the mainstream computing power in its class; at the same time, the system has a large model empowered by the vehicle, achieving integration from perception, decision-making to control. Additionally, the perception system is constructed from 27 high-precision perception components and is equipped with the largest number of ultra-high-definition vehicle perception SR in its class, capable of accurately identifying over 50 types of road references It is worth mentioning that the XPeng MONA M03 Max has globally debuted the "Human-Machine Co-Driving," achieving NGP without competing for control with the driver, allowing AI intelligent assisted driving to remain engaged without exiting, resulting in a smooth human-machine collaboration. In terms of price, this is also the world's first model to achieve advanced intelligent assisted driving under $20,000.

In addition to intelligent driving, the XPeng MONA M03 Max's intelligent cockpit has also advanced. It is the first to be equipped with the AI Dimensity system version 5.7.0, adding over 300 new features compared to the XPeng MONA M03 that will be launched in 2024. Of course, this system will also be updated to other XPeng models via OTA.

On the surface, XPeng has created a carnival atmosphere with astonishing prices and rapidly exceeding 10,000 orders, everything seems smooth. However, under the so-called technological equality, the market's new question for XPeng is how to ensure gross margin?

After all, while the full-version intelligent assisted driving is excellent, the dual Orin-X chips combined with 27 sensing components come at a significant cost. In the first quarter of this year, although XPeng's gross margin rebounded to 10.5%, the low-price volume strategy drove revenue growth of 141.5%, but the net profit still recorded a loss of 660 million yuan, and the average selling price per vehicle further declined.

At this point, there is only one quarter left until He Xiaopeng's promised profitability in the fourth quarter. If the proportion of the MONA series increases and further lowers the average selling price, it may affect the profitability progress, making volume even more important. XPeng still needs to achieve a gap between technological cost reduction and sales growth in the third quarter to prepare for smooth profitability in the fourth quarter.

In addition, recently, intelligent assisted driving has faced external doubts due to accidents, and regulatory requirements have become stricter, which will also impact users. Whether users will continue to pay for intelligent assisted driving in the future still depends on whether automakers can gain users' full trust in this feature.

Moreover, although XPeng's delivery speed, a longstanding issue, has significantly improved since last year, the Max version promised to start deliveries after the New Year has yet to materialize, which is believed to be related to production capacity. After all, since the launch of the MONA M03, XPeng's factory has been operating at full capacity, yet many orders have led to user complaints due to long delivery times.

Now, with orders surging again, the pressure of delivery is placed on XPeng's production capacity. In the long run, XPeng must overcome frequent delivery pressures to complete the overall iteration.

Essentially, the XPeng MONA M03 Max is another gamble for XPeng. Standing at a critical juncture for profitability, amidst fierce industry competition and increasingly normalized price wars, XPeng still needs a larger scale to achieve an overall leap.

After all, having experienced many lows, XPeng understands that only after sales increase will both the capital market and users continue to pay attention to XPeng, potentially leading to sustained sales, and only then can stories about AI, humanoid robots, flying cars, etc., be realized in a closed loop.

However, after low-price volume has become a common strategy, how to tell the story of high-priced models remains a test for XPeng, and the outside world is equally looking forward to it