In 2025, the "Year of Autonomous Driving,"A storm of fierce competition sweeps the global auto industry.Guangzhou, once China's "Gasoline Vehicle Capital,"Has emerged.As a strategic battleground for smart mobility.Anchored here,Xpeng, like a tech dark horse, has defied expectations,Wielding flying cars as its spear and AI chips as its shield,Commanding strategic high ground in the industry’s intelligence revolution.
At the recently held China Development Forum,Founder He Xiaopeng forecast a watershed moment:"In the next year or two, we’ll witness an ‘iPhone 4 moment’ that redefines smart driving as Apple reshaped smartphones."XPeng kicked off 2025 to dethrone rivals with back-to-back monthly deliveries,Exceeding 30,000 units, claiming the top spot among China's EV startups.
Looking back at XPeng's journey,It reads like a martial arts epic.In 2015, this "Guangzhou prodigy" burst onto the scene,Riding the wave of new energy to stun the NYSE and HKEX,Becoming a capital market darling.
Yet, amid the brutal EV competition,XPeng’s vague product positioning and supply chain stumbles,Led to a sales collapse,Even drawing mockery as "Internet folks building cars with nothing but fancy PowerPoints."
At the brink of crisis, founder He Xiaopeng brought in Wang Fengying, the auto industry's "Iron Lady,"To execute a surgical restructuring.Externally, XPeng doubled down on its "smart driving" branding,While internally, it slashed supply chain costs.Within two years,The company transformed from a loss-making underdog to a rising phoenix,With a gross margin soaring from -2.7% to a stunning 15.3%.The crowning achievement came in 2024 Q3, when revenue smashed through 10 billion yuan, Turning skeptics into cheerleaders.
Apart from soaring sales,XPeng's true superpower.Lies in monetizing tech wizardry.Its 2024Q3 financial statements reveal that Service and other income skyrocketed by 90%,Boasting a 60% gross margin—a "money-printing machine" by any measure.
Yet, cars are just the beginning.XPeng's 50 billion yuan R&D investment over a decade fuels ambition far beyond vehicles:Rideable robotic horses, factory-deployed humanoid robots, and the world's first tri-domain AI chip.Its ultimate goal? A cyberpunk-inspired ecosystem where tech reigns supreme.
As XPeng’s 1 millionth vehicle rolled off Nansha Port,Guangzhou shed its "Gasoline Vehicle Capital" identity to emerge as a "Smart Mobility Silicon Valley."Here, legacy automakers seek to pivot,While homegrown disruptors like XPeng and Aion charge ahead.Guangzhou, playing the visionary mentor,Nurtures XPeng with policy support and industrial synergy.XPeng's innovations redefine the city's DNA.
This journeyIsn't just a dance of steel and code;It's a co-authored manifesto on smart mobility.In Guangzhou, the future isn't around the corner; it's already at the next intersection.
出品：南财国际传播中心 21新媒体中心 创意互动中心
策划统筹：于晓娜 丁青云
内容统筹：谭婷 谢珍
责任编辑：李香香
执行统筹：黄欣然
设计统筹：林军明
视频统筹：白宇航
监制：施诗
英文翻译：李莹亮
海外运营监制：黄燕淑
海外运营内容统筹：黄子豪
运营支持：曾静娇
审校：魏雯静 幸经凤 黄志明
更多内容请下载21财经APP