CHINESE Electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng on Thursday forecast second-quarter (Q2) revenue below market expectations, underscoring a prolonged slowdown in demand and stiff competition in the Chinese EV market.
Domestic car sales in China fell for a seventh straight month in April, with industry estimates showing that EV and plug-in hybrid sales growth were likely to slow in 2026 after years of rapid expansion.
Chinese EV makers are still betting on advanced driver-assistance systems, feature-rich vehicles and broader model lineups to help navigate the downturn.
Xpeng projected total revenue to be between 19.60 billion yuan ($2.89 billion) and 20.80 billion yuan in the second quarter, representing a year-over-year rise of 7.3 percent to 13.8 percent.
The forecast is below analysts’ average estimate of 21.71 billion yuan, per data compiled by LSEG.
Revenue for the first quarter ended March stood at 13.03 billion yuan, above estimates of 12.93 billion yuan.
Total vehicle deliveries for the first quarter were 62,682 units, down 33.3 percent from 94,008 in the same period last year. For the June quarter, Xpeng projected deliveries to be between 100,000 and 106,000 units.
“Kick-started by the successful launch of the GX, Xpeng will deliver four new models this year, positioning us for a robust sales growth trajectory,” Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng said.
The company’s US-listed shares, which have slid nearly 19 percent so far this year up to last close, were up marginally in early trading.
Xpeng said first-quarter net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders stood at 1.78 billion yuan, widening from a loss of 664 million yuan in the year-ago period and compared with a profit of 383.2 million yuan reported in the previous quarter.
