Chinese automakers on the path to "smartification" and AI: not everyone will survive, even against the background of progress
Kyiv • UNN
China is leading the car industry's technological revolution, but competition is hampering profitability. Xpeng is having difficulties, and experts predict that only a dozen companies will survive.
China is among the countries leading the technological revolution in the automotive industry. However, fierce competition affects the fact that even companies such as Xpeng and BYD have difficulties with profit, according to their ambitions.
UNN reports with reference to Reuters.
Details
Brian Gu, vice chairman and president of Xpeng, is unrelenting in his diagnosis of the current rivalry between China's leading automakers:
In the last two decades, we have seen only a few companies doing well. I am very concerned about the state of Chinese automakers... I think only 10 will ultimately survive
Xpeng is among the Chinese electric vehicle startups that are best positioned to thrive.
This is because the industry is moving from the era of "electrification" to "smartification", competing with self-driving cars and other technologies driven by artificial intelligence
"They are not profitable because they have invested in a lot of new things," he emphasizes. But supposedly this profitability is improving due to its own development of artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.
Reuters in its material draws attention to the events taking place at the Shanghai Auto Show this week.
Xpeng presented there its X9 minivan worth from 359,800 yuan ($49,231) with many new features (automated driving, a screen that unfolds to entertain passengers in the back seats, etc.). It is noted that like Tesla, which also opens new models, Xpeng aims to develop robotaxis and humanoid robots. But the Chinese company does not announce expectations in profit achievements. The same applies to dozens of other Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers.
The paradox, as it were, is that the sector is leading a technological revolution that is turning the automotive industry upside down around the world.
At the same time, the situation for some of the most famous companies is the opposite. BYD, the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles and hybrids in China, confirms stable profitability.
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The Chinese conglomerate in the automotive industry, based in Shenzhen, thanks to the offer of a dizzying range of models, achieved huge sales last year - 4.2 million cars worldwide. Last year, BYD received a record profit of about $5.5 billion on revenue of almost $107 billion.
Other profitable players include mature Chinese automakers such as Chery and Geely (0175.HK), which had large gasoline-powered car businesses before they started making electric vehicles.
Regarding the two smaller electric vehicle manufacturers, Leapmotor and Li Auto, the following information is currently available.
Li Auto has focused mainly on premium extended-range hybrids that cause fewer charging problems than electric vehicles.
Leapmotor produces inexpensive cars — both electric and hybrid — and controls costs through vertical integration and shared transport platforms for different models.
Let us remind
Chinese CATL announced technological progress in the production of batteries, which will reduce the cost of electric vehicles, make them lighter and increase their range.