Xpeng falls after sales fall short of expectations

After a poor year in which its stock fell 80% and sales fell short of the yearly target, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng Inc. has delayed reaching a profit target until 2025.

Previously expecting to break even by the end of 2023 or early 2024, the automaker now anticipates making an operating profit in 2025.

The startup plans to switch to unmanned driving.

To achieve its goal, the startup is betting big on fully autonomous driving, a technology that even Tesla Inc. founder Elon Musk couldn’t improve.

Xpeng aims to capture at least 20% of the market for fully intelligent vehicles, which means cars that are infinitely close to Level 4 autonomous driving, in which the vehicle can handle complex urban situations.

While there are currently no mass-produced passenger cars that meet this definition, the company claims that with rapidly advancing technology, the market for these vehicles will grow to around 5 million per year in five years.

From 2024 on, the company plans to upgrade its intelligent systems so that it can not only drive the car but also learn the owners’ driving habits and make automatic adjustments.