Al Root

Shares of Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng traded wildly on Monday after company Chairman He Xiaopeng said humanoid robots and flying cars were just around the corner.

Tesla investors can identify with the statements and the trading.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that XPeng planned to start selling robots and flying cars by 2026. XPeng didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

XPeng, like Tesla, uses artificial intelligence to help cars drive themselves, and train humanoid robots.

"XPeng's second decade has started, and I believe the next 10 years will be the era of AI or artificial intelligence," said Xiaopeng on his company's third-quarter-earnings conference call in November. "I would strive to lead XPeng to become a global AI-defined car company and spearhead the large-scale application of AI in the mobility industry."

Tesla uses AI for self-driving and robots. It hasn't, as yet, announced plans for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft -- flying cars -- that could be suitable for short flights. AI can help enable that technology, too.

"We are integrating vehicle control with AI to develop a new flight control system into such flying cars, making it safer and more user-friendly," China Daily quoted Xiaopeng as saying.

Following the comments, XPeng stock traded to as high as 96.35 Hong Kong dollars in overseas trading on Monday. Gains faded, however, leaving the stock down about 0.8% at HK$89.25.

U.S.-listed American depositary receipts were down 2.3% at $23.05 despite also receiving an upgrade from Citi analyst Jeff Chung. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were both down about 1%.

Chung took his rating on XPeng ADRs to Buy from Hold, and lifted his price target to $29, up from $13.70. More car sales are key to the upgrade, but he also sees some AI benefits. "Xpeng has expressed its commitment to the AI/Robotics field, and we see some upside risk to Xpeng if it achieves decent progress in the AI/Robotics," wrote Chung.

His 2025 and 2026 volume estimates for cars increased to 330,000 and 580,000, respectively, from 260,000 and 480,000.

Those are significant increases, but shares aren't up. Strange trading is also Tesla-like. Coming into Monday trading, Tesla stock was down 45% from a record closing high of almost $480 reached in mid-December. Expectations that AI-trained self-driving Teslas would hit roads in 2025 had boosted shares.

XPeng shares have also got a big bump recently, with ADRs up almost 100% year to date headed into a new week of trading.

Of course, the Tesla and XPeng situations aren't exactly comparable. Tesla investors are also weighing what CEO Elon Musk's increasingly political activities mean for shares of their EV company.

For XPeng, about 74% of analysts covering the stock have Buy ratings. The average analyst price target is about $16.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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March 10, 2025 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT)

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