Produced by Leida Finance | Text by Zhou Hui | Edited by Meng Shuai

On March 27, XPeng Motors officially announced its renaming, shedding the 'automobile' label and transforming into 'XPeng Group.' From XPeng Motors to XPeng Group, the trillion-yuan new force in the automotive industry is now writing a new chapter in 'Physical AI.'

Leida Finance notes that, coinciding with the company's renaming, XPeng Motors recently achieved its first quarterly profit. In the fourth quarter of last year, the company reported a net profit of 380 million yuan, turning a year-on-year loss into a profit.

However, XPeng Motors has not yet fully escaped the quagmire of losses, recording a net loss of 1.14 billion yuan for the full year of 2025. According to iFinD data from Tonghuashun, from 2018 to 2025, XPeng Motors accumulated a total net profit loss exceeding 43 billion yuan.

Furthermore, while the company's performance has shown significant improvement, XPeng Motors' asset-liability ratio has also been steadily rising. According to iFinD data from Tonghuashun, from 2020 to 2025, XPeng Motors' asset-liability ratio increased from 22.99% to 70.56%, showing a consistent upward trend.

Notably, 2026 will mark the first year of concentrated implementation for XPeng Motors' 'Physical AI' strategic achievements. In March, the company's self-developed second-generation VLA completed its full-scale rollout; within the year, the company's flying cars and humanoid robots are expected to achieve mass production; in the second half of the year, XPeng will also initiate passenger demonstration operations for Robotaxi.

Moreover, in the recently released <2026 Hurun Global Rich List>, He Xiaopeng's wealth surged to 49 billion yuan. According to He Xiaopeng, in 2025, XPeng Motors' investment in AI-related fields reached 4.5 billion yuan, with plans to further increase it to 7 billion yuan in 2026.

Shedding the 'Automobile' Label, Trillion-Yuan New Force Renames

On March 27, XPeng Motors, a new force in the automotive industry with a market value exceeding 100 billion yuan, announced a change in its company name.

The company's board of directors announced that, effective April 1, 2026, the company's Chinese name will change from 'XPeng Motors Co., Ltd.' to 'XPeng Group,' with the English name remaining 'XPeng Inc.'

Simultaneously, the Chinese stock short name for the company's Class A ordinary shares traded on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will also change to 'XPeng Group-W,' with the English stock short name and company stock code remaining unchanged as 'XPENG-W' and '9868,' respectively.

XPeng Motors emphasized that the company's Chinese name is solely for identification purposes and that its change will not affect any rights of the company's shareholders.

After the Chinese name change takes effect, all existing stock certificates issued and bearing the company's English name will continue to serve as proof of ownership of the company's Class A ordinary shares and will be applicable for trading, settlement, registration, and delivery purposes.

Since shareholders are not required to surrender existing stock certificates, no exchange arrangements for existing stock certificates will be made.

In fact, XPeng Motors' renaming had been foreshadowed. Tianyancha shows that as early as March 21 last year, 'Guangdong XPeng Motors Technology Co., Ltd.' changed its name to 'Guangdong XPeng Motors Technology Group Co., Ltd.'

Some analysts pointed out that XPeng's renaming to 'de-automobilize' not only aims to more accurately reflect its existing diversified business portfolio but also signifies the company's gradual transformation from an automaker to a technology group, with further comprehensive upgrades centered around the 'Physical AI' strategy.

As the third domestic new force to go public in the United States, XPeng's story began in 2014.

At that time, He Xiaopeng, leveraging his years of experience in the internet industry, keenly perceived the broad prospects of the intelligent electric vehicle industry. Thus, He Xiaopeng, along with multiple investors, founded Orange Intelligence, the predecessor of XPeng, with Xia Heng and He Tao.

In 2017, He Xiaopeng left Alibaba to fully devote himself to the development of XPeng Motors. After more than a decade of development, XPeng Motors has become a leading enterprise in the new energy vehicle industry, collectively known as 'NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto.'

