XPeng Founder and CEO He Xiaopeng said the boom in AI investment has drawn money away from carmakers and that he is “not worried at all” about the company’s falling share price, which he expects to recover as investors return to cars and autonomous driving.
He made the remarks in response to a question from EV at a roundtable with media at the Paris Motor Show on Monday.
EV asked He what investors were missing about XPeng after its US-listed shares fell below $10 for the first time since September 2024, citing the company’s robotics business, its NGP assisted-driving system and its rapid expansion over the last few years.
“Today, because of investment in the whole AI era, the phone industry and the car industry, especially industries closely tied to AI, have been squeezed,” He said, speaking in Mandarin.
“But I think it is a matter of two or three years,” he said.
‘Get the Fundamentals Right’
He said XPeng’s response was to concentrate on its own operations while the cycle turned.
“At this moment, I think we should get the fundamentals right, get cash flow right and get the R&D organisation right,” he said. “I think in the next cycle we will grow bigger.”
The founder said that after some time, attention would come back to autonomous driving and to cars.
“I am not worried at all,” XPeng’s chief said, describing his answer as some of his “rough thoughts.”
A Cycle, Not a Collapse
He returned to the theme of cycles in a separate answer at the same roundtable, describing himself as a serial entrepreneur who had worked in software, mobile internet and cars before robots.
Technology moves in waves with peaks and troughs, he said.
“From my point of view, today’s challenges for China’s and the global car industry may mean that in the next three to five years the industry enters a completely new stage, with better profits, more differentiated technology and a better experience,” He said.
“I actually firmly believe this,” he said.
He said XPeng’s decision to come to Europe had been taken six years ago and did not depend on policy.
“Even if the policy isn’t there today, and isn’t there tomorrow, we have always wanted to build our presence in Europe,” he said.
He said he expected cars to become increasingly intelligent, describing them as a new type of robot rather than a humanoid in appearance.
“I am a technologist,” He said. “It’s not about saying how much money we have made.”
The Share Price
XPeng’s US-listed American depositary shares closed at $9.25 on October 2, their lowest close since September 18, 2024, according to Yahoo Finance and Stock Analysis data.
They fell as low as $9.18 during that session, now the stock’s 52-week low and its weakest intraday level since September 19, 2024.
They closed at $9.90 on Friday, up 3.7% on the day and 7.0% on the week, after rising in early trading when the European Union and China announced an understanding on hybrid car trade.
The shares had already fallen to their lowest in almost two years in mid-September, touching $10.16 during the session on September 15.
At Friday’s close, the stock was 64.9% below its 52-week high of $28.24, reached in November.
The shares are down 51.2% this year, valuing XPeng at about $9.5 billion. They were trading 1.3% lower at $9.77 in pre-market trading on Monday, ahead of the US open.
What Investors Are Weighing
The decline has come as XPeng spends heavily on technology beyond its cars.
XPeng’s robotics unit agreed in August to raise more than $900 million at a post-money valuation above $6.3 billion, a valuation equal to about two-thirds of the company’s current market capitalisation.
Separately, UBS began coverage of the stock in September with a Neutral rating, citing risks in robotics and weakness in the car business.
XPeng’s second-quarter revenue of 19.74 billion yuan ($2.94 billion) missed analysts’ estimates, and its vehicle margin fell to 12.1% from 14.3% a year earlier.
He said in August that XPeng was targeting more than 60,000 deliveries a month in the fourth quarter.
The company delivered 41,256 vehicles in September, up 5% from August, and 118,390 in the third quarter, up 2.1% from a year earlier.
The Paris Pitch
He spent the weekend in Paris promoting XPeng’s European expansion.
At a media event on Sunday, he said XPeng’s L03 SUV had drawn 12,136 orders in Europe since its July launch, and the company said its L05 SUV would arrive in early 2027.
He told Monday’s roundtable that production capacity had become the central constraint for XPeng in Europe, and that the company was discussing with its Austrian manufacturing partner how to expand output at its current plant.
XPeng is also talking to different countries and companies about the possibility of new or expanded capacity in Europe, He said, adding that he had no news to share yet.
XPeng’s assembly partner in Austria is Magna Steyr, which builds the G6, G9 and P7+ in Graz and completed a first production trial of the G9L this month.
He also told the roundtable that XPeng was adding about 8,000 employees a year and that its annual research and development spending was rising by close to 40%.
The company said on Sunday that its R&D spending reached €770 million ($863 million) in the first half of 2026, up 39% from a year earlier.
