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Premium Chinese EV maker Xpeng eyes slice of mass-market segment with launch of cheaper models to take on bigger rival BYD
- Xpeng will launch a compact EVs priced ‘between 100,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan’ for the China and global markets, co-founder and CEO He Xiaopeng said
- Premium EV makers are looking to grab a slice of the pie from BYD, Shanghai analyst says
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Daniel Renin Shanghai
Chinese premium electric-vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng plans to launch a mass-market brand in a month to challenge market leader BYD amid an escalating price war.
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Models under this new brand will be fitted with autonomous driving systems and will be priced between 100,000 yuan (US$13,897) and 150,000 yuan, He Xiaopeng, the Guangzhou-based carmaker’s co-founder and CEO, said on Saturday. These EVs will cater to more budget-conscious consumers.
“We will launch a class A compact EV at a price range of between 100,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan, which will come with an advanced driver assistance system, for both the China and global markets,” He said during the China EV 100 Forum in Beijing, according to a video clip seen by the Post. “In future, cars with the same prices might be developed into fully-autonomous vehicles.”
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Xpeng confirmed He’s remarks and said in a statement that the company envisions slashing the development and production costs of autonomous driving technology by 50 per cent this year. At present, Xpeng assembles smart EVs that are sold at more than 200,000 yuan.
BYD, the world’s largest EV builder, delivered 3.02 million pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles – most of them priced below 200,000 yuan – to customers at home and abroad in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 62.3 per cent. Exports accounted for 242,765 units, or 8 per cent of its total sales.
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