In the past year, Xpeng Motors has gone through the pain of fluctuating sales, personnel changes, and internal reforms, ultimately suffering a loss of billions. As 2024 progresses, the price war is intensifying, making market competition even more fierce and difficult to break through, as price reductions of major brands have become the norm. 

On the other hand, Xpeng Motors has still failed to reverse its disadvantage, which is getting worse. Sales are not optimistic, gradually falling behind emerging brands. Additionally, the rise of domestic plug-in hybrids and the slowdown of pure electric trends have made the impact of the MONA brand on Xpeng's sales uncertain. 

Uncertainty surrounds the MONA series

On July 3rd, Xpeng Motors officially revealed the design of the first product, M03, from the MONA series. He Xiaopeng, the chairman of Xpeng Motors, stated that the vehicle has officially opened for online reservations. Positioned in the 100,000-150,000 yuan market segment, this new car is expected to be launched and delivered within the third quarter. 

Xpeng Motors has set the MONA's price range at 100,000-150,000 yuan, hoping to create a hit model in the C-end market beyond the ride-hailing market through high cost-performance. However, behind this move lies Xpeng's "survival strategy" under high pressure. 

On August 28th last year, Xpeng Motors announced the acquisition of relevant assets and R&D capabilities of Didi's smart electric vehicle project. According to the relevant cooperation agreement, Xpeng obtained Didi's smart electric vehicle project-related assets and R&D capabilities in exchange for 3.25% of its shares, valued at 5.835 billion yuan. 

At that time, Xpeng Motors was facing sales pressure and urgently needed a high-volume model to support its overall sales, while Didi wanted to focus more on its main business of mobility services and was considering cutting its vehicle manufacturing project. The two sides agreed immediately, giving birth to the predecessor of the MONA brand. At the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, Xpeng Motors announced its new brand MONA, which stands for Made Of New AI. 

It is reported that Xpeng and Didi signed a sales bet agreement. According to the agreement, if the annual sales on Didi's platform and within its ecosystem exceed 100,000 vehicles, Xpeng will provide additional consideration equity. If the highest annual sales reach 180,000 vehicles for two consecutive years, the maximum equity ratio obtained by Didi can be increased to 5%. 

However, it is worth noting that in some recent public statements from Xpeng Motors, MONA has been changed from a second brand to a new product series of Xpeng Motors. At this press conference, the MONA M03 retained the Xpeng Motors logo. 

He Xiaopeng stated that the products in the Mona project will be significantly different from Xpeng's existing products, with a sales target of 100,000 vehicles per year. During the Beijing Auto Show, He Xiaopeng even boldly predicted that "in the second half of this year, (MONA) is expected to have better sales than Lei Jun's Xiaomi SU7." 

Xpeng Motors' current lineup includes the G series (G3, G6, and G9), the P series (P7 and P5), and the X series (X9), covering a price range of 100,000-400,000 yuan and vehicle types such as coupes, sedans, SUVs, and MPVs. 

From the above product line, it is not difficult to see that as a start-up, Xpeng Motors' products cover almost all three categories of sedans, SUVs, and MPVs, ranging from small, compact, medium, to large sizes. However, none of them have left a deep impression on consumers, resulting in a rather vague perception of Xpeng Motors by consumers and the market. The most direct consequence is the sharp decline in Xpeng's sales. 

Falling sales and losses exceeding 25.7 billion

It is not difficult to see that Xpeng Motors is pinning its hopes for growth this year on the new MONA series. However, from the market preference perspective, the positioning and price range of M03 may struggle to attract consumers. "From MONA's positioning, the 100,000-150,000 yuan market segment is highly competitive, and more importantly, there is not much profit margin. It will be difficult for a new brand to gain a foothold in this area," said an industry insider. 

Recently, several new energy automakers have released their sales data for June, officially submitting their "exam papers" for the first half of 2024. Xpeng Motors announced that it delivered a total of 10,668 vehicles in June, representing a year-on-year increase of 24% and a month-on-month increase of 5%. Among them, the X9 delivered 1,687 units, with a cumulative delivery of 13,143 units in half a year since its launch. From January to June 2024, Xpeng Motors delivered a total of 52,028 new vehicles, representing a year-on-year increase of 26%. 

Xpeng Motors' monthly sales of over 10,000 vehicles are somewhat unimpressive. In the former "NIO, Xpeng, and Li" pattern, Xpeng is gradually falling behind. In comparison, NIO led the pack with 47,774 vehicles, representing a year-on-year increase of 47%. ZEEKR delivered over 20,000 vehicles for the first time, setting a new record. Xiaomi Automobile delivered over 10,000 vehicles in its first three months since its launch, while HarmonyOS Auto delivered 46,141 vehicles. Meanwhile, brands like Leapmotor and ZEEKR also led Xpeng with four-digit sales advantages. 

During the first-quarter earnings call, He Xiaopeng, the chairman of Xpeng Motors, stated that the company expects total deliveries in the second quarter of 2024 to range from 29,000 to 32,000 vehicles, representing a year-on-year increase of 25.0% to 37.9%. In reality, Xpeng delivered 30,207 vehicles in the second quarter, meeting He Xiaopeng's previous expectations and representing a month-on-month increase of 38.4%. 

However, Xpeng's problems are not limited to sales alone. From a long-term strategic and current perspective, Xpeng's future is also full of uncertainty. Since its listing in 2021, Xpeng Motors has been struggling in a quagmire of losses. Its net losses from 2021 to 2023 were 4.863 billion yuan, 9.139 billion yuan, and 10.38 billion yuan, respectively. Together with the first quarter of this year, the total loss since listing is approximately 25.7 billion yuan. 

In the first quarter of this year, Xpeng Motors achieved positive growth in both revenue and net profit. The cooperation with Volkswagen has made "selling technology" a new growth driver for Xpeng's revenue, but poor sales have also become the biggest challenge for Xpeng to emerge from the loss quagmire. The first-quarter report showed that Xpeng Motors achieved total revenue of 6.55 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 62.3% and a month-on-month decrease of 49.8%. Among them, automotive sales revenue was 5.54 billion yuan, up 57.8% year-on-year and down 54.7% month-on-month. 

Faced with difficult sales, Xpeng Motors had to explore a second growth curve and focus on the low- and mid-end markets. However, in the context of intensified competition in the new energy automobile market, the effect of MONA on boosting Xpeng's sales remains to be tested over time. 

Overall, Xpeng Motors' position among emerging brands is being challenged, and both its sales and financial situation are not optimistic. In the fiercely competitive new energy automobile market, Xpeng Motors needs to re-examine its product strategy and market positioning to cope with the increasingly severe challenges.