In recent years, XPeng has expanded beyond automotive technology into various fields such as flying cars, humanoid robots, and autonomous taxis.

Regarding the company's renaming, He Xiaopeng, the founder and CEO of XPeng Motors, also expressed his feelings on social media, saying, 'From XPeng Motors to XPeng Group, twelve years, a cycle, a new beginning. Starting from the journey of intelligent electric vehicles to flying cars, Turing AI chips, VLA autonomous driving models, humanoid robots IRON, Robotaxi, etc., we are gradually turning our dreams into reality on the global journey of Physical AI.'

However, on the first trading day after the company's renaming (March 30), XPeng Motors' stock price fell by 4.5%, with the latest market value at 127.9 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Achieving Quarterly Profitability Milestone, Yet to Escape Full-Year Loss Quagmire

Just as the renaming announcement was made, XPeng Motors recently achieved its first quarterly profit. On the evening of March 20, XPeng Motors disclosed its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 performance announcement.

The announcement showed that in the fourth quarter of 2025, XPeng Motors' revenue reached 22.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.2%; it reported a net profit of 380 million yuan, successfully turning a year-on-year loss of 1.33 billion yuan into a profit.

Specifically, in the fourth quarter of last year, XPeng Motors' revenue from automobile sales was 19.07 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5.6%.

XPeng Motors explained that this was mainly due to increased deliveries. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company's total automobile deliveries were 116,200 units, a year-on-year increase of 27%.

Although XPeng Motors achieved its first quarterly profitability milestone, it still has a certain distance to go before achieving full-year profitability.

For the full year of 2025, XPeng Motors achieved total revenue of 76.72 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 87.7%; although the net loss narrowed by about 80% year-on-year, the company still recorded a loss of 1.14 billion yuan for the full year.

However, XPeng Motors, which has not yet achieved full-year profitability, has seen a significant rise in profitability. In 2025, XPeng Motors' gross profit margin was 18.9%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from 14.3% in the previous year, reaching a record high.

Benefiting from continuous cost reductions and improvements in the model product mix, XPeng Motors' automobile gross profit margin increased from 8.3% in 2024 to 12.8%, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percentage points.

In addition, XPeng Motors' service and other profit margins were 68.2% last year, a year-on-year increase of 11 percentage points. This was mainly due to revenue from the aforementioned technology R&D services, parts and accessories sales, and carbon credit business.

In terms of market performance, in 2025, XPeng Motors delivered a total of 429,400 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 125.9%.

Among 'NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto,' XPeng Motors' deliveries ranked first last year. During the same period, NIO's full-year deliveries were 326,000 vehicles, while Li Auto's full-year deliveries were 406,300 vehicles.

To support the company's future growth in performance, XPeng Motors continues to increase its R&D investment. In 2025, the company's R&D expenditure reached 9.49 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47%.

According to iFinD data from Tonghuashun, from 2018 to 2025, XPeng Motors' cumulative investment in R&D has exceeded 35 billion yuan.

The high R&D investment has also, to a certain extent, eroded the company's profit margins. From 2018 to 2025, XPeng Motors' cumulative net profit loss exceeded 43 billion yuan.

As of the end of 2025, XPeng Motors' total assets were 103.163 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.73%.

Among them, cash and cash equivalents were 17.33 billion yuan, a decrease of 6.76% from the end of the previous year; restricted deposits and cash increased by 113.48% year-on-year to 6.968 billion yuan; inventory reached as high as 10.381 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 86.6%.

During the same period, XPeng Motors' total liabilities were 72.794 billion yuan, an increase of 41.54% from the end of the previous year. Notably, the company's accounts payable and bills increased significantly, rising from 23.08 billion yuan at the end of 2024 to 37.163 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 61.02%.

As of the end of 2025, XPeng Motors' asset-liability ratio was 70.56%, an increase of more than 8 percentage points from the end of 2024 and a significant increase of 13.72 percentage points compared to the end of 2023, reaching a new high since 2020.

