The sales volume is the first, but the gross profit margin of the vehicle is only half of that of its main competitors. Xiaopeng Motors has achieved a performance that is not perfect.
On March 28, Xiaopeng Motors released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2021. The financial report shows that in 2021, Xiaopeng Motors’ total revenue is 20.99 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 259.1%; its net loss is 4.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78%. In terms of sales volume, Xiaopeng Motors delivered 98,155 vehicles for the year, beating Weilai and Ideal’s 91,429 vehicles and 90,491 vehicles, winning the “top sales” of the year. However, in terms of vehicle gross profit margin, which reflects profitability, Xiaopeng Motors in 2021 is only 11.5%, nearly half of NIO’s 20.1% and ideal 20.6%.
In the opinion of industry insiders, the lower selling price caused by the product structure has affected the premium capacity of Xpeng Motors to a certain extent, further reducing the manufacturing cost and optimizing the product sequence, Xpeng has the opportunity to achieve the goal of a gross profit margin level of more than 25%. .
“In the future, 200,000-400,000 yuan will be the mainstream competitive price range.” It seems to be a response to the industry’s concerns. He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, gave his expectations at the Electric Vehicle 100 Forum two days before the release of the financial report. , “We expect to continue to move forward and continue to rise on the basis of the average price of 250,000.”
Integrated die casting process reduces costs
According to the financial report, the gross profit margin of Xiaopeng Motors in the fourth quarter of last year was 10.9%, which was a month-on-month decrease from 13.6% in the third quarter. The shortage of upstream parts and rising costs put pressure on Xiaopeng’s profitability.
He Xiaopeng said at the financial report performance meeting that Xiaopeng Motors currently maintains cooperation with several major battery cell suppliers. This partnership is extremely valuable, and believes that after 1-3 quarters, it will be able to control material prices. Rising battery costs.
At the same time, Xiaopeng specifically mentioned that the medium and long-term goal is to increase the company’s gross profit margin to more than 25%. He Xiaopeng said that better cost control will be achieved through advanced manufacturing technologies such as the new platform’s large-scale, highly integrated design and ultra-large integrated die-casting.
It is worth mentioning that the ultra-large integrated die-casting technology was first proposed by Tesla. On the Tesla Battery Day in September 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that Model Y will use an integrated die-cast rear floor assembly, which can reduce the weight of the lower body assembly by 30% and reduce manufacturing costs by 40%. Not only that, Tesla also plans to use 2-3 large die-casting parts to replace the entire lower body assembly consisting of 370 parts in the future, so as to achieve the goal of reducing weight by 10% and increasing battery life by 14%.
“When we introduce a large casting machine, 70 parts can be turned into one, and the robot does not need to assemble so many parts together, which greatly reduces the cost.” Musk once described the technology as – lighter, more Compact, better NVH, lower investment and lower unit cost.
On February 8 this year, Volvo Cars announced that it will invest 10 billion Swedish kronor (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars) to upgrade the Torslanda plant in Sweden, a key one of which is the introduction of an integrated casting process for large aluminum parts.
According to He Xiaopeng, Xiaopeng Motors will launch two new model platforms and their first models in 2023, namely the C-class car platform and the B-class car platform. The new platform will adopt the technology of super-large integrated die-casting and cover a wider user group in the mid-to-high-end market with huge growth potential.
“The new model adopts a brand-new electronic and electrical architecture, which can realize non-inductive OTA upgrade.” Although Xiaopeng insiders did not disclose more information about the new car, Bomin Electronics, an A-share listed company, announced on March 21 that a wholly-owned subsidiary Shenzhen Bomin has become a supplier of Xpeng Motors F30 and E38 related parts and components. The project life cycle is expected to be 5 years, and the project transaction amount is expected to be 250 million to 300 million yuan.
E38 is the internal code name of Xiaopeng G9 to be delivered this year, while F30 is a new model of the new platform disclosed by Xiaopeng Motors this time.
Bet on Xiaopeng G9, strengthen smart labels
Xiaopeng Motors’ gross profit margin decreased in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, which was also due to changes in product mix. The data shows that the proportion of sales of P5 models with lower gross profit margins in the fourth quarter increased from less than 1% in the third quarter to 18.3%, while the proportion of sales of P7 models with higher positioning decreased to 51%, which dragged down the overall gross profit margin. Next, the launch of the Xpeng G9 will be the key to improving the overall profitability of Xpeng Motors.
“Xpeng G9 is currently progressing smoothly. The PT production prototype has been rolled out from the factory and will be released on schedule in the third quarter of this year.” He Xiaopeng said that Xiaopeng G9 is China’s first mass-produced model based on an 800V high-voltage silicon carbide platform. Realize “5 minutes of charging, 200 kilometers of battery life”, and will support the XPILOT4.0 intelligent assisted driving system for the first time. “Xpeng G9 is expected to become another big killer of Xpeng in the smart pure electric medium and large SUV market after the P7 becomes a hit.”
In addition to improving the product structure through the introduction of the Xpeng G9 and its fifth new car, the F30, Xpeng Motors is also trying to continuously strengthen its “intelligent” label to increase the premium power of its brand and products.
At present, Xiaopeng mainly has two generations of XPILOT3.0/3.5 intelligent driving assistance systems, which have two functions of VPA intelligent parking and NGP automatic navigation assistance. Xpeng Motors said that the research and development of urban NGP, the core function of XPILOT3.5, is progressing smoothly. After obtaining approval from the relevant authorities, it plans to launch urban NGP in the first batch of cities at the end of the second quarter of this year.
According to the plan, XPILOT will evolve to version 4.0 in 2023, which can realize intelligent assisted driving at high speed and in all scenarios in cities. By then, at least 4 models will support XPILOT4.0, and will gradually unify the intelligent assisted driving hardware and software platforms of new models of Xiaopeng Motors.
In addition to continuing to strengthen the “intelligent” label, Xpeng Motors will also carry out Robotaxi test operations on Xpeng G9 in the fourth quarter of this year. According to He Xiaopeng’s latest statement, Xiaopeng Motors plans to complete the transition to driverless cars in 2026.
Xiaopeng Motors’ play in the field of intelligence undoubtedly needs to maintain high-intensity R&D investment. According to the financial report, Xiaopeng Motors’ research and development expenses for 2021 will be 4.114 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 138.4%. From the perspective of R&D ratio, Xiaopeng Motors’ R&D expenses accounted for 19.6% of the current revenue last year, higher than NIO’s 12.7% and the ideal 12.2%.
“Xpeng Motors has invested more than 9 billion yuan in R&D. In 2022, the R&D investment in a single year will exceed the sum of the past one or two years. This also means that Xpeng will bring more products and technologies.” He Xiaopeng said. .