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While Chinese EV maker Xpeng had its bright yellow sports sedan, dubbed “The Next P7,” as the centerpiece of its booth, it kicked off its IAA Munich 2025 press conference with a sprawling, Euro-centric business update.
Founded in Guangzhou, China in 2014, XPeng made its European debut in 2021. The company says it has since tripled its exports and now sells vehicles in 46 countries. Per vice chairman and president, Brian Gu, Xpeng has delivered 271,615 vehicles through August of this year, which represents a 252 percent increase over the same period in 2024. At this rate, Gu says Xpeng will be profitable by the fourth quarter of 2025.
What’s next?
With all this growth, what’s next? More growth, it seems. Volkswagen and Xpeng already have partnership in which China-market VWs will run Xpeng’s electrical and electronics (E/E) architecture. This partnership was recently expanded to include plug-in hybrid and internal combustions vehicles as well. The big question is whether this partnership will go beyond China-market vehicles.
Robotaxi to autonomous driving rollout
Given that it’s been a leader in autonomous driving technologies, it’s no surprise that the development of self-driving cars is in full swing at XPeng, as evidenced by a video clip of newly built XPeng vehicles driving themselves from a factory production line to an outdoor delivery area. According to company founder, He Xiaopeng, Xpeng plans to start robotaxi trials for “mass-produced L4 vehicles” in China sometime in 2026.
The same technology driving Xpeng’s robotaxi is planned for a rollout in its full lineup globally by the fourth quarter of 2026.
‘The next P7’
When it came to brag about the second-generation flagship P7 sedan, founder He led with a shortlist of its most impressive performance numbers:
- 0-62 mph in 3.7 seconds
- Top speed of 143 mph (230 kmh)
- Maximum horsepower of 585 hp (593 ps)
- Max torque of 438 ft-lbs (695N-m)
Solid numbers for any sports car, but nothing mindblowing, until you consider XPeng’s other claim that the new P7 set the global distance record for mass-produced EVs.
As a testament to the efficiency, battery capacity, range and charging speed of its vehicles, XPeng claims its P7 drove 2,461 miles in 24 hours, finishing ahead of rivals Xiaomi YU7 (2,450 miles), Mercedes-Benz CLA (2,310 miles) and Porsche Taycan (2,128 miles).
Flying cars by late 2026
And finally, XPeng continues to be bullish on flying cars, claiming they will be 20 percent of the global automotive market share in 20 years. To this end, XPeng claims to have spent some $600 million over the last 12 years in R&D to produce seven generations of flying car prototypes. The result of all this work is the AEROHT “Land Aircraft Carrier,” which has apparently received more than 6,000 customer orders. This “world’s-first modular-flying-car” will make its debut and maiden overseas flight in Dubai in October of 2025. Customer deliveries are scheduled to start in late 2026, according to He. And once those are complete, XPeng claims it will be the world’s largest flying car company.
We shall see…
Photos by MotorTrend, Edward Loh
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