Investing Another 7 Billion in 'Physical AI,' He Xiaopeng's Net Worth Approaches 50 Billion

In fact, as market competition continues to intensify, the new energy vehicle industry has transitioned from an incremental market of 'pioneering and competing' to a stock market of 'intensive cultivation and refinement.'

According to the latest data from the China Passenger Car Association, from March 1 to 15, nationwide passenger car market retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 285,000 units, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 36% but a year-on-year decrease of 28%. The market's rapid growth trend has gradually slowed down.

Against this backdrop, major new energy vehicle companies have increased their layout (layout) in embodied intelligence, intelligent driving, and other businesses to seek new growth curves. XPeng Motors has also chosen to heavily bet on 'Physical AI.'

He Xiaopeng pointed out in the full-year performance announcement that XPeng Motors is at a historic turning point in the application of 'Physical AI.' The company will not only expand its global market share in AI automobiles, complete the transition from L2+ assisted driving to L4 autonomous driving, and take the second-generation VLA overseas but also achieve mass production of high-level humanoid robots.

Leida Finance learned that during its more than ten years of development, XPeng Motors has gradually built a vast 'Physical AI' portfolio including flying cars, humanoid robots, intelligent driving, Robotaxi, AI chips, etc.

And 2026 will mark the first year of concentrated implementation for these achievements. In November last year, the first land aircraft carrier flying vehicle from XPeng Aeroht was trial-produced and successfully rolled off the assembly line at the Aeroht flying car mass production factory, with global orders exceeding 7,000 units. Mass production will be achieved this year.

In the first quarter of this year, XPeng initiated the construction of a humanoid robot mass production base in Guangzhou, with IRON expected to achieve a monthly production capacity target of over 1,000 units by the end of this year.

On March 19, XPeng's self-developed second-generation VLA was fully rolled out. It is reported that the second-generation VLA large model is a key breakthrough for XPeng in advancing from L2 to L4 intelligent driving, innovatively removing the 'language translation' link and reconstructing the intelligent driving technology paradigm from the ground up.

On March 23, according to Cailian Press, XPeng Motors officially announced the establishment of a Robotaxi business unit, operating under the company's primary organizational model to coordinate product definition, project integration, R&D testing, and operational full-link work, efficiently synergizing and reusing the company's various centralized platform resources.

According to the plan, XPeng expects to launch three fully self-developed mass-produced Robotaxi models this year and initiate passenger demonstration operations in the second half of the year, with the core goal of completing a full-dimensional verification of technical feasibility, user acceptance, and business models.

In addition, since its mass production launch in the third quarter of last year, XPeng Turing chips have shipped over 200,000 units. The shipment target for 2026 is close to 1 million units, potentially ranking first in China for shipments of large-computing-power end-side AI chips.

According to He Xiaopeng's disclosure at the earnings call, in 2025, XPeng's investment in AI-related fields reached 4.5 billion yuan, nearly half of the full-year R&D expenditure. In 2026, XPeng Motors will continue to increase its AI-related R&D investment, with 'Physical AI'-related R&D investment expected to rise to 7 billion yuan.

In He Xiaopeng's view, R&D investment in AI will create huge returns in the long run. Expanding scale will enable XPeng to survive in the competition, and absolute leadership in 'Physical AI' technology and commercialization will build XPeng's core competitiveness.

However, XPeng Motors is still generally in a stage of continuous 'burning money,' and the company has not yet fully escaped the loss dilemma. The 7 billion yuan R&D investment may put certain pressure on the company's cash flow.

Some analysts pointed out that for new automotive forces, profitability is one of the core issues. Layouts in AI, autonomous driving, and other directions have future monetization potential but are unlikely to significantly contribute to revenue in the short term.

Nevertheless, benefiting from the company's revenue growth and diversified business portfolio, He Xiaopeng's net worth has surged. According to the <2026 Hurun Global Rich List>, He Xiaopeng's wealth reached 49 billion yuan, an increase of 11 billion yuan from 2025.

Regarding the future development of XPeng Motors, Leida Finance will continue to monitor.