Xiaopeng, one of China’s top three electric vehicle startups, has announced aggressive investment plans for this year. The company aims to lead the industry by developing autonomous driving technology amid a market slowdown and heightened competition.
Xiaopeng’s Chairman, He Xiaopeng, announced in an internal letter on the 18th, “We plan to hire an additional 40 million development personnel this year and increase our research and development (R&D) budget by 40% compared to last year.”
“Even though the industry is cutting back on business and hesitant to invest due to economic uncertainty, I believe this year presents a great opportunity for Xiaopeng to expand,” Chairman He added. “This year will be where Xiaopeng’s products and technology accumulate and explode.”
Based on this, Xiaopeng plans to launch 30 new models and versions within three years. The models Xiaopeng will unveil this year include a sport utility vehicle (SUV) priced at 300,000 yuan ($46,800) and a small passenger car priced at 150,000 yuan ($23,400).
In particular, the small passenger car model is the first product to be launched by Mona, a new electric car brand jointly developed with Didi, China’s largest car-sharing company. It is expected to be used as a robo-taxi (unmanned autonomous taxi). Xiaopeng is focusing most on the development of autonomous driving technology. The largest portion of the R&D budget, 3.5 billion yuan ($546 million), will be allocated to developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology, with autonomous driving at its core.
Xiaopeng is also expected to continue knocking on the doors of overseas markets such as the Middle East, Central and South America, and ASEAN, as competition in the Chinese electric car market intensifies. Chairman emphasized the need to survive in fierce competition: “This year will be the first year of bloody competition among Chinese auto brands and the year when the wheat is separated from the chaff.” Xiaopeng has entered the European market, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
The China Daily Economic Newspaper evaluated Chairman He’s remarks as “revealing his ambition for Xiaopeng’s future” and “showing his will to aim for the market lead.”
The overwhelming Chinese electric car market leader is BYD, which has emerged as a competitor to Tesla. However, BYD’s autonomous driving technology is somewhat lagging.
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