Xpeng has announced plans to launch a new brand in China that will create new AI-powered Smart EVs for young customers worldwide.
The new brand’s vehicles will be priced between 100,000 and 150,000 yuan ($13,865 and $20,798) – a price range that the OEM says has long been the mainstream preference for Chinese consumers. At the same time, it says that while the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in this price range is continuously increasing, few products offer smart driving or AI-driven smart driving functions.
Through its new brand, Xpeng will aim to provide “the first AI-driven smart car for young people” and will introduce several models with different levels of intelligent driving capabilities under it. In the creation of the new brand and its products, Xpeng will leverage its experiences in smart driving technology development and cost control advantages, quickly transferring mainstream intelligent driving functions to lower price points.
At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Summit, CEO He Xiaopeng also announced that XPENG will upgrade its “AI-enabled smart driving” over the course of 2024, with plans to invest 3.5 billion yuan ($485.3 million) in R&D and recruit 4,000 new employees. In addition, in the second quarter of this year, the automaker will also fulfill the commitments made during the 2023 XPENG Tech Day event to deploy AI large models on cars, offering the first mass-produced AI and vehicle cognitive assistant in the automotive industry.
