In response to the news of the discontinuation of the first model of Xpeng Motors, the G3 G3i, on December 22, Xpeng Motors confirmed to Blue Whale Finance that "the G3 G3i will be discontinued within the year", and said that this is a decision based on our company's long-term planning, so that Xpeng can focus more on promoting the future development strategy.
The official emphasized that for the delivered series of models, Xpeng will strictly fulfill its commitment to the rights and interests of car owners, provide maintenance and spare parts for sold vehicles, and will still provide OTA software upgrade services in the future.
Visual China.
The staff of a supermarket store of Xiaopeng Motors in Beijing told reporters that due to the limited area of the store, the store no longer displays G3, but mainly new models, but can still order G3 models, you can also test drive, and you can enjoy a 10,000 yuan discount when you buy G3 and G6 models. Regarding the brand's new car information, it revealed that the new MPV model Xpeng X9 will be launched on New Year's Day, and the SUV will not have a new model for the time being.
As the first mass-produced model of Xpeng Motors, the Xpeng G3 is positioned as a pure electric compact SUV, which was launched in December 2018 and started deliveries at the same time. Xpeng G3i is a mid-term facelift model of Xpeng G3, launched in July 2021, as a facelifted model, Xpeng G3i has a significant improvement in appearance, the overall is younger and more technological, and the power follows the power configuration scheme of the old model.
According to public information, from the launch of Xpeng G3 in December 2018 to the cumulative sales of more than 10,000, Xpeng G3 lasted only 188 days. He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, once said when reviewing the process of car manufacturing that the G3 received nearly 2,000 orders in less than four days after its launch, which was unimaginable at the time.
With the subsequent technology iteration and the advent of new models, the sales of the G3 G3i model gradually declined. According to the retail data of the passenger association, from January to November this year, the cumulative sales of Xpeng G3 G3i were only 5,074 units, with an average monthly sales of less than 500 units, a year-on-year decrease of 68%.
In this context, discontinuation may be an inevitable choice.
For traditional fuel vehicles, a car is normally replaced in 5-7 years, and the Xpeng G3 model should be the time to replace since its launch in 2018, but it chose to stop production directly, indicating that the product is still not profitable. An industry insider told Blue Whale Finance that it is difficult to make profit margins for small, compact pure electric SUVs, as far as the positioning of Xiaopeng G3 is concerned, at that time, the top technology configuration was the main in pure electric models, which means that the manufacturing cost of the model did not leave a good profit margin for the terminal market sales.
Another industry insider also said that for traditional car companies, stopping the production of a model is a normal product plan, but for Xiaopeng, the first model G3 is of great significance to the brand, and it is the most representative product for the brand to enter the market. However, the early product planning is not perfect, resulting in the later replacement of products can not meet the current market demand for products, so it is forced to stop production, "the future brand development direction and whether the market segments faced by G3 continue to launch new cars are the key to the follow-up." ”
Xpeng said in its third-quarter earnings report that it had a 2.2 gross margin on the car due to inventory impairment related to G3i9 percentage points negative.
In the third quarter of this year, Xpeng's gross profit margin was negative 27%, compared to 13 in the same period last year and in the second quarter of this year5% and minus 39%。The gross profit margin of automobiles in the third quarter was negative 61%, compared to 11 in the same period last year and in the second quarter of this year6% and minus 86%。