Author: Tao Yanyan

Annual Inventory of Domestic Auto Companies

(1) Always in the limelight: NIO

We bought the XPeng P7 when it was first released, so we reviewed XPeng’s 2022 performance with the perspective of a car owner. In 2022, XPeng delivered a total of 120,757 vehicles, a 23% increase from the previous year. From the first delivery to December 31, 2022, XPeng has delivered a total of 258,710 vehicles. In 2023, XPeng’s boss He XPeng revealed that they will release five new and updated models, including the updated P7, G3, and P5, with the new models being a coupe SUV and MPV.

Here we review XPeng’s performance and explore their upcoming challenges in terms of products, including the challenges brought about by price reductions.

The G7 will be XPeng’s most important product in 2023. Like the P7, the G9 is a very accurate product positioning — differentiated from Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y, with both sides attacking and defending on intelligence, and more creativity in interior and exterior design. However, the dilemma for the G7 now is that it needs to be impressive enough to attract customers, but its price is currently sealed by the Model Y before it is even launched. This is currently the key issue concerning how XPeng will break the deadlock.

Review of XPeng’s 2022 Sales

XPeng’s independent development of autonomous driving technology is the starting point of its intelligent label. Although the final product was amazing when it was first released, this starting point overlooked the basic principle of vehicle customer positioning, which ultimately led to a divided product and brand, as well as a relatively scattered customer base.
The competitive landscape that XPeng’s products must face is fierce:

◎G9 competes with NIO and Ideals flagship products;

◎P7 and Tesla Model 3 and BYD Han EV compete for customers;

◎P5 and G3 directly compete with BYD.

XPeng’s current products are mainly centered around the P7, while the P5, which was supposed to have mass appeal, did not become the foundation of the pyramid (it’s a pity, as the appearance is a little mediocre). Therefore, the product strategy for 2023 is to let G7 and P7 find their own space along the market that Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 have opened up. Other ideas, such as equipping family sedans with automated driving assistance, are a bit too idealistic in terms of technology.

In the first half of 2022, XPeng’s highest moment was delivering 5,000 units in a single week. However, in the second half of the year, XPeng faced difficulties because of the pressure on its model matrix in the market as P7 sales weakened. G9 faces the challenge of having a low starting price while also lifting the brand up. This is difficult for a car model that takes longer to gain popularity.

From the data, we can see some problems:

◎Consumers who buy cars priced under 200,000 RMB pay a lot of attention to appearance design and cost performance, and arming these types of cars with a technological feel does not work well (as it makes them appear more expensive).

◎For cars priced over 350,000 RMB, there cannot be any shortcomings. It is difficult to stand out by relying on only a few selling points, such as 800V+automated driving. Especially with NIO and Ideals intelligent development, the three companies do not have any significant differences, making it difficult for G9, which was expected to be popular, to succeed.

◎P7, such a car model, needs energy to update and maintain. P5’s Lidar has hurt P7’s potential customers. The combination of technology and car models has not resulted in success, but has instead hurt the incremental relationship of the car model.

## Advantages and Disadvantages of XPeng and Prospects for 2023


XPeng's advantage is actually deep learning Tesla.


In terms of intelligentization of automobiles, intelligent auxiliary driving has been fully opened through city NGP in Guangzhou. In order to compete for the title of "the first domestically produced high-level intelligent auxiliary driving in urban scenes", XPeng chose to land on P5. This decision can be said to have its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage, of course, is to prove that their strength in the field of autonomous driving has reached the world's leading level, and even achieved some leading positions in some subdivided scenarios. At the same time, XPeng has also made many design attempts in intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit to establish a sense of trust between man and machine. For example, the instrument SR intelligent auxiliary driving environment simulation display added the signal of the side turn signal, the vehicle drivable area guidance surface, and the turning point prompt. However, this also confuses the matching between vehicle models and technical configurations. P5 can be played at a high level, but P7 doesn't even have a lidar. How can consumers recognize it?


![▲ Figure 5. XPeng's intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit development are still very distinctive.](https://42how-com.oss-cn-beijing.aliyuncs.com/article/image_20230203180559.png)


There is also a deviation in XPeng's understanding of the value of technology and market value. From the perspective of the automaker, XPeng's achievements are remarkable:

◎The first to use 800V SiC;

◎The first to use 480kW fast charging piles;

◎The first to use 3C and 4C cells for mass production.


But these achievements of automakers have no practical significance for consumers (other automakers will soon catch up). What consumers see is that XPeng's cars still lack L9 and ES7. After selecting all the configurations, the prices are similar, but how to make up for the gap between this model? Automakers must consider the ideas of customers, rather than just burying their heads in the technology (although we admire this kind of technology-based company, the company), even if Tesla has no other way but to reduce the price.


**Conclusion: When XPeng Automobile first released P7, it was a bit like a low-end (high cost-effective), localized Tesla-this is also one of the reasons why we chose to be early P7 owners. But today, XPeng's sales lack heat compared to Tesla. In a sense, XPeng Automobile's development has encountered problems similar to those of Tesla in advance. We hope XPeng Automobile will get better and better in 2023. I really want to change to G7, waiting for it!**

这是一个标题

这是一段普通的文本，中间有一些 inline code。

下面是一个代码块：

def add(x, y):
    return x + y

下面是一个链接：Click me

下面是一个图片：

下面是一个无序列表：

• 无序列表项 1
• 无序列表项 2
• 无序列表项 3

下面是一个有序列表：

1. 有序列表项 1
2. 有序列表项 2
3. 有序列表项 3

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.