Xpeng X9, the multi-front battle behind the “atypical” MPV

"Has the price of the X9 been decided? How much is it?" "How long will it take for the X9 to be delivered after the order is placed?" These are the two most frequently asked questions by Xiaopeng's front-line sales recently.

On the negative floor of Shanghai Longemont Shopping Center, there are dozens of car brands including Xiaopeng, Jiyue, Gaohe, Buick, and Euler. Recently, Xiaopeng has the largest store traffic.

The same is true for Raffles City, which represents the sales benchmark of new energy brands in Hangzhou. From 8 to 9 p.m., consumers with family attributes continued to rush into the store with Xpeng X9.

“The number of pre-orders exceeded 30,000,” this is the data released by Xiaopeng before the X9 launch conference. Just after the press conference, Xpeng announced that it had added 5,000 X9 orders.

At the X9 press conference, in order to let the media attending the press conference understand the product strength of the X9, Xpeng's marketing team prepared a 190-page product manual, which included the X9's technology derived from the SEPA 2.0 Fuyao architecture. One dismantling.

The X9 is very much like the original G6. It has gone through the process of never being favored by the industry to having product capabilities and pricing that exceed expectations. When X9 can enter a state of stable delivery, it is a hurdle that X9 must overcome.

Whether X9 can break out of the siege and seize the window period in the first quarter of this year will also be the touchstone for Xiaopeng's organizational combat effectiveness improvement in the past year.

The most eye-catching thing about the Xpeng X9 launch conference should be the marketing and sales strategy. The top-end models should be made as standard as possible and the price should exceed expectations. These are the two most critical steps.

Xiaopeng X9 has launched a total of 4 configuration models, with a price range of 359,800 yuan to 419,800 yuan.

The final configuration of the X9 is standard equipment with more than 200 technologies such as rear-wheel steering, dual-chamber air suspension, refrigerator, color TV, sofa, central air conditioning, 23 speakers, etc.

In terms of pricing strategy, the X9 once again played the same tricks as the G6 when it was launched.

The 702 ultra-long battery life MAX version of X9 is only 20,000 yuan more expensive than the Pro version. It is equivalent to spending 20,000 yuan more for consumers to buy an additional Nvidia orin chip, a lidar, plus Xpeng’s XNGP smart driving system.

In order to attract more people to buy the Max version, He Xiaopeng also announced that starting from January 2 this year, Xiaopeng’s XNGP will be simultaneously opened in 243 cities across the country. “It can be driven nationwide” is the most important KPI for Xpeng’s autonomous driving team in 2024.

However, Leifeng.com learned that the production capacity of Buick GL8 in 2024 is planned to be less than 80,000 units.

You must know that the annual sales of Buick GL8 in the past three years are: 156,900 units in 2020, 161,300 units in 2021, and 126,800 units in 2022. In no year has the sales volume fallen below 100,000 units.

Compared with Buick's low expectations for the market, domestic car companies are making rapid progress and are ready to sell MPVs more and more expensively.

For example, at the Guangzhou Auto Show, Denza released the D9 PREMIER Founding Edition four-seater mass-production model. Previously, Denza has announced that it will launch 99 founding edition models with a pre-sale price of 660,000 yuan and delivery is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

"Don't sell the MPV as an MPV, but sell it as an expensive car" is Denza's marketing idea for the D9.

Not long after the X9 launch conference started, He Xiaopeng said in a mysterious way that "two cars" would be released that night.

The "two cars" he mentioned actually refer to the X9, but He Xiaopeng prefers to interpret the X9 from two angles. One is a large 7-seater model in the form of an MPV, and the other is a large model in the form of an SUV. 4-seater model.

He Xiaopeng’s explanation is that the 7-seater MPV is not as common as the situation when it is used as a 4-seater SUV. The implication is that Xiaopeng wants to sell two cars for one.

Whether at the X9 launch event or in subsequent media communication meetings, He Xiaopeng repeatedly mentioned that he hoped that the X9 could "break out of the MPV category and capture the large SUV market."

An investor who has been following Xpeng for a long time said: "X9 needs to fully understand the selling point of 'more comfortable than an SUV and better to drive than an ordinary MPV' mentioned at the press conference. First, it should include all the application scenarios that consumers need. , at least it can expand the market.”

This coincides with He Xiaopeng's idea.

Looking back, it is inevitable for Xpeng to let the X9 compete across categories. If the X9 is allowed to participate in the competition in the large SUV market, then Xpeng's G6 and 2024 G9, which are both SUV models, will form a new SUV product matrix with the X9.

According to Huang Honglin, general manager of marketing at Xpeng, the G6 is a very spacious SUV (among similar models), and many small families choose it. There is an obvious price difference between the G9 and G6. Although they are both 5-seater SUVs, they pursue different things. X9 is a completely different category.

"We are relatively clear in terms of product planning and model spectrum. These cars can differentiate themselves and achieve sales targets in the price range in which we are good."

According to Leifeng.com, the X9 can be regarded as a full-size SUV. The above three cars together can be regarded as Xiaopeng’s SUV family bucket.

G6 is already Xpeng’s well-deserved sales main force, and at the same time, the 2024 G9 is gradually releasing its potential.

The old G9 was not favored by the market, but the Xpeng team listened to the suggestions of hundreds of users for several months. After an "explosive overhaul", the 2024 G9 has been delivered since its launch, and the delivery volume in a single month has maintained steady growth. For example, the delivery volume of G9 in October 2023 is 4,593 units and the delivery volume in November 2023 is 5,778 units.

