Two China-based emerging EV companies, XPeng and Nio, have ambitious plans for the new year. XPeng aims to introduce five vehicle models in 2023. Nio is poised to accelerate the launch of its second and third brands to start the delivery in 2024.
According to multiple Chinese media reports, He Xiaopeng, XPeng's chairman and CEO, said in a letter to the staff on January 28 that the company will roll out the facelifts of its P7, G3 and P5 models this year. It will also launch two new EVs.
LatePost reported that the two new models will be based on the 800V high-voltage platform. One is a five-seat SUV, G7, priced between CNY200,000 (US$29,610) and CNY250,000. XPeng will likely introduce the car at the Shanghai Auto Show in April.
The other new model will be a multi-purpose vehicle codenamed H93. According to LatePost, the production of H93 is scheduled to begin in September.
XPeng has announced that it will launch two new models, G9 and P7, in Europe on February 3. It delivered 120,757 cars in 2022, a 23% growth from 2021. He said in the letter that the company targets deliveries of about 200,000 vehicles in 2023.
Li Auto, one of XPeng's local competitors, aims for 350,000 vehicle sales this year. Another competitor Nio has said its sales are expected to surpass Lexus' internal combustion engine vehicle sales in China in 2023.
According to CnEVPost, Lexus' gasoline car sales in China were nearly 200,000 in 2021.
Nio has been working on the second and third brands to enter the mass market. Qin Lihong, Nio's co-founder and president, shared the progress on the two projects at an event on January 26.
According to multiple media reports, Qin said the second brand, codenamed ALPS, aims to start delivery in 2024. The third brand, codenamed Firefly, will likely be launched in Europe in the third quarter of 2024.
The president said Firefly will focus on making compact cars that fit the European market well. He added that Nio vehicles are too big for the region.
The EV maker also has been developing its own phone. Qin said Nio's first phone model will start internal testing in the second quarter of 2023. CnEVPost reported that the phone will be a high-end Android model.
William Li, Nio's founder and CEO, said in a recent interview that the goal of the Nio phone is to meet users' needs instead of competing with smartphone makers like Huawei or Xiaomi.
