Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng remained in the red despite resilient margins, as heavy investment in new models and AI-related technologies outweighed profits from its main vehicle business and higher-margin services.

The Guangzhou-based company said Monday that its second-quarter net loss widened to 1.34 billion yuan, equivalent to $199.4 million, from 477.8 million yuan a year earlier. That missed the 718.6 million yuan loss estimated by analysts in a Visible Alpha poll.

Revenue rose 8.0% to 19.74 billion yuan, in line with the company's estimate. XPeng delivered 103,295 vehicles in the second quarter, a 65% jump from the first quarter but little changed from the year-ago period.

Its gross margin was 20.7% in the second quarter, up from 17.3% a year earlier and 20.6% in the first quarter. Vehicle margins fell to 12.1% from 14.3% a year ago but was stable from the first three months of the year. The company said the transition to new-generation models led to the year-over-year decline in vehicle margins.

For the third quarter, the automaker said it expects deliveries to reach 115,000-121,000 vehicles and revenue to grow to between 21.7 billion yuan and 23.4 billion yuan.

The bigger test for XPeng, however, is whether it can sustain margins as it boosts production of the new Mona L03 sport-utility vehicle, expands overseas and continues to spend heavily on artificial intelligence and humanoid robots.

The company is betting on its new mass-market L03 to spur volume growth in the second half. The model has generated strong orders since its July launch, but production is still ramping up, potentially limiting deliveries this quarter. Indeed, deliveries rose just 4% to 38,027 units last month, slowing from June's double-digit rebound.

Analysts say the L03, which fetches a gross margin above 10%, could replace some sales of the lower-margin M03. That would improve XPeng's product mix even if overall deliveries remain below expectations, they said.

Citi analysts are more optimistic about the fourth quarter, as XPeng's profitability stands to gain from a higher mix of exports and better-margin models, including the coming G9L. Exports could account for around 20% of the EV maker's deliveries by then, up from about 10% expected in the third quarter, they said in a recent note.

Beyond cars, XPeng has been investing in autonomous driving and humanoid robots as it pushes to become a physical AI company. Although the spending could help capture a longer-term growth opportunity, it has also increased the pressure on a company that hasn't experienced sustained profitability.

XPeng said separately Monday that its Dogotix subsidiary entered an agreement to raise more than $900 million, with backing from investors including Tencent and Alibaba. The financing will value the robotics business at more than $6.3 billion after the transaction.