XPeng (HKG:9868) incurred wider losses in the first quarter of 2026 versus a year earlier, as vehicle deliveries fell sharply during what the carmaker described as a "seasonal slowdown."

Guangdong, China-based XPeng booked 1.78 billion yuan in attributable net loss for the first quarter, nearly tripling from a net loss of 664.0 million yuan a year prior, according to a press release after market hours on Thursday.

Loss per share ballooned to 0.93 yuan for the quarter ended March 31 from 0.35 yuan a year earlier.

Total revenue declined 17.6% year over year to 13.03 billion yuan as revenue from vehicle sales plunged 23.5% from a year earlier to 11 billion yuan.

Vehicle deliveries totaled 62,682 units in the first quarter, down 33% from 94,008 units in the first quarter of 2025.

"Even in a market downturn, our focus extends beyond scale," XPeng Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng told analysts during an earnings call.

Despite the loss, gross margin improved to 20.6% from 15.6% a year earlier, while vehicle margin edged up to 12.1% from 10.5%, supported by cost reductions and improvement in product mix, XPeng said.

Looking ahead, XPeng expects a recovery in the second quarter, with deliveries forecast to grow by up to 2.73% year over year to up to 106,000 units, or a quarter-over-quarter growth of up to 69%.

Revenue is predicted to jump by up to 13.8% from a year earlier to up to 20.8 billion yuan.

"Starting with the GX, we plan to launch and begin deliveries of four all new SUV models within the next six months. These models have been defined and designed from day one as global vehicles," He said.

XPeng launched the GX on May 20. The model secured 24,863 orders within the first 12 hours of its launch, the company said on Weibo.

"I believe XPeng is entering the strongest delivery growth trajectory in our history," He added.

Deutsche Bank analyst Wang Bin said in a note to clients this week that the aggressive pricing of GX will boost XPeng's May orders to 50,000 units.

Meanwhile, the first quarter also marked a transformation for XPeng.

"We formally changed our official Chinese name from XPeng Motors to XPeng Group, reflecting XPeng's transformation from a smart EV company to a physical AI company," He told analysts.

In the first quarter, XPeng's revenue from "services and others" jumped 41% year over year to 2.03 billion yuan, owing to increased revenues from technical research and development services and parts and accessories sales, the company said.

"At this pivotal moment, we choose to bet firmly on physical AI with increasing R&D on AI, and I believe physical AI applications represent one of the most significant global strategic opportunities of the next decade," He said.

He also hinted that XPeng will bring "robo taxis and humanoid robots" into mass production, and that the company will build the commercial ecosystem around these products.