China electric car maker Xpeng closes $400m Series C

Contributions came from private equity firms and corporate and individual investors. The only named investor is local smart phone maker Xiaomi. The company has previously raised around RMB10 billion ($1.4 billion) from the likes of Primavera Capital Group, Morningside Ventures, Eastern Bell Capital, Hillhouse Capital, IDG Capital, Apoletto, Yunfeng Capital, GGV Capital, and Matrix Partners China. Strategic backers include Alibaba, Foxconn Technology Group, and Ucar

Xpeng has also secured several billion in renminbi-denominated credit lines from various local and international lenders, among them China Merchants Bank, China CITIC Bank and HSBC.

The company is one of few Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers with production model cars on the roads. Deliveries of its flagship product – a high-end sport-utility vehicle known as the G3 with a fully-rotating rooftop camera, 20 sensors, automatic parking, and level 2.5 autonomous driving capabilities – began in December 2018. Sales passed 10,000 units in June. A month later, Xpeng released an enhanced version with a longer driving range per charge.

Its mass production second vehicle, the P7 sedan, was premiered in April. Deliveries are expected to start in the second quarter of 2020.

"We are committed to investing in the development of core in-house technologies, smart manufacturing, and sales and service capabilities. With the strong support from our shareholders, customers and business partners, we are very confident that we can surmount the challenging environment and achieve our long-term goals," He said in a statement.

Auto sales in China have suffered this year due to a combination of economic headwinds, uncertainty in global markets, and government policy changes. In June, electric vehicle subsidies were cut by 65% and they are likely to be reduced to zero by next year. There are plans to replace subsidies with a credit system that places greater emphasis on vehicle range and quality. These reforms are expected to contribute to industry consolidation.

Speaking to AVCJ earlier this year, Brian Gu, vice chairman and president of Xpeng, suggested that 90% of the new EV players will fail to reach the production stage or get absorbed by traditional carmakers. He believes companies trying to build lower-cost vehicles will come under the most pressure because they will not be able to compete with traditional carmakers that have massive volume and better relationships with suppliers.

He sold UCWeb to Alibaba in 2014 and became president of the e-commerce giant's mobile business group. Xpeng was established the same year. A longstanding fan of Tesla, He decided to invest in the electric vehicle space in China, interviewed several start-ups, and ended up backing a team that spun out from Guangzhou Automotive Industry Group. The company became known as Xpeng.

It closed a RMB2.2 billion Series A round in 2017, led by Ucar. This was followed a Series B across two tranches: the first closed in January 2018 at RMB2.2 billion and the second at RMB4 billion seven months later.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Expansion
• China
• automobiles
• Xiaomi