We hold a meeting once a day until the morning of August 27th, and we are still discussing internally how to price the Xiaopeng MONA M03, "said He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, at the Xiaopeng MONA M03 listing press conference.
Photo by journalist Sun Lei
On August 27th, the Xiaopeng MONA M03 was launched, positioned as an A-class pure electric sedan. There are three versions available, including the 515 long-range version priced at 119800 yuan, the 620 ultra long range version priced at 129800 yuan, and the Xiaopeng MONA M03 Max priced at 155800 yuan.
The research and development cycle of MONA M03 exceeds 4 years, with an investment of over 4 billion yuan. MONA M03 is the best production capacity preparation in Xiaopeng's history, including the quality and quantity of the supply chain, sales channels, delivery, and simpler SKUs, all of which have been fully prepared in advance He Xiaopeng said in an interview with the Daily Economic News.
It is reported that the MONA M03 515 long-range version and 620 ultra long range version will be officially delivered to users from September, while the Max version will be delivered after the Spring Festival in 2025.
Want to challenge BYD with intelligent driving?
It is worth noting that based on the past products of Xiaopeng Motors, its main selling products are in the range of 200000 to 300000 yuan. It is understood that although the penetration rate of new energy in this range exceeds 55%, the absolute volume is not large, and there are strong competitors such as Ideal Automobile, Wenjie, Xiaomi, and Jike.
In contrast, the segmented market of 100000 to 150000 yuan has a larger volume. Public data shows that in this segmented market, the cumulative sales of new energy vehicle models reached nearly 1.184 million units in the first half of this year, accounting for 29% of the overall new energy vehicle market. In addition, the penetration rate of new energy in this niche market is only 39%, and there is still a lot of room for conversion, which is also one of the reasons why Xiaopeng Motors launched the MONA M03.
However, it should be noted that in the new energy sub market of 100000 to 150000 yuan, BYD has multiple main sales models and occupies a large market share. It is reported that the Yuan PLUS, Dolphin, and Qin PLUS are the sales champions of A0 level SUVs, A0 level sedans, and A-class sedans, respectively. Yang Guang, the product manager of Xiaopeng MONA M03, believes that ride hailing services and some A0 class SUVs for home use are competitors of MONA M03.
Faced with the competition of the above-mentioned models, Xiaopeng Motors hopes to win the competition through intelligence. According to the official introduction, the MONA M03 Intelligent Driving Standard Edition is equipped with an L2 level intelligent assisted driving system and comes standard with 20+intelligent sensing hardware, possessing strong sensing capabilities; The Xiaopeng MONA M03 Max version is equipped with the "full health version" XNGP, which can achieve city navigation and even door-to-door intelligent driving navigation.
Photo by journalist Sun Lei
It is understood that the intelligent driving function of MONA M03 does not rely on LiDAR, but on a pure visual solution, which is also a major reason why MONA M03 can achieve a lower price. With the combination of product strength and price, according to Yang Guang, the goal of MONA M03 is to sell over 10000 units per month, or even higher. According to official sources, within 52 minutes of its launch, the large order quantity of the Xiaopeng MONA M03 exceeded 10000 units.
It is worth mentioning that although the MONA M03 has a lower selling price, all versions of its models can generate profits. We will definitely consider the ideas of our customers in the current environment, give back technological progress to car owners, and achieve good cars, affordable prices, and positive gross profits, "He Xiaopeng told reporters.
In the next 10 years, there may be 7 mainstream Chinese automotive brands left
In the eyes of many industry insiders, the pricing strategy of MONA M03 is also to cope with the current price war in the industry. As for the upcoming assessment of the car market, He Xiaopeng believes that the price war will continue. 2025 and 2026 will be even more intense than this year. Because many people think that expensive fuel vehicles do not actually have high costs, they have enough capacity to go further, "He Xiaopeng added.
Meanwhile, He Xiaopeng believes that with the arrival of the AI big model era, there may only be 7 mainstream Chinese automotive brands left in the next 10 years, and Xiaopeng Motors will become one of them. In the next 10 years, annual sales of 1 million vehicles will become a ticket to the AI car finals, "explained He Xiaopeng. In the future, the weight of AI technology will affect nearly 50% of purchasing decisions, and Xiaopeng Motors will become a global AI car company in the next 10 years.
To secure a spot in the finals of intelligent cars 10 years from now, Xiaopeng Motors' AI system includes AI cars, AI robots, flying cars, and AI chips. At the same time as the release of MONA M03, Xiaopeng Motors' self-developed Turing chip was also officially unveiled. This chip was successfully taped out on August 23rd and is the world's first AI chip to be applied simultaneously to AI cars, AI robots, and flying cars.
It is reported that the computing power of Turing chips is three times that of existing chips, with a 40 core processor that can run large models with up to 30B parameters. Companies that aspire to make achievements in AI will have dedicated chips. Xiaopeng will use both NV and Xiaopeng's chips, which can support L3~L4 level autonomous driving, "He Xiaopeng told reporters.
In addition, overseas markets are also considered an important component of Xiaopeng Motors' entry ticket to the intelligent car finals 10 years later. In the next 10 years, half of Xiaopeng Motors' sales will come from overseas. Xiaopeng's internationalization strategy is to start from Europe, take technology as the guide, and bring China's intelligence to the world, "said He Xiaopeng.
It is worth mentioning that according to Bloomberg's previous report, Xiaopeng Motors is selecting a location for its manufacturing plant in Europe. Regarding the question of whether Xiaopeng Motors will invest in building a complete vehicle factory in overseas markets, He Xiaopeng told reporters that Xiaopeng is currently only in the process of seeking cooperation. We didn't mention building factories overseas, wouldn't it be better to have partners? "Said He Xiaopeng.
It is reported that in the second quarter of this year, the contribution of Xiaopeng Motors' overseas sales exceeded 10% for the first time. At present, the Xiaopeng G6 has launched right-hand drive versions in multiple countries including Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, and plans to start delivery within this year. Xiaopeng's export destinations this year will expand from the original three countries to over twenty countries.