On May 21, 2024, Xiaopeng Motors released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024. Compared to the ugly data of the first quarter of 2023, Xiaopeng Motors performed even better in its financial report for the first quarter of 2024. Core indicators such as revenue, gross profit, and gross profit margin have all seen certain improvements.
This means that Xiaopeng Motors has achieved certain results in its reform, but it cannot be denied that Xiaopeng Motors is still continuously losing money and has no possibility of making a profit in the short term.
At the same time, Xiaopeng Motors launched an AI DAY on May 20th, but it caused complaints from many veteran car owners, including P5, G9, and G3. They believe that the intelligence of Xiaopeng Motors is constantly iterating, but their promises have not been fulfilled, and they are like an abandoned generation.
After the reform of Xiaopeng Automobile, it was like a light boat, suddenly surpassing thousands of mountains. The old car owners were still waiting in place, waiting for the promise that was once supported by real gold and silver.
The financial report data is improving year-on-year, but the losses continue. How much more money does Xiaopeng need to burn to stay in the "finals circle"
From the perspective of Xiaopeng Automobile's own promotion, the company's financial data for the first quarter of 2024 has significantly improved compared to the first quarter of 2023, including total revenue, net profit, gross profit margin, gross profit, etc.
But if the timeline is extended, Xiaopeng Motors' performance is not particularly outstanding compared to 2022 during the pandemic. Some investors believe that it was the poor performance of Xiaopeng Motors in 2023 that led to its outstanding performance in 2024.
Performance Chart of Xiaopeng Automobile's Total Operating Revenue/Bai Haotian Data Source/Wind
From the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2024, Xiaopeng Automobile's total operating revenue was 7.455 billion yuan, 4.033 billion yuan, and 6.548 billion yuan. Its performance has not yet reached its peak period. During that period, Xiaopeng Motors only had three models for sale: G3, P7, and P5. Now, Xiaopeng has released six products.
Net profit performance chart of Xiaopeng Motors/Bai Haotian data source/Wind
In terms of losses, Xiaopeng Automobile's net losses from the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2024 were 1.7 billion yuan, 2.337 billion yuan, and 1.368 billion yuan, respectively. The extent of the company's losses has slightly narrowed, but it is still experiencing continuous losses and there is no clear profit expectation.
Xiaopeng Automobile gross profit performance chart/Bai Haotian data source/Wind
In terms of gross profit, Xiaopeng Motors had a gross profit of 91 million yuan in the first quarter of 2022 and 84 million yuan in the first quarter of 2024. The first quarter of 2024 did not exceed the results of 2022.
Besides gross profit, the gross profit margin that has been heavily promoted by the official Xiaopeng Motors seems to have doubled, which is not as exciting. If the timeline is extended, the excellent performance of the sales gross profit margin in the first quarter of 2024 is only due to the astonishing results in 2023.
Performance chart of sales gross profit margin for Xiaopeng Motors/Bai Haotian data source/Wind
Overall, Xiaopeng Motors has made significant progress compared to 2023, but has not made significant progress compared to 2022. Whether the enterprise can ultimately achieve sustained growth in sales and continuous improvement in business indicators still requires time to provide an answer.
It is necessary to mention that Xiaopeng Motors has sustained losses of over 20 billion yuan over the past three years. Nowadays, the commercialization of intelligent driving in the entire industry is still in the exploratory stage. When can Xiaopeng Motors, labeled with intelligence, achieve a break even? He Xiaopeng has not provided an answer.
But He Xiaopeng bluntly stated that competition will further intensify from 2024 to 2026. How Xiaopeng Motors can keep its head high amidst continuous losses is still an unknown number.
In addition to manufacturing and selling cars, currently, Xiaopeng has gained some revenue from its software cooperation with Volkswagen, and future cooperation with Didi in the transportation market may also bring certain capital inflows.
Why is the new technology full of creativity once again causing dissatisfaction among P5 old car owners?
On the eve of financial report day, Xiaopeng Motors held an AI Day. An end-to-end big model has been released, which will provide higher upgrade potential for intelligent driving and intelligent voice assistants through the powerful computing power of AI big models.
But in the eyes of some old car owners, Xiaopeng Motors has once again experienced "back stabbing", with P5 owners experiencing a particularly strong "back stabbing sensation".
As the third product of Xiaopeng Motors, the P5 high-end model was equipped with LiDAR in early 2022. This car was once called an important product of technological equality by Xiaopeng Motors, which can achieve high-level urban assisted driving. The old P5 model was positioned as a compact pure electric sedan, priced at over 200000 yuan at that time.
The P5, equipped with a LiDAR and priced at over 200000 yuan, has attracted many users who are full of enjoyment for autonomous driving. But what is infuriating is that the intelligent driving updates of P5 models and other models are not on the same path, and there are far fewer cities where intelligent driving can be used in P5 than in the latest G6.
Some argue that as Xiaopeng Motors no longer relies on high-precision maps and approaches the launch of a map free intelligent driving architecture, the intelligent car P5, which was once built based on high-precision maps and LiDAR architecture, seems to have no plans for rapid upgrading and iteration.
Mr. Li, the owner of P5, believes that the slow update of P5's intelligent driving and the rapid landing of P6's intelligent driving city mean that consumers who once had "expectations and trust" and chose P5 LiDAR models for real money only ended up getting a "semi-finished product".
On the latest P5 model launched, the LiDAR has been cancelled, and advanced intelligent driving has also missed out on this car. Former P5 car owners thought they were the "most beautiful guy" in the technology field, but ended up becoming the "greenest leek".
"We are not as good as leeks. Just cut a crop of leeks and it's done. Now that Xiaopeng has developed new technology, he specifically says that we cannot enjoy the benefits brought by technological progress. Others continue to upgrade their OTA, and we continue to be betrayed." Another P5 car owner, Mr. Liu, said.
Now, Xiaopeng Motors will push some of its models to achieve the powerful ability of intelligent driving on every road in the country in the third quarter. However, P5 car owners can only look at other people's urban intelligent driving, standing guard by their avant-garde technology represented by "LiDAR" and marveling.
For Xiaopeng Motors, accelerating the development of intelligent driving is essential for enhancing the competitiveness of the brand and products. But how can users who strongly supported Xiaopeng in the early stages of its development enjoy the excellent experience brought by the "smart driving" label? This is a question that enterprises must consider.
In He Xiaopeng's strategic plan, the first car of the new brand will focus on the compact pure electric sedan market below 200000 yuan, and in the future, advanced intelligent driving will also be placed in this series of products. Even more so, it has become a thorn in the throat for over 200000 car owners who have bought the P5.
Regarding how the intelligent driving technology of P5 will develop in the future, and whether old car owners can enjoy the advanced driving assistance function in cities across the country, a reporter from Beike Finance attempted to interview the official Xiaopeng Motors, but the other party did not provide a definite response.
Bai Haotian, a reporter from New Beijing News and Shell Finance