The calendar for 2024 has just opened, but Xpeng Motors has already felt the chill of the market. The sharp decline in sales and the continued decline in stock prices all suggest that this once-glamorous new car-making force is facing unprecedented challenges. However, behind this series of unfavorable situations, He Xiaopeng remains optimistic and firmly believes that sales will gradually recover in the future. However, the doubts in the capital markets have not dissipated, and the decline in stock prices seems to signal more worries.
Xpeng's predicament didn't happen overnight. Looking at the sales figures, deliveries in January fell by 59% month-on-month, and in February it fell to 4,545 units, which is undoubtedly a shocking figure. He Xiaopeng blamed the production capacity problem of the new X9, but even if the production capacity problem is solved, it will be difficult for Xpeng's overall sales to return to the peak of the past. The strategy of cutting prices** does not seem to be working, and may have exacerbated the company's losses. The financial report shows that Xiaopeng Motors is still in a state of loss, and the gross profit margin is negative, which is undoubtedly a big alarm for the company's financial situation.
In this context, the moat of Xpeng Motors, the technological attributes, is also becoming more and more fragile. In the past five years, Xpeng Motors has invested as much as 15 billion yuan in research and development, but now with the intensification of market competition, this advantage is no longer obvious. The entry of strong competitors such as Huawei has challenged Xpeng's position in the field of intelligence. In the three dimensions of algorithms, computing power, and data, Huawei has shown a trend of surpassing Xpeng.
In the face of such a grim situation, how can Xpeng Motors break through? The answer given by He Xiaopeng is to continue to adhere to the road of intelligence. At the launch conference of the Chinese New Year, he announced a new timetable for NGP intelligent assisted driving, demonstrating Xpeng's unremitting pursuit of research and development. However, in the face of strong opponents such as Huawei, whether Xpeng Motors can continue to maintain its leading position in the field of intelligence still needs to be tested by the market.
The story of Xpeng Motors tells us that even in a field as full of potential as new energy vehicles, there is no permanent winner. The cruelty and uncertainty of market competition require every enterprise to continue to innovate and break through itself in order to gain a firm foothold in the fierce competition. For Xpeng Motors, the future may be full of hardships, but as long as it insists on innovation and a differentiated competitive strategy, it will one day find its own way to break through.
In this era of uncertainty, the challenge of Xpeng Motors is also the challenge of all innovative enterprises. They need to constantly adapt to changes in the market and constantly improve their core competitiveness. Only in this way can we find our own bright future in the face of adversity.