By Jiahui Huang
Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng had a weak start to 2026, slipping back to a loss in the first quarter after becoming profitable at the end of last year.
The company, one of the leading emerging EV brands in China, struggled to maintain its sales momentum, weighed by a sector-wide slowdown in the world's largest car market. Deliveries fell by about a third in the first three months of the year, snapping a run of record sales.
The Guangzhou-based automaker said Thursday that its net loss was 1.78 billion yuan, equivalent to $262.6 million, widening from 664.0 million yuan a year earlier. Revenue dropped 18% to 13.03 billion yuan, weighed by lower vehicle sales during the period, it said.
Analysts had expected a net loss of 811.9 million yuan on revenue of 13.55 billion yuan, according to a Visible Alpha poll.
XPeng's gross margin climbed to 20.6% from 15.6% a year earlier. Vehicle margins improved to 12.1%, thanks to cost reductions and a better product mix, the company said.
For the second quarter, XPeng said it expects deliveries of between 100,000 and 106,000 vehicles and revenue to grow to between 19.60 billion yuan and 20.80 billion yuan.
Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
By Jiahui Huang
Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng had a weak start to 2026, sliding back to a loss in the first quarter after becoming profitable at the end of last year.
The company, one of the leading emerging EV brands in China, struggled to maintain its sales momentum, weighed by a sector-wide slowdown in the world's largest car market. Deliveries fell by about a third in the first three months of the year, snapping a run of record sales.
The Guangzhou-based automaker said Thursday that its net loss was 1.78 billion yuan, equivalent to $262.6 million, widening from 664.0 million yuan a year earlier. Revenue dropped 18% to 13.03 billion yuan, weighed by lower vehicle sales during the period.
Analysts had expected a net loss of 811.9 million yuan on revenue of 13.55 billion yuan, according to a Visible Alpha poll.
The carmaker's Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen nearly 40% from a peak in November amid uncertainty around the success of its new models. Analysts have also cautioned that its profitability could come under pressure as the company ramps up robotaxi production.
XPeng has been working to transform itself into a physical AI company, following in Tesla's footsteps. It reached a milestone earlier this month when it became the first Chinese carmaker to mass produce a robotaxi model, a further validation of its autonomous-driving technology. The new robotaxis are built on XPeng's GX platform designed for level 4 self-driving, meaning a car can drive itself in a specific area without human intervention.
The automaker also launched the GX last week, a six-seater luxury SUV that Jefferies said could meaningfully lift its gross margin and average selling prices.
Chief Executive He Xiaopeng on Thursday said the introduction of four new models this year positions the automaker for "a robust sales growth trajectory." The company also aims to achieve mass production of robotaxis and humanoid robots this year, he said.
Despite the top- and bottom-line misses, XPeng delivered stronger margins in the first quarter. Its gross margin climbed to 20.6% from 15.6% the previous year, while vehicle margins improved to 12.1%, driven by cost reductions and a better product mix. The sequential decline in vehicle margins was due to increased memory-chip and battery costs, which resulted in higher costs per vehicle, the company said.
For the second quarter, XPeng expects to deliver between 100,000 and 106,000 vehicles and revenue to grow to 19.60 billion yuan to 20.80 billion yuan, up about 7%-14% from a year earlier.
XPeng's American depositary receipts were recently 3% higher in premarket trading.
Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 28, 2026 07:41 ET (11:41 GMT)
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