Although neither He Xiaopeng nor Huang Honglin directly gave the expected delivery data of the X9, the capital market's highest expectation for steady-state delivery of the X9 has reached 5,000 units.

Assuming that the X9 targets 5,000 units, if the 2024 G9 can also reach the delivery volume of 5,000 units in a single month, these two models alone can support half of the "20,000 units delivered in a single month".

When asked by the media about OKR in 2024, He Xiaopeng only revealed two points:

The first point is organizational capability. Organizational capability is the core of whether a company can be among the top three in China or the top ten in the world.

The second point is to continue to make longboards longer. For example, Zhijia is one of our longboards. In addition, we need to make the shape into a long board, and turn the short and medium boards into long boards.

In his words, Xiaopeng's organizational and execution capabilities are more important than long-term planning at the moment.

He Xiaopeng also laughed at himself that he is different from Lei Jun. Lei Jun thinks about a problem in the long term, and he may think about things for up to 36 months. He doesn't think much about things beyond 36 months.

Now there is a voice in the industry that Xiaopeng and Xiaomi will have a battle. Most people who hold this view believe that both Xpeng and Xiaomi emphasize the sense of technology in shaping their brand images, and their consumer groups overlap. In terms of product planning, Xiaomi will inevitably be involved in the "cost-effectiveness" struggle like Xiaopeng.

However, Leifeng.com believes that the challenges faced by these two car companies in 2024 are very different.

The biggest challenge Xiaomi has to face is whether it can really stand up for building cars. After the first mass-produced SU7 hits the market, whether it will be accepted by the majority of consumers who hold money to buy cars.

What Xiaopeng is facing is a multi-front battle from scale, organizational efficiency, cost reduction, and smart driving.

Xpeng's internal employees know very well that only by maintaining at least a monthly delivery of more than 20,000 units can Xpeng be able to improve its operating data and ultimately achieve what He Xiaopeng promised in 2023 - the company's operating cash flow is expected to be in 2024 The annual meeting will be regularized quarterly.

On the eve of the X9 launch, Xiaopeng announced that it would deliver a total of 20,115 new cars in December 2023, a year-on-year increase of 78%. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Xpeng achieved more than 20,000 deliveries for three consecutive months.

Xpeng Motors official data

Looking back, from January to December 2023, Xpeng delivered a total of 141,601 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 17%. At the same time, Xpeng Motors’ cumulative historical delivery volume reached 400,311 units, exceeding the 400,000 delivery mark.

In terms of smart driving, facing the fierce attack from Huawei, the first-tier player in smart driving, Xiaopeng accepted the "challenge letter" and went all out.

People close to Xpeng said that the work of Xpeng's autonomous driving team has entered "007 mode" and will work overtime starting from the fourth quarter of 2023 to achieve the goal of "available nationwide."

Cost reduction has been one of Xpeng's KPIs in the past year and will be in 2024.

The most significant cost reductions come from anti-corruption in the supply chain, product switching to the SEPA 2.0 Fuyao structure, and the purchase of some parts with Volkswagen. These actions are important factors for Xiaopeng to achieve a 25% reduction in BOM (bill of materials) costs in 2024.

In terms of organizational strength, Xiaopeng has been engaged in "second entrepreneurship" for more than a year.

Wang Fengying has been with Xpeng for more than a year, and she oversees UDS, product planning, model platforms, and overseas business sectors.

Insiders said that Wang Fengying and He Xiaopeng cooperated tacitly, with one in charge and the other in charge of external affairs. He Xiaopeng's full delegation of power and Wang Fengying's resolute management skills allowed Xiaopeng to carry out a vigorous self-reform.

Leifeng.com learned that Wang Fengying is preparing to set up a special operations team within Xiaopeng . Wang Fengying wants to use this group to open up various marketing links, and "making up for marketing shortcomings" is also what He Xiaopeng hopes for this year.

The organizational strength can also be reflected in the fact that Xpeng’s biggest challenge right now is how to keep at least 35,000 orders in hand and not lose them due to the uncertain production capacity ramping cycle.

Leifeng.com learned that Xiaopeng received a lot of feedback from the outside that "X9 must be delivered as soon as possible before the Spring Festival." From the perspective of most consumers, they have a strong need to buy the X9, that is, it is best to drive it home during the Spring Festival and carry people and cargo.

He Xiaopeng made no secret of his concerns about "production capacity." He had a dispute with Huang Honglin, the head of X9's marketing. Huang Honglin was a little more conservative, while He Xiaopeng had a more radical attitude, believing that X9 would become a big hit outside of the MPV category. Therefore, the initial production capacity plan for X9 was set low, and was quickly adjusted after receiving market feedback.

It is reported that Xpeng X9 is expected to deliver about 5,000 units before the Spring Festival, and the production capacity will climb to 10,000 units in the first quarter of this year.

A person close to Xiaopeng said: "Wang Fengying has asked the team to prepare production and sales capacity to deliver at least 4,000 units per month. Her idea is that in the long run, this car will achieve sales of at least several thousand units. Let Xpeng’s price go up and make profits bigger.”

After the Guangzhou Auto Show, Xpeng X9 suppliers' confidence in the X9 car was boosted and they expressed their willingness to actively cooperate with the increase in production capacity.

There is no doubt that whether it can withstand the delivery pressure before the Spring Festival will be a key battle to determine the direction of X9 and Xpeng in 2024.