The numbers coming out of XPeng these days tell two wildly different stories, and the market is struggling to reconcile them.
On one hand, the Guangzhou-based electric vehicle maker just watched its robotics subsidiary pull in more than $900 million from heavyweight backers. On the other, its flagship GX model just posted its first monthly sales decline since launch, and the losses in the core auto business keep widening. The share price, hovering barely above its 52-week low, reflects that tension perfectly.
The Robot Bet That Keeps Growing
XPeng Robotics, the company’s humanoid robot unit, has closed a funding round exceeding $900 million at a valuation of roughly $6.3 billion. IDG Capital led the raise, with strategic participation from Tencent and Alibaba. It’s a clear signal that management is serious about building a second pillar beyond the thin-margin business of selling cars.
The ambition doesn’t stop at fundraising. The humanoid robot Iron is slated for mass production at the end of 2026, with deliveries beginning in 2027. The machine packs 76 degrees of freedom and runs on three Turing chips delivering a combined 2,250 TOPS of computing power.
XPeng isn’t alone in this race. Chery’s AiMOGA and BYD’s Xiao Di are both chasing similar humanoid ambitions, making this one of the most closely watched battlegrounds in Chinese technology.
A Flagship That’s Losing Momentum
The auto side of the equation is more complicated. The GX model crossed the 20,000-delivery mark just over three months after launch, but August deliveries of at least 5,837 units represented just 81.8 percent of July’s 7,140 vehicles — the first month-over-month decline since the model hit the market.
Yet the order book tells a more encouraging story. XPeng logged 24,863 new orders within a 12-hour window, with over 80 percent coming in for the pricier Ultra-Flagship trim. Wait times stretch from two to ten weeks. That mix suggests the company can push pricing upward even in a market defined by brutal discounting — no small feat in China’s hyper-competitive EV landscape.
The company is also broadening its product lineup. The MONA L05, due in the fourth quarter of 2026, will come in two flavors: a pure electric version with a 71.1-kWh battery and an extended-range variant using a 1.5-liter gasoline generator. That dual approach is a direct response to lingering range anxiety among Chinese consumers who aren’t ready to go fully electric. The flagship G9L, meanwhile, is set to launch in China as early as September.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XPeng?
The Financial Reality Check
None of this masks the damage on the income statement. The second-quarter net loss ballooned to 1.34 billion yuan, up from 0.48 billion yuan a year earlier and well above the 0.72 billion yuan analysts had penciled in. Revenue did climb 8.0 percent to 19.74 billion yuan, but the overall gross margin of 20.7 percent — and the vehicle margin of just 12.1 percent — shows how tightly the core business is being squeezed.
The first quarter painted a similarly sobering picture, with revenue of 12.92 billion Hong Kong dollars against a GAAP net loss of 1.77 billion Hong Kong dollars, compared with 15.81 billion in revenue and a 664.05 million loss in the year-ago period. Revenue shrinking while losses widen is not a trend reversal; it’s a deterioration.
Analysts have taken notice, though not all in the same direction. SDIC Securities reaffirmed its buy rating today, and DBS issued a buy recommendation on August 27. Several other houses cut their price targets following the second-quarter results, though those revisions have largely been digested by the market.
Where the Stock Stands
The share price tells its own story. At roughly 9.84 to 9.93 euros, XPeng sits just 4.5 to 5.4 percent above its 52-week low of 9.42 euros, set only days ago. The gap to the 52-week high of 24.40 euros is a yawning 59 to 60 percent, and the stock is down 45 percent since the start of the year.
Yet some institutional investors are treating the weakness as an opportunity rather than a warning. Regulatory filings show institutions added a net 2.6 million American Depositary Shares in the second quarter, pushing institutional ownership to roughly 16.4 percent. IMC-Chicago also expanded its XPeng position in late August even as it trimmed stakes in other US-listed EV makers.
The company’s technology ambitions extend beyond robotics. At Thursday’s “All-New VLA 2.0 Experience Day,” XPeng unveiled the second generation of its driver assistance system, boasting a 3.5-fold increase in parameter count and the ability to anticipate driving situations six seconds in advance. It’s part of a broader repositioning from automaker to software-driven mobility company — a model that looks more like a tech firm than a traditional car manufacturer.
The central question hanging over XPeng is whether good cars alone will be enough in an industry increasingly defined by software sophistication and robotics ecosystems. Management has clearly bet on the latter. The balance sheet, however, has yet to catch up with that conviction — and investors near the 52-week low seem to be pricing in the wait.
Ad
XPeng Stock: Buy or Sell?! New XPeng Analysis from August 31 delivers the answer:
The latest XPeng figures speak for themselves: Urgent action needed for XPeng investors. Is it worth buying or should you sell? Find out what to do now in the current free analysis from August 31.
XPeng: Buy or sell? Read more here...
